As the Smallest Boy would say “I can’t tell a lie” we were a bit worried about the possibility of a night in the camper van as Typhoon Hagibis blew through. Although it is not a lightweight vehicle and neither are we, it still seemed a little flimsy in the face of 100mph+ winds and torrential rain. Fortunately my prayers to the weather gods seem to have been answered and the typhoon has taken a turn north, missing Kyushu and hitting Honshu instead. Really rotten luck for all those with tickets for England v France and NZ v Italy, but a relief for those of us heading to Fukuoka to see Ireland v Samoa. It is bizarre that the media are covering potentially catastrophic climatic conditions just a few hundred miles north of us and we are enjoying the most beautiful weather.
After the excitement of Australia v Fiji, I had an additional adrenalin rush, the next morning, when we discovered that the hotel had washing machines and driers in an area just off the lobby lounge. I set up base camp on a comfortable red leather sofa and did a bit of light blogging between loads of laundry. Clean clothes for the next two weeks, bliss.
Domestic chores completed, we headed out of Beppu along the coast towards a small town which was rumoured to have a nice castle over looking the sea. Kitsuki turned out to be a real delight, not because its castle is particularly stunning (it’s lovely, don’t get me wrong) but more because, out of nowhere, like the shopkeeper in Mr Benn, up popped an English speaking guide (70 if he was a day) to show us round. He first apologised for not being there when we arrived and explained he was at the Samurai houses just up the road and he then set about humiliating Robert in the nicest possible way, by making him put on a Samurai warrior outfit, complete with helmet and sword. Many of you will know of Robert’s aversion to fancy dress, but there really was no saying no to our guide. How I kept a straight face I don’t know. When asked how old the kit was, our guide replied it wasn’t very old, 17th maybe 18th century, now you don’t see that every day.
After Kitsuki we left the coast and headed into the mountains to a shrine, Futago-ji, a Tendai temple on the slopes of Mount Futago established in 718 AD. This temple involved a lot of up, largely because I misread the map and instead of heading up the steps to the main body of the temple, I took us up a track, which we eventually realised (only 20 minutes of uphill) was taking us up to the top of the mountain. We quickly retraced out steps and then climbed the very many steps to the bloody shrine (not my words). It was however worth the effort with some amazing views and a serene and peaceful location, built into the side of the mountain.
Finally, we headed back to the coast in search of somewhere to stay. We tried a campsite but there was no sign of life, so we ended up in the car park of a Michi no Eki (a network of roadside stations created 20 years ago to provide a safe, comfortable environment for motorists to take a break) you are not meant to stay overnight there, but in the face of nowhere else to drop anchor, we thought we’d risk it. It backed on to a park and the beach and was the loveliest place to spend the night. When we got up the next morning we realised that we weren’t alone and there were several happy campers in the car park.
