Granny's Got a Bike: 6 October 2015- Tokushima to Mima

(BTW - if you are interested in where I am actually - you should be able to see my trips recorded on my little gps tracker at http://www.a-trip.com/users/home/10338)

up early and reshuffle everything and after a proper buffet breakfast of 3 salads (tofu & daikon, broccoli & pickled ginger and mixed greens), scrambled egg and rice and coffee of course, Maggie was loaded up and away we went.
Stopped at the temple gate - then headed north over the river then west - not sure if I am on the right road, but am sure I am heading in the right direction with the sun behind my back...

bike/foot path most of the way - without many on it either, so all mine!! left the big city behind, but not civilisation - suburban shops, houses and farms all mixed together. Lotus lilies everywhere, so am thinking this is a good place for lotus root farming. now they are all tired and some of the fields have been drained, but wouldn't it be beautiful when they were all flowering!! Rice of course, but also vegies of every kind and the persimmons are ripening, so golden globes hanging in the trees.
air pollution doesn't seem as bad - tho it is blue and hazy in the distance I am not feeling the burning, diesel smell as in 2011. so all good. Farmers still seem to make little bonfires so later in the day there were a few smokey patches to ride through, but generally a great day for pedalling along - in the right direction - hopefully. Another new innovation is heaps of solar farms. just small ones - but tucked into corners of paddocks - obviously serving more than just one person - wonder if this came about since Fukoshima.

the reason I crossed over the river was to find the Number 1 Temple in the 88 (Buddhist) Temple pilgrimage. not that I am doing the pilgrimage, its just sorta right to be visiting the first one when I am in the right place. so decided to just pedal west to Mima (as planned) and check out any temples I might see along the way. Good strategy, because around lunch time I found the Temple!!
It's a large set up, with one large modern, one really old looking one and this is the main one - plus heaps of little shrines and statues throughout the grounds. There is also a huge cemetery up behind it and there looked like new and old plots. in the sorta centre there was one 'space' overlooked by a statue (??) with heaps of what looked like headstones? was this an old family space - or maybe after a certain time, the headstones are moved here and the plot re-used? or is this a place for memorials for cremation? Coventry will need to do some research for me!!

This kind lady runs a little shop in a demountable near the temple gate - she also makes the aprons and clothes for the Buddha statues. she made me a cup of coffee, served me 3 chestnuts cut in half with a dainty spoon, made me a slice of thick white toast and buttered it for me, gave me 2 more chestnuts and a roasted baby sweet potato and I might still be there if I hadn't said no to a second coffee. she had a little more english than my japanese - but there was a certain warmth between our conversations - she was 74 and I am 10 years younger - she loved that I had grandkids but didn't tell me of any of hers... so Argato many times over :)

so tick - am happy so lets keep going. bike paths in Japan are similar to most places... they stop and start, crossover to the other side - disappear altogether - are rough and in today's experience, very overgrown. a couple of times it felt like I was riding through a forest of flowering plants, leafy green grass as well as ducking under low hanging branches. there was a few hairy spots that were narrow anyway and made narrower by the greenery tugging at my panniers. but the road was too narrow and busy to resort to it - so I had to walk in a coupla short places. but generally a pretty nice day of riding.

I got caught in the spell of thinking I didn't have that far to ride so dwaddled along until I noticed time was indeed slipping away and I am not in Mima yet. so pedalling off into the sunset until I reached the large town of Mima - well, scattered really. nothing looked like a hotel or inn and soon I was on the outskirts again, so I politely asked a jogger and she advised me to go back over the river.
turn around and about 3 kms back I find a bridge and head off over the river. Temp has now dropped from a balmy 26-27 to a mere 16 so pedal faster. and there I see the neon lights of a hotel - sweet!! so to cut a long story short, they were full, her 1st suggestion was also full but bingo! there's a room at a hotel back the way I came, so a map was printed out and away I go. Its very dark, but I find the bridge and back over the river towards - eventually I came to a rather grand hotel overlooking the valley - up a bluddy high ride. gad how much is this gunna cost? Turns out it was only about $50 -
very comfy western room - plenty of hot water, a bath - but no wifi so blogging will have to wait. I get all the gadgets charging and hit the sack... sigh - maybe should have planned that one a little better, but I did get some interesing (I hope) sunset shots of a fisherman in a traditional boat - but