Tired legs

For some reason my legs felt quite tired from around the 15km mark of today's walk, a slightly truncated version of the walk of death. Maybe it was because I had only one piece of toast for breakfast. Or maybe it was because I left my water bottle at home and ended up buying a bottle of sparking water by mistake. Or maybe it was the weather (on the warm side at 19 degrees). Whatever the reason, it didn't do the confidence any good. But at least I made it. We'll see how I feel in the morning.

Distance walked today: 29.7km
Distance walked on Thursday: 3km
Total distance walked since blog began: 706.5km
Days left until launch of Kisokaido Project: 24

Endurance

When it comes to embarking on epic journeys and making some art along the way, you'd be hard-pressed to find anything rivaling Ernest Shackleton's 1914 expedition to the Antarctic, which was documented so magnificently on film and in photographs by Frank Hurley. If you're unfamiliar with this incredible story, it goes like this.

In August 1914, Shackleton set sail from Plymouth on The Endurance bound for Antarctica, where he hoped to become the first person to cross the frozen continent on foot. The expedition reached the Weddell Sea in January 1915, but the pack ice closed in, and in October that year The Endurance was crushed. The crew salvaged what they could from the ship and after camping on the ice and making several unsuccessful attempts to flee on sleds, they boarded three lifeboats and sailed to Elephant Island, a voyage of seven days.

From there, Shackleton and five crew members set out on one of the lifeboats across some of the most treacherous seas in the world for South Georgia, some 1500km away, in a voyage that's been described as one of the most remarkable maritime crossings ever undertaken. After 14 days they reached the southern coast of South Georgia, but their journey still wasn't complete. To get from where they landed to the populated northern coast of the island, they had to cross an uncharted mountain range.

Shackleton and two crew members eventually made it to the whaling town of Stromness. From there they organized the rescue first of the crew members on the southern coast of South Georgia, and then of the crew members still stranded on Elephant Island. All 22 men left behind had survived, and were picked up in August 1916, some four months after Shackleton left Elephant Island, and two years after they originally set out from England.

If you're interested in this story, you should try to get hold of The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition, a stunning documentary (available on DVD) featuring footage and photographs taken by Hurley.

Distance walked since last post: 9km
Total distance walked since blog began: 673.8km
Days left until launch of Kisokaido Project: 27

Update and some links

Today's "distance walked" is a bit of a guess. Keiko and I again headed up to the Sign of the Kiwi, but instead of taking the Harry Ell Walkway, we went through Victoria Park, following a number of different tracks that eventually led us to the Summit Road. I then carried on along the Crater Rim Walkway on my own like last week, but instead of coming down the Rapaki Track I took the imaginatively titled Farm Track. It was much nicer than Rapaki. It's a lot quieter for a start, plus it's covered in grass most of the way, so you don't end up getting covered in dust. Once at the bottom I came straight home via Beckenham without stopping in at Stephanie's for scones.

A couple of links. This one's an article about a couple of blokes who're walking the route of the Paris-Dakar Rally. That's 6000km! They aim to cover 50km a day, which means it should take them - let's see - around 120 days? You're supposed to be able to follow their progress here, although it was all a bit too confusing (and too French!) for me. This one, about Vibram FiveFingers ("the only footwear to offer the exhilarating joy of going barefoot with the protection and sure-footed grip of a Vibram sole"), was sent to me by my brother. Or you could try some of these much cooler traditional Japanese cloven-hoof models. Enjoy!

Distance walked today: 25km
Total distance walked since blog began: 664.8km
Days left until launch of Kisokaido Project: 31

A spiritual (?) journey (Part 1)

While browsing some Kyoto-related websites the other day in preparation for my brief stay there in a few weeks, I discovered that the day I arrive in the ancient Japanese capital is the one day in October when To-ji temple holds its famous flea market, dubbed Kobo-san in honour of the priest Kukai (known posthumously as Kobo Daishi), the founder of the Shingon sect, with which the temple is closely associated. I actually paid a visit to To-ji temple with my brother Mark on the same market day in October two years ago, and much as I try to resist the urge to revisit places I've already seen on my travels throughout Japan, I'm tempted to go back to To-ji again this year. One reason is that I was making a video last time, and so I want to experience the place again not through the lens of a camera, but with my own eyes and ears. But another reason is that I've developed a bit of a fascination with Kukai and the esoteric Buddhist sect he founded.

Kukai (774-835) was a gifted scholar, calligrapher, poet, and artist. He was undoubtedly a genius, although claims that he invented the Japanese kana syllabary have always struck me as rather dubious. In 804, despite his reputation as a maverick, Kukai managed to secure a place on a government-sponsored expedition to China. It was an extremely arduous journey. Two of the ships in the fleet of four were lost at sea in a storm, and the vessel Kukai was on drifted for some 34 days before making landfall. The survivors then journeyed by land to the Tang capital of Chang'an, where, after completing in several months a course of study that normally took 20 years, Kukai received his final initiation into the esoteric Buddhist tradition. He returned to Japan in 806 and established the Shingon sect, whose headquarters on Mount Koya Mark and I also visited in October 2005.

I think I was interested in Buddhism long before I started studying Japanese, while I first heard of Kukai during my university days, when his name cropped up from time to time in Japanese language classes. But there's another, less obvious factor fueling my fascination with Kukai, particularly as a practitioner of esoteric Buddhism, and that's my interest in the jazz pianist Keith Jarrett.

(To be continued…)

Distance walked since Saturday: 12km
Total distance walked since blog began: 639.8km
Days left until launch of Kisokaido Project: 33

Same route, different outcome

Today I repeated last Saturday's walk, which took me up and along the Port Hills, down the Rapaki Track, and home via Stephanie's house, where I once again stopped for scones. But apart from the route (and the scone break), things were quite different this time.

For a start there were none of the stunning views of last Saturday. Today was overcast, and once on the hills I spent quite a bit of time in the clouds. It was actually quite pleasant. The tussock and rolling misty clouds created quite an eerie atmosphere, like something out of The Lord of the Rings.

But the most important difference was that I had none of the discomfort of last week. I ditched the Rockports and wore my New balance 748s - with two pairs of socks just to be on the safe side - and I'm pleased to report my heels came through completely unscathed. I did end up with a small blister on the ball of my left foot, but it's not painful and I can't see it getting in the way of my training at all.

Distance walked today: 25.4km
Total distance walked since blog began: 627.8km
Days left until launch of Kisokaido Project: 38

600km!

My heels seemed to have healed well. They're well-healed heels, leaving me well heeled, but not necessarily well-heeled.

Distance walked today: 3km
Total distance walked since blog began: 602.4km
Days left until launch of Kisokaido Project: 40

Second helpings

After two and a half days of shuffling around inside in stockinged feet to protect my blistered heels, it was with a mixture of trepidation and anticipation that I gingerly stepped into my New Balance 748s and headed down to the supermarket this afternoon. In the end, any fears I had of collapsing in a sprawling heap outside the gate proved unfounded, and I made it there and back safely with only a slight feeling of discomfort in my right foot. In fact I felt so good that I turned around and competed the same journey again, making a total of 6km for the day, and leaving me just 600m short of the magical 600km mark.

Despite the unfortunate outcome, I really enjoyed Saturday's walk (apart from the last couple of kilometers, that is), and intend to repeat it this weekend in my New Balance 748s. Any of those scones left, Stephanie?

Distance walked today: 6km
Total distance walked since blog began: 599.4km
Days left until launch of Kisokaido Project: 42

Problem-solving

Well, on Thursday I confirmed the last of the outstanding accommodation bookings. Actually I cheated and got Keiko to phone the last three places, all traditional Japanese inns uncontactable by email or through any of the accommodation booking websites I'd used to book the other places. But anyway, that's out of the way now, so I can concentrate on other things, like shoes.

Right now I have two huge blisters on my feet, one on the back of each heel (right down the bottom). I felt fine during yesterday's walk until I reached my sister's house at around the 20km mark, and in fact I'd starting composing in my head a post about how pleased I was with the performance of my new Rockport Summit's Edge shoes on the Port Hills, where the terrain varied from tar seal, to rock, to mud (with the odd bit of ice), to dust. But as soon as I set out on the final leg of my journey my feet felt uncomfortable, and walking the last couple of kilometers home was actually quite painful.

I realized pretty soon after I bought them that the Rockports weren't the right size. I tried to convince myself that I'd fixed this problem by inserting the insoles from my old New Balance 748s, and that they'd feel better after a bit of use. If not, I'd try something else, I thought, like wearing two pairs of socks. But now I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that they're just not going to work. With just over a month to go before we hit Japan, I don't want to look around for another pair of shoes and risk going through the same process again, so what I think I'll end up doing is buying another pair of 748s and coating them with something to make them as waterproof as possible (the lack of waterproofing being the only drawback I experienced with my old 748s). At least I know they won't give me too many blisters, and that they'll last 530 km (just!).

Distance walked today: 0km
Total distance walked since blog began: 593.4km
Days left until launch of Kisokaido Project: 44

Thanks for the scones, Stephanie

Great weather. Wonderful views. Tired, sweaty, blistered.

Distance walked today: 25.4km
Distance walked yesterday: 3km
Total distance walked since blog began: 593.4km
Days left until launch of Kisokaido Project: 45

Laces locked

I'm still not entirely happy with my new Rockport Summit's Edge walking shoes. I solved the blister problem (I think) by putting the insoles from my old New Balance 748s inside the Rockports, but when I walked to the supermarket on Tuesday and again today I still felt they were a bit lose around the ankle. When I got down to the supermarket today I tried "lock-lacing" them (a method I've used to good effect in the past on my running shoes), and they felt a lot better on the way home. I'll know for sure whether I've fixed the problem or not on the weekend when I plan to wear them on a long walk with my backpack on.

Distance walked today: 3km
Distance walked the day before yesterday: 3km
Total distance walked since blog began: 565km
Days left until launch of Kisokaido Project: 47

A thought

Old New Balance insoles + new Rockport shoes = no more blisters (hopefully)

Distance walked today: 3km
Total distance walked since blog began: 559km
Days left until launch of Kisokaido Project: 50

Fathers' Day stroll

Yesterday's walk left me with a couple of blisters on the balls of my feet, so this morning I slapped on some Scholl Blister Clear Gel Plasters before heading off to my sister's for a Fathers' Day lunch. Also, I left my new Rockports at home and instead wore my trusty old New Balance 748s. In the end, the blisters didn't bother me at all. Hopefully if I continue swapping between the New Balances and Rockports my feet will get used to the latter and blisters won't be a problem in the future.

The days are definitely getting warmer. I'm going to have to be more and more careful about keeping the sun off my face and neck. The mornings are still a bit chilly though, so I'm getting used to stopping after half an hour or so and removing a layer of clothing, which is a bit of a pain when you've got a backpack on.

Distance walked today: 12.4km
Total distance walked since blog began: 556km
Days left until launch of Kisokaido Project: 51

Summit's edge

Another weekend, another walk up to the Sign of the Kiwi. This time Keiko took the car half way up and we walked the most pleasant stretch (from the Sign of the Takahe to the top) together. She took this photo of me on the way down.

I should have done more, but I had on my new Rockport Summit's Edge shoes and so didn't want to overdo it. They felt good. Plus they're waterproof.

Well, I've cracked 530km, which is about the distance we'll be covering in Japan. Except we'll be doing it in 23 days rather than four and a half months. Kind of puts things in perspective.

Distance walked today: 16.2km
Distance walked yesterday: 7.2km
Distance walked Wednesday: 3km
Total distance walked since blog began: 543.6km
Days left until launch of Kisokaido Project: 52