Friday 3 April 2009

"Where the greatest luxury is to do nothing at all"

Yesterday I confirmed the last of my accommodation bookings (at Suzuka in Mie prefecture) for my Tokaido walk. It felt like putting the final piece into a jigsaw puzzle.

Near the end of my walk on day 22 I'll be enjoying a well-earned night of luxury at the Oiso Prince Hotel, where I'll be able to "look out onto the blue ocean and luxuriate in the sea breezes wafting through the trees". Well, maybe not from my "mountain view" room, where I'll have to be content with "a view of the night lights and the mountains of Tanzawa".

The hotel has a private pool exclusively for the use of hotel guests and is adjacent to Oiso Long Beach, a complex that includes "ten unique pools". Unfortunately these pools only operate in the official summer season of early-July to mid-September, so even though it may well be very warm when I'm there (June 10), I'll have to settle for a paddle in the indoor pool or a dip in the open-air hot spring. Life's a bitch.

And just in case I haven't worked up enough of a sweat walking the 24.5km from Hakone-Yumoto to get to Oiso, I could always make use of the hotel's bowling alley, golf course, tennis courts, or futsal courts.

Distance walked today: 3km
Total distance walked since Tokaido training began: 146.5km
Days left until departure: 44

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