Camping with Dom

We headed out of Tokushima the next morning, heading southwest, towards the Pacific and some of Japan’s famed surf beaches. We had three nights and four days left before I had to be back at work. Plenty of time to make a circular trip of Eastern Shikoku, and chill out at the same time. Unfortunately, road trips in Japan can be alarmingly deceptive. What with narrow windy roads and a speed limit of 50km/h, which is rarely achieved, travelling a couple of hundred kilometres can take a whole day.
Then there was the problem of where to sleep. I’d gone shopping a couple of days earlier after being paid and bought a tent, eski, camping stove, the works. We had everything necessary for a car camping trip. However we spent much of that day driving, which is what Dom and I had both agreed we didn’t want to do. It was getting late and cooking in daylight was preferable. However I’d picked up some English maps in Tokushima and there were a handful of camping spots clearly marked. We found the first one only because several other campers were already set up. It was, in effect, a gravel carpark, right next to the road. Not quite what I had in mind. I was imagining a soft cushion of grass next to the beach, going to sleep with the waves roaring in the distance, sheltered from the wind by an accommodating bush. This wouldn’t do at all. So we left in search of a back road, somewhere we could hide and enjoy a restful sleep and a leisurely breakfast in the morning. However nothing seemed okay. And we were considering some pretty odd camping spots by this time. Eventually we found another carpark camping spot, but at least this one was next to the water and the rocks and we could wake up and see the ocean. I objected because I was sure my dream was just around the next corner, so we struck a deal that we would drive for another ten minutes, and if nothing eventuated we would come back here. Guess where we ended up setting up!
I’d offered to make dinner and began preparations. However, I had a wee tad accident. I lit my brand new camping stove after screwing the gas bottle on as tight as I was able. However, when I tested it and tried to turn it off, I couldn’t make the flame reduce, let alone go out. The next thing I knew the flames were getting bigger and I threw the whole thing as far as I could away from the campsite. Unfortunately, in my panic I didn’t take very careful aim and I managed to set alight a small shrub on the side of the mountain. By this time I was freaking out and yelling wildly to Dom for help. He said it took him a while to register that it was me making all the kafuffle and came back to find me rather excitedly trying to extricate the stove with a long stick. One of us kicked it away, I don’t quite remember whom, but by this time the thing was burning ferociously and starting to make a scary whistling noise. We did the sensible thing next – and ran like hell.
Not a moment to soon for just as we reached a safe distance away the stove broke the sound barrier; by speed or volume, I’m not too sure, but the mountain visibly shuddered, unless that was me collapsing in relief.
We adjourned for beer and considered what to do about dinner. There was a restaurant across the road, but on inspection it was shut. However, the flipside of nearly setting the mountain on fire was that there was an awful lot of dry wood and we were camping on gravel, so I’d have to be really stupid to make another mistake. At this stage though, my record wasn’t too good. Dinner proceeded without further mishaps, and as all camped dinners are, was pronounced oishi (delicious in Japanese).
The next day we headed up into the mountains. Around lunchtime we found my perfect camping spot. A disused road that headed down to a small bridge that ended abruptly on the other side. A creek tumbled and gurgled along the river pebbles, and I finally got my quiet time in the mountains, sitting Sidharta like for a long time having conversations with the shallow rapids.
Japan is riddled with long tunnels stretching up to almost two kilometres. The longest one I’ve found was 1852m. On the way back to Kagawa Prefecture we came out of one of these and ran into a viewing platform overlooking a waterfall tumbling into a pristine swimming hole. We clambered down and dipped our feet into the deliciously icy water. The middle of summer I had been too hot for weeks and neither of us needed much encouragement to overcome bashfulness, strip off and plunge into the clear stillness. That was the last highlight of our trip. That night we ended up staying at a big campsite and eating dinner at a Korean restaurant. I had my first authentic bibimbop in a long time.