En route we grabbed a butty and rice ball each, we decided to eat them on the beach before the hike. I had just opened my rice ball and was starting to eat it when I felt a sharp pain in my hand and was knocked back a little. It took a few seconds to figure out what had happened. A Hawk had flown down from the sky above wanting to steal my rice ball off me. It was now on the pebble beach unopened and spoilt! The bloody bird wouldn't come down again so we stepped back a little and in an instant it came down and grabbed it off the beach and flew away with it tucked up closely to it's body.
Once I manned up and got over the bird attack we set off along the very well signposted hike. We followed the hilly coastline amongst all the interesting flora and fauna and took the spurs off the main route to the sea line or cliff tops where directed.
Throughout the day day the Hawk kept it's eager eye on us to see if we were going to produce more food for it to steal. Bloody bird!
The coastline of Izu is amazing, sharp tree covered cliffs jutting out into the sea, waves crashing up against them next to beautiful sand covered beaches in little coves between the cliffs.
As nice as the walk was we were surprised that there was no one else there, we didn't bump into a single soul on the entire walk. Probably just because the season had started. We were the first customers of the season at the guesthouse.
On the walk back to the guesthouse we stopped off at the cave we went to last night, even seeing our old footprints!
Once we got back Angela and her husband Yasu wanted to take us to the west side of the peninsular to watch the sunset, we picked up a beer from the shop and drove the 25 minute journey. Unfortunately when we got there the fog was obscuring the horizon so we couldn't see the sun but it certainly created some interesting colours across the rest of the sky. Beautiful!
After dusk we went into Shimoda town centre to a traditional Japanese seafood restaurant and ate a selection of fine food including tempura, sashimi, crab and broths. The meal was plentiful and delicious, enjoyed every second of it.
Once the meal had settled we moved on to a traditional volcanic spring bath house called an onsen. This onsen was set in an old style wooden building dotted with decorative statutes and dimly lit. There was a large deep very hot pool, a few shallower hot pools all fed directly by the spring in the corner and then a cooler pool for dipping into between boiling yourself! There was also an outside area which I found disappointing compared to my memory of the onsen I went to on my last Japan visit. Nonetheless it was a very nice experience and relaxed me greatly!
Following the heat and relaxing experience of the onsen we went to a local Shimoda bar for some excellent homemade ice-cream and beers. A great end to the night!
Location:Shimoda,Japan
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