Looking at the whole map, I realized it was so close to being a coast to coast walk. Just add a single day of 20km and bingo Coast to Coast.

Wow and there’s a park called Rinko Park right where I want to start!

So Lin and I spent Day number one walking from Yokohama to our house. I woke up early, then took the train to Rinko Park in Yokohama. I left before Lin and she arrived later.

I left my bicycle at home which meant I needed to roll the bag to the train station, so that I would not have to go back via the train station. While rolling the bag, I could hear something gently brushing the ground. By the time I got to the station, concrete had worn a hole through Lin’s rain cover and my waterproof jacket. Not so waterproof anymore.

Basically the concrete sanded holes into her bag and my raincoat.

The walk from Yokohama to home is 21 kilometers, which makes it basically 5% of my walk across the island.

Lin joined. She knew the way by heart!! So grateful

Everyone joined at first! It felt super great to have support of everyone who showed up on the first day: Mark, Emma, Shraddhan, Lukas, Yuumi, Lin, Clare,

We did a walking meditation that morning, which gave people a chance to connect with the earth, and the present. And then we did a foot photo shoot at the water with my foot in the water on the Yokohama side of things,

Yuumi gave me gifts: chocolate and crackers. She had also done a similarly long hike, and had a guess as to what would support me.

So grateful for lots of hugs and then basically started walking. The beautiful thing is that Lin has driven the route, many, many times, and knew exactly how to get home from there. On this day, I didn’t have to use my phone as a map, and could just use it as a camera, which I did on the way from Yokohama to our house. One of the first pictures, was that François sitting next to a cool statue. Shraddhan helped take some photos there as well. I was glad that Shraddhan and Lin got along well, and happily surprised Shraddhan joined for quite a bit. So glad they were happily talking with each other when I was slow with my bag.

date: ‘2021-04-16T13:44:02+09:00’

We went to a Hawaiian Cafe for lunch and Shraddhan generously picked up the check for the three of us.

For some reason I did not think to take any pictures.

Bye Shraddhan at the corner of Nittori as he turned right to go to Shin Yokohama Station. I tried to take a photo of him from far away.

First bag upgrade; proof of concept but crushed the box lid.

Second bag upgrade to waterproof.. we still use the waterproof box in her garden.

date: ‘2021-04-16T16:31:38+09:00’

title: 'two consecutive upgrades'
location: 'geo:35.5241,139.59129;u=72.9000015258789'

This picture is from when we said bye to Clare and Yuumi.

See how the bag looks all crushed and tired?

For my computer’s safety I had it up at the top of the bag so it wouldn’t get crushed, but it was causing the bag to pull the handle as if to collapse the cart.

Lin had an excellent idea of getting a box to hold most of the heavy stuff, i.e. computer and two blank book diaries.

We bought this box at a home center, with the idea that if it doesn’t work then can use it in her office. It worked well enough for a while but the lid kept getting crushed under the weight of the bag and presumably putting pressure on the computer inside the box.

Now, it looks like we’ve solved it by going to a heavier duty home center and getting a heavier duty box.

Super thanks to Lin for knowing that that was a heavier duty home center and would have the stuff we need.

Stopped at 11 of 21km at convenience store

So tired and so genki, and so lost even when relatively close to home. Super glad to have Lin’s guidance.

5% finished by the time we got home.

date: ‘2021-04-16T22:27:58+09:00’

title: 'finished day one.'

( this is being written 12 hours after the datestamp )

Arrived home last night at 22:05, super sluggish, barely able to drag self up and down the stairs. The first few times I went down, I walked backwards because my legs could not handle going forward down the stairs.

So so grateful for Lin joining me and sorting out the luggage issue.