Uwajima

The last couple days have seen a couple long rides. Yesterday's trip looked like 50-60 km on the map, and turned into 90 km.　　Curved around the coast, in and out, up and down. But it was quite the scenic journey. All these little Japanese fishing villages hugging the side of the mountains. Often with only enough room for a row of houses and a one lane road carved into the side of the mountain. It would be interesting to know when they actually built the road connecting the villages, as it seems like most were built as sea accessible spots only. Going up the sides of the mountain were little lime groves. They had rails with little carts that ran up through the groves to haul things up and down in. Quite impressive how they've managed to make use of every available inch of land.

One thing that I have noticed is the lack of any "yards". Even in the smallest of village, the houses are packed in one next to another. All over there are those concave mirrors that allow you to see around corners, as the houses extend right out to the street. If there is any space in front of a house, there will be a small flower or vegetable garden. And occasionally there's a larger space, which will also be used to raise some sort of crop.

This morning I've been putzing around the covered mall area, as it has been raining most of the morning. Hiked up to the Uwajima castle, and it wasn't very impressive. Didn't even pay to go in as it looked so much smaller then the other castles I've seen. The rain seems to have let up, so I should get going and make on to my next stop. Doesn't look too far on the map, maybe 20 - 30 km. But one never knows for sure until we get there.