Day: July 18, 2006

Getting up is more and more difficult.  Serge no longer hears the alarm go off at 3H30 AM. We dream about having several days of sleep when we get back to France.

4H30, departure. A good down hill took us to the suburbs of Kagoshima.  A continuous flow of vehicles made the feedings real sport.  We also had to think about guiding our runner, and there too parking a vehicle for only 2 minutes was a problem.  June, who will accompany us to Tokyo and will be our guide, speaks fluent English.  He ran 3 kilometers and did 10 kilometers on bike to accompany Serge in the difficult places.

Almost all of the route to Kagoshima was run along a corniche a few meters from the sea. We had an unrivaled view of the magnificent and still active Sakurajima volcano.

Then we went along Fukuoka Bay and without doubt this is the most wild and spectacular scenery in Japan.

Serge finished his stage with a 5% ascent (a climb of 400 meters in 7 kilometers) which in the end brought him to his knees. Of course, this is a form of speech because even on his his knees with fatigue, Serge was still able to admire the splendid view provided by this luxuriously verdant route.  A rarity: not one single car took this small, secluded road, which is even covered by high grass in some spots.  Indiana Jones must not be far off.