Into the hills

Following the escape route of the Samuri Ryoma, who from what I can make out, pissed off the people in Rome , sorry Little edo and had to bugger off rather quickly.  Probably humming thwe iron maiden tune " run to the hills" .
Mountains, love them or hate them, they go up and they go down , usually with a tunnel at the top.  Anyway back to mountains, following the route 197 towards Yasuhara you get to a place called Tosa. This cant be the famous Tosa clan , prefecture? Its a post office and a shack , well ok a collection of mud huts and quite possibly a resident sharman who can read tea leaves.
Up she goes past beautifull gaggles of houses and tea Terraces to  a tunnel.  A new one ....
Sailing through the tunnel, I see a middle aged woman running the opposite way, she waves I wave, and she sails past. A few min later in the middle of the tunnel, I see her car! 10 ft skid marks from the tyres and parked in the layby.  WTF ? Did the engine blow up?  forget her wallet, hit the handbrake and run back.
oh well its 4pm and at the top of a mountain range. Its going to be a cold one !
The areas not frequented by the general public are stunning and so clean. Im sorry japan but shoganai is and has destroyed this country. Stop with the beautification and concrete-a-fication of your country and that goes for you to china !
The river water was so pure you can drink it, unlike New Zealands which I would boil! And not a sound to be heard. Just the waterfall and a bird singing, fantastic.
Dinner, was starting to get a bit grim as supplies were getting low. Curry rice and pine needle tea.  Yes I had to emerge from the man cave to piss at "oh fk me, its freezing  hundred oclock"
A nice night with a big fire was well spent
but the next morning... lets just say Im glad I am not a brass monkey !
A late start , damn tent ! and we were off, through the mountains up hill and down dale untill I spied a home centre.
"oh"  I thought, I will pick up a flat washer for the bike, A simple flat washer of an inside diameter of 13mm.   This is japan.
Everything else except a simple flat washer.
Lovely range of brightly coloured rubber boots for those long winter nights or working in the field. But no flat washers
Maybe the tastes are different in the ski resorts.....