100kmのつもりで、70kmで帰った - I Set Out for 100 km and Came Home at 70 km
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100kmのつもりで、70kmで帰った
10時出発。曇り、24℃、少し暑い。食料も着替えも替えシューズも（さらにはMacBookまで）全部積んだフル装備だ。久しぶりに2泊3日の歩きに出る。宮ヶ瀬湖から裏ヤビツを抜けて、秦野経由で自宅に戻る。100kmのループだ。少し荷物が多いのは、この装備で海外徒歩旅でも使えるのか、試しておきたいからだ。
歩き出しはまずまず順調。毎日自転車で走っているせいで脚が太くなって、歩くと内腿がこすれる。今回は身体を労るのを優先して、トレッキングポールも持ってきた。ところが少し歩く間に気がついた。腕がだるいのだ。普段上体を鍛えていないから、腕がすぐに疲労する。平地は普通に手を振って歩いて、登りと下りだけポールを補助に使うことにした。
1時間半で7km。順調な出だしのペース。相模原麻溝公園で休憩。靴を脱いで足を乾かす。今のところ痛む所はない。ここで、ポンチョとタオルの入ったランニングベストを着る。最初はトレーラーに引っ掛けていたが、脚に当たるので気になった。
しばらく歩くと雨が降り始めた。背負っていたポンチョを着る。間もなく上り坂が始まる。ポールを伸ばして、予定通り補助しながら登る。
ところが、すぐにおかしくなった。トレーラーの加減速のリズムと、歩くリズムが合わない。合わないどころか反対に作用して、ひどく歩きづらい。ポールをしまって、トレーラーを前に置き、後ろから押して登ることにした。
平地に戻ってからも、そのまま身体の横で手で引くことにした。これだとリズムがぶつからずにスムーズに進む。トレッキングポールもトレーラーもそれぞれ単独では身体を助ける道具だ。だが同時に使うと思わぬ副作用が出ることがある。
中津を過ぎると雨が本格的になった。雨煙の中、苗を植えたばかりの田んぼがかすんで見える。休める場所がなかなか見つからない。歩き続けていると、股関節の内と外が痛み始めた。神社の木の下で、雨が小降りになるのを待つ。
おかしな話だ。あれだけ事前に気にしていた足裏も膝も痛くない。前の長距離で散々だった肩も背中もトレーラーのおかげで平気だ。しかし股関節だけが痛む。腰をちゃんと回さずに、足だけを動かして歩いていたせいかもしれない。ペースを落として、下半身全体で足を運ぶようにする。
宮ヶ瀬湖が近づくと、トンネルばかりになる。中は照明がほとんどない。マグライトを取り出して、照らしながら進む。雨具もライトも、ちゃんと使えている。
宮ヶ瀬湖は水量が少なかった。やまびこ大橋を渡って、街に出るか、このまま進むか少し考える。時間を考えると、1時間で寝場所を見つけなければならないので70号を進むことにした。
ヤビツ峠へ向かうこの県道70号は、道が細くて車がほとんど通らない。渓流沿いにキャンプ場が点々とあるけれど、どこも閉まっている。キャンプブームは終わったんだろうか。
18時半。道路脇にちょうどいい林間を見つけて、潜り込む。人も車も通らない。ハンモックとタープを張って、中で一息つく。スマホは残り30%。充電しながらFB投稿の準備をしようとしたら、圏外だった。まあ仕方ない。明日電波が来たら投稿しよう。34km。初日にしてはよく歩いた。
朝4時。空が明るくなって、鳥の大合唱で目が覚めた。寒い。20℃は下回らないと思っていたのは大外れだった。アルミシートとキルトを持ってきて正解だった。寝る前に足をよくマッサージした。わかったのは痛むのは関節ではなくて筋肉だということ。太ももの内側。自転車ではここは使っていなかったようだ。スマホの充電を確認すると80%。満充電になっていない。モバイルバッテリーの容量不足か、圏外で電波を探し続けた消費か。たぶん両方だ。
薄明かりの中、15分で撤収。ここで濡れたタープをバッグにしまう場所がないことに気がつく。取り急ぎ外側のベルトに挟む。飲み水も残り少ない。自販機は無いから慎重に使おう。朝の70号は清川沿いの渓流で、気分がいい。しばらくは足の痛みも忘れていられそうだ。陽が出てきたので、濡れたタープとポンチョを崖崩れ防止の網に広げて乾かす。こういう手順は10年経っても変わりがない。
水が残り少ない。でもこの先に湧き水がある。そう思うと、重かった足も少し軽くなる。着くと、先客が大量のペットボトルに水を汲んでいた。すごいですね、と声をかけると、2トントラックで汲みに来る人もいるんですよ、と教えてくれた。歩いてきた僕を見て、どちらから、と聞く。町田から歩いてきました、と答えると、50kmはあるでしょうと目を丸くしていた。
そこから先は登山口が近い。登山客がひっきりなしに歩いてくる。みんないかにも登山らしい装備を整え、バスで近くまで来て、頂上に登る。必要最小限のウエアと自作の装備で登山口をそのまま通り過ぎる僕は、ここではちょっと浮いている。彼らは山を登りに来た。僕は山を越える途中だった。
登山客を見送って、ヤビツ峠に着いた。標高761m。涼しいわけだ。ベンチでオートミールとナッツとプロテインを食べていると、峠の茶屋のお兄さんと旅の話が弾んだ。昨日も今日も、ほとんど人に会っていなかったから、楽しい時間だった。
そこからは12kmの下り。登山客はバスで来るから会わないけれど、代わりに自転車乗りとトレイルランナーが大量に登ってくる。熊よけの音楽をスピーカーで鳴らしながら、こんちは、頑張って、と声をかける。みんな好きだなあ。この坂、結構きつくて長いのに。
昼ごろ、ようやく麓まで降りた。暑い。昨晩凍えそうだったのが嘘みたいだ。休憩して周りを見渡すと、見覚えがある。そうだ、ここは前に歩いた関東ふれあいの道だ。看板もあった。懐かしい。
秦野の街まで降りて、とにかく充電が要る。スマホは残り10%。KFCで冷たいコーヒーを飲みながら、充電する。
地図を眺めて、この先を考える。機材は一通り使った。維持するもの、交換するもの、改造するもの、だいたい分かってきた。
トレーラー本体はかなり使える。腰に固定するより、手で引く方がいい。ポールは今回の構成では要らなかった。新しく買った40Lの防水ダッフルは、防水は文句なしだけれど、余白がない。海外も想定して全部詰め込んだら、現地で物を買う隙間がないし、濡れたタープを一時的に突っ込む場所も、すぐ取り出せるように雨具を入れる場所もない。モバイルバッテリーはもっと容量が要る。身体は、股関節と内腿を鍛えないといけない。ペース配分も見直しだ。
ここから先は距離を増やすだけになる。必要なことは分かった。まずは身体の回復を優先しよう。電車で帰ることにした。短い徒歩テストは、2日で終わった。距離は70km。まずまずの成果だ。
家に帰って、荷物を外して、自作トレーラーを点検した。ネジの緩みはどこにもない。曲がった所も、壊れた所もない。滑らかな舗装路。荒れた舗装路。ダート。雨中。どの条件でも問題なく走行できた。どれも想定通りの走破性だった。
合格だ。
トレーラーは優秀だった。一番ポンコツだったのは、僕の身体だったな。
I Set Out for 100 km and Came Home at 70 km
I left at 10 a.m. It was cloudy, 24 degrees Celsius, and a little warm. I had the full load with me: food, clothes, spare shoes, and even my MacBook. It had been a while since I had gone out for a two-night, three-day walk. The route was a 100 km loop from home to Lake Miyagase, through Ura-Yabitsu—the northern approach to Yabitsu Pass—then down through Hadano and back home. The load was a little heavy because I wanted to test whether this setup could also work for an overseas walking journey.
The start went reasonably well. Since I ride a bicycle every day, my legs have grown thicker, and my inner thighs rub when I walk. This time I wanted to be kinder to my body, so I brought trekking poles. But after walking for a while, I noticed something. My arms were getting tired. I do not train my upper body much, so the fatigue came quickly. I decided to swing my arms normally on flat ground and use the poles only for climbs and descents.
In an hour and a half, I had walked 7 km. A good opening pace. I stopped at Sagamihara Asamizo Park, took off my shoes, and dried my feet. Nothing hurt yet. There I put on the running vest that held my poncho and towel. At first I had hung it on the trailer, but it kept touching my legs and bothering me.
After a while, rain began to fall. I put on the poncho I had been carrying. Soon the uphill section began. I extended the poles and started climbing with their support, just as planned.
Then it immediately felt wrong. The acceleration and deceleration rhythm of the trailer did not match my walking rhythm. It was not just out of sync. It worked against me, making the climb extremely awkward. I put the poles away, moved the trailer in front of me, and pushed it from behind.
Even after the road flattened out, I kept pulling the trailer by hand at my side. That way the rhythms did not collide, and I could move smoothly. Trekking poles and a trailer are both tools meant to help the body. But when used together, they can produce unexpected side effects.
Past Nakatsu, the rain became serious. Through the curtain of rain, the newly planted rice fields looked hazy. I could not find a good place to rest. As I kept walking, pain began to build on both sides of my hips. I waited under the trees at a shrine until the rain eased a little.
It was strange. The soles of my feet, which I had worried about so much beforehand, did not hurt. My knees were fine. My shoulders and back, which had been awful on my previous long walk, were also fine thanks to the trailer. But only my hips hurt. Maybe I had been moving my legs without properly rotating my hips. I slowed down and tried to carry each step with my whole lower body.
As I approached Lake Miyagase, the road became a series of tunnels. There was almost no lighting inside. I took out my Maglite and walked while illuminating the road ahead. The rain gear and the light were working just as they should.
Lake Miyagase looked low on water. After crossing Yamabiko Bridge, I thought for a moment about whether to go into town or keep moving. Considering the time, I had to find a sleeping place within about an hour, so I chose Route 70.
This prefectural road, Route 70, leads toward Yabitsu Pass. It is narrow, and almost no cars use it. Along the stream there are several campsites, but all of them were closed. Maybe the camping boom is over.
At 6:30 p.m., I found a suitable patch of woods beside the road and slipped in. No people, no cars. I set up the hammock and tarp and took a breath inside. My phone battery was down to 30 percent. I thought I would charge it and prepare a post on FB, but there was no signal. Nothing to do about that. I would post it once I had signal the next day. 34 km. For the first day, I had walked well enough.
At 4 a.m., the sky grew light and I woke to an enormous chorus of birds. It was cold. I had been completely wrong to assume it would not drop below 20 degrees. Bringing the aluminum sheet and quilt was the right call. Before sleeping, I had massaged my legs carefully. What I learned was that the pain was not in the joints but in the muscles. The inner thighs. Apparently I do not use that area much on a bicycle. I checked my phone and found it had only charged to 80 percent. Either the power bank did not have enough capacity, or the phone had burned power searching for signal. Probably both.
In the dim morning light, I packed up in 15 minutes. That was when I realized I had no place in the bag for the wet tarp. For the moment, I tucked it under the outer straps. My drinking water was also running low. There were no vending machines here, so I had to use it carefully. In the early morning, Route 70 followed a mountain stream through Kiyokawa, and it felt good. For a while, I could almost forget the pain in my legs. Once the sun came out, I spread the wet tarp and poncho over a landslide-prevention net to dry them. That routine has not changed in ten years.
I was low on water. But I knew there was a spring ahead. Just thinking that made my heavy legs feel a little lighter. When I arrived, someone was already filling a large number of plastic bottles. I said, "Wow, that's something" and he told me that some people even come with two-ton trucks to collect water. Seeing me arrive on foot, he asked where I had come from. "Machida," I said. His eyes widened. "That must be about 50 km."
From there, the trailhead was close. Hikers passed one after another. They were dressed in unmistakable hiking gear, had come by bus to the nearby stop, and were heading for the summit. In minimal clothing and with homemade equipment, I walked straight past the trailhead. I looked a little out of place there.
They had come to climb the mountain. I was passing over it.
After watching the hikers go by, I reached Yabitsu Pass. Elevation 761 meters. No wonder it was cool. I sat on a bench and ate oatmeal, nuts, and protein, and ended up talking with the man at the pass teahouse about travel. I had barely met anyone the day before or that morning, so it was a pleasant time.
From there, it was a 12 km descent. The hikers had come by bus, so I did not see them on the road. Instead, cyclists and trail runners came up in large numbers. I played music from a speaker as a bear deterrent and called out, "Hi," and "Keep going." People really love this. That slope is long and fairly hard.
Around noon, I finally reached the foot of the mountain. It was hot. It was hard to believe I had nearly frozen the night before. I stopped to rest and looked around. The place felt familiar. Right, this was the Kanto Fureai Trail I had walked before. There was a sign too. Nostalgic.
By the time I reached Hadano, the phone was down to 10 percent. Charging came first. I went into KFC and charged it while drinking iced coffee.
I looked at the map and thought about what to do next. I had put the entire setup through its basic tests. I had a rough idea of what to keep, what to replace, and what to modify.
The trailer itself had performed well. Pulling it by hand worked better than fixing it to the waist. The poles were unnecessary in this configuration. The new 40-liter waterproof duffel kept everything dry, but left no spare capacity. Once packed for an overseas journey, there was no room for food bought along the way, nowhere to put a wet tarp, and no easy-access space for rain gear. The power bank needed more capacity. The hips and inner thighs needed more training. The pacing needed revision too.
From here, continuing would only add distance. I had learned what I needed to learn. Recovery came first. I decided to take the train home. The short walking test ended in two days. The distance was 70 km. A decent result.
After I got home, I unloaded the gear and inspected the homemade trailer. No loose bolts. Nothing bent. Nothing broken. It had rolled over smooth pavement, rough pavement, and dirt without trouble. It had also continued operating under sustained rain. The performance matched the design.
Passed.
The trailer was excellent. The worn-out part was my own body.
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