Sasebo, so beautiful they made us stay longer

So my stay in Sasebo (see last blog) lasted longer than expected, we were due to sail on the Monday, but we wouldn't sail for another 9 days, so we pretty much had 2 weeks alongside. Not that I'm complaining of course, unless it scuppered stuff I was planning later on down the line.

This gave me more time to get out and about both running and being a general tourist. Sasebo is a wonderful place, and I can tell you I'd be happy to be drafted here if there were ever an opportunity of a draft for me. Alas I can't ever see that happening. The Americans have it so good here I can tell you and they are definitely looked after better than we are.

One of the many Torii's about the city.

I did a couple of runs just out side the base through the streets, making note of where things were to go see later. The streets and traffic aren't that busy here, although the traffic lights take forever to change. The area here is pretty safe and I would say you'd have no worries bimbling about at night on your Jack Jones.

I enjoyed the local food, nightlife as well as just being able to chill out on the base if I wanted. It was a shame to leave, however we still have a job to do elsewhere. It would be nice to visit this part of Japan again one day although I'm not sure if that will happen. Who knows!

Delicious Pork Ramen

I decided on one of the days after work to get myself off the streets and back up another mountain. I had a little google and tried to find the nearest accessible one. Luckily there was one in running distance away from the base.

I got myself to the base and started the long climb up, over 1800 ft of climb from bottom to top. The weather was a little over cast, but wasn't looking at raining. The views on the way up (and down) were amazing, but alas when I got to the top the clouds were low, so the spectacular view I was hoping for were dashed.

View on the way up to Mt Eboshi

There was some interesting things at the top, I'm not entirely sure what they were all about though. The route to the top was interesting once I got as far as I could by road, it changed to trail. It was a long steep climb over wet rocks and wet ground. I was glad I went with my trail shoe option I had with me, they can cope with some tarmac but they came into their own on the wet rocks and trail.

I eventually made it to the top and as I said the views were a little disappointing thanks to the cloud however I was glad I made it up there. After taking the usual pictures I made my descent back down. It was a little easier to run down the trail but too far more concentration over the rocks.

At the top of Mt Eboshi

I plodded my way back down the road until I finished at the bottom. Pretty pleased with myself, the temperature although warm and humid wasn't ridiculous like some previous runs. It was still hard work. I finished off the Mandarin Tailwind I had in my bottle and got myself back to the ship. Using the walk back from the gates to the ship as a warm down. I grabbed a Grape flavoured Fanta from one of the many vending machines to refresh my thirst as I bimbled back.

Fuelled by Mandarin Tailwind 

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed my stay in Japan, it's a wonderful country and highly recommend it to any one.

I've also got round to finishing off my first running video of the trip. I'm not claiming to be as good as my friend Guillaume aka Runexplorer (his films are amazing!), I know I've still a lot to learn when it comes to shooting and editing, but it was fun creating. Here is the link to it, if you fancy watching Far Eastern Adventure Part 1. Also finished my second video which features both mountain runs which you find here Far Eastern Adventure Part 2.

Thirsty work this running malarky.

Alas my stay has finally come to an end, and we're off back to sea once more. My adventure continues somewhere else, the question is where? Who knows cos I at this point do not know LOL.

Thanks to the continued support from Tailwind Nutrition UK it's an honour to be one of their Trailblazers.

Until next time
Owain
#GoTailwind #TailwindTrailblazer