WELL where do I begin? First day on my own and I decided to skip doing Sakurajima again and go around the coast north of it. After running into Max who I'd met a few days ago, I took off. First stop was Joyfull for breakfast where I met Hirotaka who I told about my trip to his amazement. Very nice guy! I stopped at A-Z which is a hyperstore and holy moly I have never seen a store this big. They had everything! I got new straps for my bag. After that I headed down the coast and then cut inland to go to the Kihoku observatory. It was a 600m climb straight up, most of which I had to walk because it was too steep. Overcoming the hardest climb I'd ever done, I was happy to know I was almost there. Well, it turns out after climbing inland some more, some construction workers stopped me and told me there was a closed gate ahead and I'd have to go around. That round trip made me go back down 200m of elevation lost just to climb up again even further on the other side. The final climb was gruelling, not only was it too steep to ride but it was almost too steep to walk. I made it to Kihoku as the sun was setting and it was the greatest reward ever. That has got to be top 10 sunsets of all time that I've witnessed. After that I ate my dinner and backtracked slightly to a pack which should have a great sunrise view. Hardest day by far so far. But memories gained!