Last night, after after a delicious dinner and time to reflect on the events of the day, we got to work and came up with a new plan. The frustration of a motor that works when you least expect it is getting to both of us. We could ride back to Shibushi and take the ferry to Osaka. That means backtracking and we would prefer to have new experiences. We will abandon our original plan of exploring the western coast of Kyushu for another trip. Thanks to the map we got from Tomo, we are going to head north along the coast to Akune then carry on to Izumi and spend the night. From there we will take a route across to the east coast to Miyazaki and proceed to Kobe by ferry.
Love getting maps…even though online maps like google maps are terrific, for us, nothing beats a paper map.
Our route from coast to coast. The map lacks detail, such as what roads to take, etc. Trying to get the research done before we leave tomorrow as we may be wild camping.
This will position us close to Osaka and our mechanic Yoshi who has the expertise to fix the problem. From there, we will carry on. That plan will come to us later.
What a great beginning for breakfast.That’s a poached farm egg floating in the miso soup.
We don’t know what these wee dried fish are called but they are crunchy and flavourful. It can be a bit unnerving to make eye contact with the food you’re eating, but we got past that!
Tomo’s mom is in charge and she shares her daughter’s sense of humour. She is the same age as us, born in 1954, yet she still has dark hair. It has been delightful to spend time with her.
This is a link to the Minshuku we stayed at the last 2 nights. It describes the bikes that they rent and that you may shower, use the Onsen etc after your ride. The image ties in their love of French bulldogs and bikes.
The problem with sidewalks in this area is that they vary from smooth surface to cracked overgrown pavement to disappearing like this spot here. It’s a tight squeeze but we made it.
We made pretty good time getting to Izumi and settled in to our hotel. Our room is called a semi, small double which means that it is super small and the bed is a large twin. There isn’t room to walk past each other so you must plan ahead if you need the bathroom or just to get up.
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We have a good view of the train station. Shinkansens run on the upper tracks where the big glass windows are and the local trains are at ground level. There are huge hills behind the train stations and that is where we are heading when we leave here. Looks like the storm is coming.
You may have noticed in our photos that it seems to be raining. It turns out we are in for a bit of a very bad storm with very strong winds and heavy rain. The reports indicate that riding for the next few days would be a bad idea, so we will stay here for a few more days.
Update.. the forecast just got worse with daily rainfall exceeding 100 mm and wind exceeding 56 Km/hr. The good news is that they are upgrading us to a room twice the size for the 3rd night at a lower price. It is incredible to have a bed that is actually meant for 2 people, we have room to walk around and we have a comfortable chair! Barry thinks our previous room has bragging rights to be the smallest hotel room in Japan and he may have a point.
Today's ride: 45 km (28 miles) Total: 377 km (234 miles)
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Scott AndersonI’m sure you’re both very disappointed by this, but it sounds like you’re doing the smart thing to me. Reply to this comment 1 year ago
1 year ago