Yesterday’s ride bordered on being perfect…we unwittingly created a bike route on Ride with GPS that took us on blissfully quiet routes with little or no traffic, alongside rice fields and the bonus was finding an open air museum we didn’t know existed. And of course, not to forget that we started our day at the impressive Usa Jingu Shrine.Today we head to Kitakyushu.
Once again R9, The Yard, provided us with a restful sleep and dinner, all for $52 Cdn. Its minimalist room size can be a challenge for 6’2” Barry but we have solved that by getting a twin room which gives him some much needed room to stretch out.
Japan sometimes reminds us of Holland with the multitude of small bridges across inlets and small rivers. Here, the bridges are often beautified with features like this.
I was waiting for Barry and this fellow came by to introduce himself and ask about our trip. We had a good chat with both of us using our limited language in the other’s language. He was excited to share that he had lived in Vancouver for a year at a home stay. His partner joined us and I loved her cat jacket. It was a pleasure to meet Yugi and Yuko.
Kyushu has developed a number of cycling routes and the signage is excellent. When the sidewalk disappears or is not very good, blue painted lines have been added along the road. We also saw this when we rode around Lake Biwa, northern Honshu and Shiminami Kaido.
And Barry made a friend….this grasshopper jumped on his trike and then hopped onto his hand. Barry rode to a grassy area and he said farewell and released the grasshopper.
Yeah, we have come upon our first Michi no Eki of this trip. Good, local food is always available at these places. We have been seeing and hearing fighter jets flying overhead doing training runs since yesterday at our accommodation. The plane on display is part of a park at the Michi since the Base is nearby.
It is a father and 2 daughters who run this cafe. He spoke some English and he welcomed us with much hospitality and humour. We ordered some noodles for lunch. He and his daughter kept giving us treats for our ride…Inigari and crunchy cracker treats.
Japanese temples and shrine are intrinsic to a neighbourhood. It is typical to see small shrines in the midst of houses as their daily routine include visiting one.
School is out for the day which means enthusiastic children and teens will be running alongside us talking to us and rapidly waving. We stopped and visited with these kids and their excited dog.
Yeah, we have been making our way through the back streets of Yukahashi city and we came upon this bike shop. We have been needing to pump up our tires.
The owner was so helpful and insisted on pumping our tires…all 6 of them. In reading his website, we learned that he has come to the rescue of many riders. As well, he visits areas to extend his services further.
As we got closer to Kitakyushu the ride became more challenging. The city’s streets are generally not on a grid system and the roads seem to not connect as we needed them to. We were trying to avoid the main roads as the traffic was crazy. We were constantly going up roads that led nowhere or required navigating stairs to proceed. It was frustrating and time consuming. So many hills. We finally reached our hotel in the dark, tired and more than ready to call it a day and my knees were a mess and we gratefully went to our room and wondered at how it could all go so wrong. Nonetheless, we made it. Thank goodness we chose at a hotel with an Onsen. Once we check in, that will be what we do first.
The women at the Nishitetsu Inn Kokura are problem solvers and we were very grateful that a team of them found us a spot for our trikes in the lobby. They took great care in protecting them with screens pulled down over them. Arigato gozaimasu!
