Mercure Hotel, Kushimoto to Shingu

April 21, 2025

All too soon, it is time to move on from our stay at the Mercure Wakayama Kushimoto Resort. Over the two days of staying here, we have visited the Onsen three times, given our trikes a much needed rest, frequented the lounge for complimentary beverages, snacks & people watching and mainly just relaxed and enjoyed where we were. Nonetheless, reality calls and we must, and want 🥴, to get back on the road. After all, more wonders of Japan await us.

We stayed at a Mercure on Kyushu last year. It was the exact design and vintage as this hotel with similar guest room design, complimentary lounge access, a few style differences and upgraded with a large superb Onsen with relaxation spaces.

The scattered stones are debris of the Hashigui-Iowa Rocks which were carried away by a Tsunami.

These rocks are registered as a World Heritage site. We had read about them and found that seeing them up close exceeded our expectations. They are magnificent. Japanese people love to take photos and they offered to take ours so that we could be together in the photo…arigato!

It is difficult to capture in a photo what we have experienced. The rocks have such character and represent an historic event which created them.

Many Japanese people were touring this site. The children were having a great time playing in the mud and the adults were wandering amongst the scattered rocks and the incredible rock formations soaking in the historic beauty of this natural phenomenon.

The sheer size of this straight line of vertical rocks is impressive with a width of 15m and covering a length of 900m.

We are riding in Wakayama Prefecture and this section also known as the Wakayama 800 is a part of the complete route, the Pacific Cycling Road which covers 1400 km from Osaka to Tokyo through a number of prefectures.

We are in orange country and they are in season….juicy and sweet. Many products are made, but our favourite is the orange jelly. Delicious.

Further along, past the Hashigui-Iowa Rocks is another rock feature.

This rock is also a popular sight. Barry remarked that it looks like a whale with a bad haircut. It is quite striking that the hole on the left, created over time, looks like an eye.

Pachinko is super popular in Japan and it seems that every town, regardless of its size, has a Pachinko Parlour. We tried to go into one but the noise from the machines and the bright lights was a bit too stimulating for us. But, what do we know?….people love it. The sign for this one, Parlour Tomato, made us chuckle.

We are so lucky to be here at this time of year. Starting with Sakura (Cherry Blossom season) and now with rhododendrons blooming along the roadside. They have been groomed to grow into a continuous hedge.

The Pacific Coast is superb to ride alongside with rock formations, water that is often aquamarine in colour and much bird life.

A Japanese Inn with a Buddha, looking very well fed at the front door.

It is sobering to ride alongside the sea with constant signage warning of tsunamis. The signs show the elevation of the road and advise that you should run inland to higher elevation or if possible seek a tsunami shelter along the roadside. This building has incorporated a tsunami shelter on the end with a staircase built in.

Tsunamis are something to be aware of when in Japan, but active volcanoes are equally dangerous. We were struck by this image of a volcano eruption on this building.

Fishing is the lifeblood and a passion in Japan.

Ideal…a village with the fishing vessels in front of the houses.

We came upon these incredible rock faces, timeworn and showing much character.

Such intricate designs in these rocks, courtesy of Mother Nature.

Nanban chicken for lunch with its delicious sauce. Many Konbinis are offering some food that is made in house. It is so good and fresh.

Is it just us? The lighter coloured sections look like cauliflower to us.

This cave goes quite deep into the rock.

A grocery store in Taiji with a whale logo above the door. Guessing that they serve whale here. We respect the different cultural choices of where we visit but we can’t bring ourselves to eat whale meat.

We noticed this shrine on our map and we went to check it out. Glad we did, it is a must see.

Asuka-Jinnah Shrine, a beautiful shrine and very popular with lots of visitors.

The very important water feature where you cleanse your hands before proceeding.

You can get these to write a message with their wishes written on it and hang it on the board or take it home with you. Shrines often have a theme…this shrine’s is about whales.

The photos below were taken at Taiji Port. Fishers are bringing in their catch.

The Whale Museum is an important destination for many Japanese to visit. We didn’t have time to stop.

More rhododendrons in bloom. Ours at home are probably in full bloom as well

The mascot for the Wakayama 800, a leg of the Pacific Coast Ride.

We met this young family as they were going to visit the Whale Museum. The young fellow was very intrigued by my trike. The father was originally from Ukraine.

All along the Pacific Coast, we see people fishing from the rocks or piers.

In I go…another tunnel in this incredibly hilly and mountainous area of Japan. This tunnel is only for cyclists and pedestrians. Nice.

We ride through many tunnels and we do enjoy them. We know many cyclists prefer to avoid them. We like that on a hot day they are cool and it also lets you avoid a monster climb. My feeling is that I’d rather go through it than over it on long days.

A lovely mosaic representative of the area.

We are near our destination and decided to stop at this electronics store. We need a few things like personal fans for hot days and a massage gun for our aches and pains. Somehow we have misplaced our beloved Bob and Brad gun…oh well.

We bought the fan pictured above. A nice feature is that you can wear it around your neck and the fan head will fold upwards, giving relief while we ride. Barry’s iPhone was run over by 1 or more fork lifts when we boarded the ferry to Okinawa on the previous trip. It survived but it is slowly becoming unusable. Unfortunately the store had no iPhones in stock. We can get by with mine for now.

Japanese electronics stores are full of interesting products like these dishwashers.

We came out and were greeted by this fellow who is wearing an “I can’y speak English” t-shirt. He has a terrific sense of humour. He has been studying English and speaks well. His theory is that if he wears this t-shirt he will meet visitors who will talk to him. Much laughter was shared with this lovely fellow called Mickey…as he said, just like Mickey Mouse.

Today's ride: 51 km (32 miles)
Total: 364 km (226 miles)

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