Noshiro

September 5, 2018

Typhoon Jedi passed by Odate without much fanfare last night. Further south there was much more chaos with a number of people losing their lives and lots of damage done to buildings, vehicles, ships and infrastructure. Wind speeds at landfall near Osaka were apparently in excess of two hundred kilometers per hour. We experienced a bit of wind and rain but we mostly slept through it all.

We got away late in the day, only at ten o'clock, because we worked for a while before tucking into the buffet breakfast at the hotel. I'm note sure that they are used to cycle tourists but we had full helpings of the western fare as well as the Japanese food. They also through in a free bowl of ramen last night so all in all we got a good deal.

Once we hit the road it was mostly a hard slog down the route 7 into a strong headwind, the hangover of the typhoon. Every now and then we managed to detour onto a quieter road but even when on route 7 the traffic wasn't too bad. The best of of the last few days has been the lack of rain. It feels like we are cycle touring again and not just trying to avoid the weather. That might change in a few day's time but right now we we are enjoying the sunshine.

At Futatsui we found an enormous and very posh michi-no-eki. It had some great exhibits, all in Japanese unfortunately. Certainly the most impressive we have encountered so far.

Here we turned westwards off route 7 for a lovely quiet ride for the last twenty kilometers into Noshiro.

This cycle tourist was still sleeping under this bridge between Futatsui and Noshiro at two o'clock in the afternoon. He must have had a hard night!

We found a great place to camp behind a hibiscus hedge in park near the river with a konbini right next to it and an onsen three kilometers away. What more can one ask for ?

Today's ride: 69 km (43 miles)
Total: 1,496 km (929 miles)

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Teisuke SugawaraNice photo of sleeping cyclist!!
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6 years ago

John SaxbyHey, Jean-Marc, glad to know that you guys are OK. We heard the reports of the typhoon with its 200 km/h winds, but didn't know where those were or where you are. If you slept through it all, you chose your shelter well!

Safe journeys, John Saxby
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6 years ago

Jean-Marc StrydomTo John SaxbyHi John

Thank you. We probably would have been safe camping but thought it would be prudent to check into a hotel. In the end it made for a better night's rest.

Regards
Jean-Marc
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6 years ago