Saiwaki

October 7, 2018

We had a very productive time working and by yesterday evening we had completed all we had set out to do. For the first time in weeks, I feel I can now relax and forget about work for few days and enjoy the cycling and touring.

So it was off to a Joyfull Restaurant (yes, that's the name of the chain of almost-fast food restaurants) just around the corner from the hotel where we enjoyed steak and chips and used a knife and fork for the first time since we have been in Japan.

When placing our order, the waiter made sure we weren't driving before accepting our order of a beer and a cooler.

This morning's ride was mostly down the rather busy route 10. At Hyuga we turned off to go and have a look at the impressive and rugged cape which has some great rock formations. On the way we spotted this rugby clinic for kids. the Rugby World Cup is being held in Japan next year so there is heightened interest in the sport. Last night we saw a bit of a soap opera based around rugby. There was also a great game of rugby played between the All Blacks (New Zealand's national Team) and the Springboks (South Africa's national team) at Loftus Versveld in Pretoria which the All Blacks won by two points, avenging their two point loss to the Springboks at the Cake Tin in Wellington three weeks earlier.

The cape was quite impressive, although it was a hot and steep climb getting there. The views were worth the hills.

We spent almost three hours on our detour to the cape and by the time we got back onto route 10 is was lunch time and as hot as hell. We had hoped to push on to a campsite about forty five kilometers further on but we stumbled on one just south of Hyuga. Once again it is a long weekend in Japan so we weren't sure if the campsites further south (there are three of which we were aware) would be full or not and given that we could get a site here we copped out and ended the day's ride here.

After setting up the tent and giving the bicycles' chains a good clean we walked down to a little cove where we enjoyed a little paddle in the sea, for which we donned our swim suits for the first time since El Source in Patagonia.

All in all, it was a great relaxing day after a few weeks of working hard.

Today's ride: 45 km (28 miles)
Total: 2,912 km (1,808 miles)

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