May 23, 2017
KumaKougen to Matsuyama: Lovely ride that ends at a Love Hotel
When I woke up Leigh was busy working away on the laptop at an issue that a client had experienced. While she was waiting for some background processing to complete, she had a quick look on Agoda to see if there was an affordable guesthouse in Matsuyama. Spotting the Liberty hotel going for just 800 ZAR per night (about 6500 JPY) including free WiFi, dinner and breakfast, we jumped at the chance and booked for two nights because we had to catch up on some work which we could only practically do in a guesthouse with decent internet connectivity. Knowing we could only book in after 2 pm we didn’t rush and Leigh carried on working for a while before we made our way to the Circle K konbini for some breakfast. Then it was a start up the climb to the top of the Misaka Pass which topped out at 720 meters above sea level. The climb was barely 200m above KumaKougen and had no downhills on the way so it was pretty easy. Part of the way up where the route 440 splits off from the route 33 (not accessible to cyclists from this point) we spotted a great rest area with shelter and toilets where we really should have spent the previous night. If only we had known about it.
Then it was a downhill glide dropping 600m over twelve kilometers to the outskirts of Matsuyama. One day short of a year ago we had a similar great downhill from Dalat in Vietnam where we dropped almost a 1000m over 15 kilometers, but whereas that day was rainy and misty, today was an absolute beauty with lovely blue skies, warm temperatures and a gentle wind coming off the sea below us.
Once in Matsuyama we set off to look for an electronics shop to buy a replacement adapter from Euro 2 pin to Japanese 2 pin for our chargers – it seems that we had left ours plugged into the bridge in Niyodogawa. It seems that “K’s” is another chain store apart from “Bic Camera” to look for when buying electronic goods, cameras, computers etc and the young assistant helped me promptly and efficiently despite the translation failures. We hunted around for a CoCo or Sukiya for lunch but with no success. So we headed off to the hotel, which by this stage was only a few kilometers away. When we got there – shock and horror !!! It’s a Love Hotel. To top it, we had booked and paid for via Agoda for the next and subsequent day plus the receptionist and I had major difficulties communicating. However, with the help of Google Translate and lots of hand signals we got the booking changed and moved into our room. It is certainly the most luxurious accommodation we have had this far but the unasked for extras certainly made the room interesting. I don’t really mind neither the condoms and lotions next to the bed nor the scarily big vibrator but I don’t like the fact that the room door can only be opened via a telephone call to reception – they do everything they can to ensure guests privacy is protected so this to is to prevent guests inadvertently meeting in the corridors. Even the parking lot has boards with which you can hide the registration plates of your car. Even though internet connection is so slow as to make it useless and everything stinks of cigarette smoke, we certain;y won’t turn our noses up at a love motel/hotel again because they certainly are good value for money.
Today's ride: 43 km (27 miles)
Total: 692 km (430 miles)
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