May 14, 2017
Nara to Kaizuka: Surviving the outskirts of Osaka
We set off this morning with very little idea as to where we would end up. The general plan was to cycle towards the coast and then head eastwards as far as we can get towards Wakayama from where we hope to catch the ferry to Tokushima tomorrow.
We made a few false moves in our navigation down to the coast but after a mixture of cycle track and busy main roads we finally hit route 204 which then took us eastwards. This was also a main road but traffic was light and not at all stressful. In fact the whole day's cycling was mostly stress free given that we were cycling through Japan's second biggest city.
After about 58 kilometers we stopped for lunch at a Sukiya, a fast food chain, for lunch - pork and onions on rice with pickled vegetables on the side - and later used a Familymart's free wifi to check for accomodation in the kilometers ahead. We found a guesthouse called Take Matsu Tei in Kaizuka, about 14 kiolometers further on and decided to head in that direction. Just before we arrived we stopped to do some birding at a little river running into the sea. Some nice birds, including a lifer in Wandering Tattler. We also picked a lifer in Grey-headed Lapwing closer to Nara.
When we got to the guesthouse we asked for a room and haggled a bit and got the bill down from 8000 JPY (eek !) down to 6000 JPY. Still expensive but this is a real Japanese guesthouse with lovely tatami mats and panneled sliding walls and a graveled rock garden.
There is a lovely little beach a couple of hundred meters away from the guesthouse and I guess we really should have wild camped there for the night but this is probably the last bit of luxury we will enjoy for a while so we'l enjoy it while we can.
Today's ride: 73 km (45 miles)
Total: 188 km (117 miles)
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