Matsuyama-Shimanami Kaido

The ferry time from Beppu to Matsuyama gets in at the very inconvenient time of 10:20pm. Most people are using the night service to sail to Osaka, but instead I am left with trying to find a suitable camping spot close to the port as the ferry terminal is closing for the night. In the end I spend the night on the cold carpark of temple #52! Of course the inflatable mat helps, but in general this was one of the coldest nights, its really not warmed up much in the past two weeks.
Be warned that camping near a temple means that at 5am there will be lots of bells, visitors and general noise to wake you up if you're not already awake out of discomfort.

So an early start to the day, which is perfect for seeing Matsuyama castle with only the early morning joggers. Another stunning castle set amidst the cherry blossom.

Still early in the day, so I make a stop at Dogo onsen. Its nice to spend some time in this city. When I cycled around the 88 temples of Shikoku I didn't stop at the castle or onsen, but that was mainly due to the huge queues of over an hour to get into the baths as it was golden week.
I broke another spoke in the rear wheel overnight, so I find another super helpful bike mechanic at Umezawa, its here if you need a bike shop in Matsuyama.

One more trip to Ishiteji (temple #51), this is one of the more impressive and memorable temples on the meguri.
I meet a French ohenro san in the grounds, he's walked the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage before, there seems to be a link between the two walks.

Matsuyama is probably my favourite town in Shikoku, but its soon time to move on and this time I take the hilly option along 317 instead of the coastal route over to Imabari. Lakes, cherry blossom and good climbing make this much more interesting than another flat ride along the coast. As I approach the tunnel at the top of the climb, I catch another cyclist on a Trek 7.3fx, except his is blue. We say hello and I tell hime where I'm going, then he takes off while I set up my lights for the tunnel.  A long long descent, and my weight eventually pays off as I catch and pass him once more. At a junction I stop and ponder the map and he stops to tell me the route once more. I was expecting to camp near the same onsen by the michi no eki, several km south of Imabari. But this time, he insists I stay at his house in Imabari, and its not such a difficult decision after sleeping on the carpark last night.
His wife prepares the meal while we go by car to the same onsen I visited 2 years ago, it is a decent place to visit in this area.
We are later joined by his son and grandchildren, neighbours for a generous feast of sashimi, great salad and much sake and shochu meal.  Great opportunity to use my yakusugi sake cups and flask for the first time! I never quite worked out if this meal was already planned or the gathering was for my benefit, but it was a fun night.
Ueoka san is also a cycling henro. His job is sailing the ferry from Hiroshima to Matsuyama, and in summer he cycles to the ferry port. 

In general, his hospitality sums up the spirit of the people in Kyushu and Shikoku who I met along the way. So many people were waving, offering me fruit on the route or schoolgirls trying to take their photo with me made it all seem very special and a world away even from Tokyo.

The next morning after breakfast Ueoka san rode out to the start of the Shimanamikaido where we said our final sayonaras. I really appreciate his "O-settai" (gift for ohenro san), I must remember to send a new years card to the family this year.

So the final stage of my tour was about to start, the Shimanami kaido (Island wave route) Its a series of 6 islands connected by impressive bridges connecting Shikoku to the mainland of Honshu. Its an interesting route, very popular with cyclists as theres over 60km of cyclepath which is very unusual for Japan and of course its all pretty scenic. The ride itself is not so tough, and the incredibly gentle gradients of the bridges make it not so exciting as you don't go so fast on the descents and the climbs are almost too tediously gentle. At times I was very tempted to take the shorter, steeper paths for mopeds, but avoided them only as I might end up on a completely different track.
As the km markers counted down to virtually zero, I realised that the final section of water to cross was not going to be by bridge, but by ferry! Almost felt robbed here, as cycling is not allowed on the final (or first) bridge.


Its a nice way to get to or from Shikoku, so as part of a long tour its definitely an interesting day on the bike, but probably not worth going out there just to do the ride. But that all depends on where you're coming from, and where you're going to.

Takachiho-Aso-Yamanami Highway

After the castle, the next biggest site in Kumamoto is Suzenji park. Its early morning when I pass by and I attempt to ride towards the gates, but the park keepers prevent me getting much further on the bike. I dont want to spend any time walking around here, the real hills are waiting and will be much more rewarding. Im sure its nice place to visit if you're in town.
First convenience store stop of the day when I meet the 445, as its unlikely to find any shops after this point. A group of Sunday morning cyclists is gathered, all buying their calorie mate energy bars, energy gels, pokari sweat drinks and other snacks ready to burn the calories. I tell them Im off to Takachiho, and they all seem amazed - tough route, many mountain passes, long distance. I'm glad I didn't pay too much attention to them, it was a really nice route!
Just beyond the junction of 445 and 218, theres a local legend called the Tsūjun-kyō Bridge. From pictures it seems to be an aqueduct that leaks a massive fountain of water from its central point. But it only does this once a day, at midday for 10 mins. Nice to get a short rest here, but no need to wait another 1.5hr to see the leaking bridge. Still seemed like the crowds were gathering, at least I could get ahead of them and have a quiet road for the next hour or so.

Its a nice ride to Takachiho, and the first info place at a michi-no-eki I pick up a map of the area. I really hate comic maps, not to scale, and this map proved to be the most maddening of all comic maps. Useful info I discovered was that if I were to go to the campsite, they would charge me ¥2500, so no thanks. But bad news was the main onsen in town is closed and under repair, so that will limit the potential for camping in the area.
Takachiho is famous for its deep gorge, and I soon find my heavy bike and luggage being sucked down an ever steepening valley down to the narrow river below which carved through this section of rock. Dont be fooled by the boat trip, its ¥1500 per person and you dont get to paddle up the gorge - just paddle around a pool and get slightly close to the waterfall and main gorge area.

It was after seeing the gorge that I really got annoyed with the comic map. The problem was there seemed to be a loop of roads all very close to each other, but in reality they were all following different contours across the valley and each was around 50m in elevation between them. This made for very frustrating progress, especially when some tourist spots which were only 50m apart had the same space on the map for places up to 6km away. After eventually finding the youth hostel, which turned out to be so far from the town center and at the bottom of the valley, I'd had enough and pedalled out of town on onwards towards Aso.

So that night I slept somewhere along the 325, I found a nice path to the back of a grove of trees with a decent view of the setting sun. No view of Aso san yet, as I had hoped. I found a large cage, must have been a trap for a large animal such as tanuki but nothing went clank in the night.
That extra distance along 325 set me up for a great day up to Aso san, the volcano which sits inside the worlds biggest caldera. So that naturally means you'll get 3 big climbs doing this ride. Up and down into the caldera, up and down Aso san itself, then up and down to exit the caldera, that is unless you take the west exit which appears to be a spot where the giant caldera wall was washed away.
Climbing route 111 is one of the best roads on the tour. Almost zero traffic, gentle 4-5% gradient and amazing views on a day like today. I'm lucky with the wind direction again, as the sulphuric gas is blowing away from the viewing platforms and so the summit is open. I have visited Aso san many years ago by train and bus, but that day the clouds were down, raining and the ropeway was closed so this day was much more memorable.
I stopped at the vistors carpark and took the ropeway to the summit, only to look down on a perfectly decent road winding its way to the top! Yes, its perfectly fine to cycle up this road as well, so save yourself some yen and cycle up this section or you'll be stuck in an omiyagi shop waiting for the next lift up or down!
Impressive crater, but worrying being so close to another active volcano and the concrete shelters which dotted around the visiting area looked very feeble, I really wouldnt want to have to take cover in these huts. But at least the falling ash would warm things up, it was freezing at craters edge.

The descent is sweet, again very gentle 4-5% so never too fast. After Aso village, head east then north onto route 11, the start of the Yamanami (mountain wave!) highway. All the way down Aso and then up and out of the caldera the landscape was quite alien. Blackened trees, blackened bushes and ash everywhere but this wasnt due to the volcano but controlled annual burning of the vegetation by park keepers.
Once you get to the junction of 442, make a detour left 6km to Kurakawa onsen. I agree with the judges who voted this the best onsen town in Japan! Its a high class village, virtually all the buildings are expensive ryokan each hosting spectacular onsen. Some are in caves, most are outdoors, some are mixed bathing and most ryokan will have private onsen if you so wish. You can visit any of them for ¥500 but the best way to visit is to buy a 3 onsen wooden pass. They will take a stamp off the pass and stamp your pass with the seal of the ryokan, so making a nice souvenir. I visited the outstanding Shinmeikan with its interesting cavern system of onsen. The whole place had a very rustic feel, I liked the log fires heating up kettles for green tea.
As the cheapest place to stay was ¥15900, I was happy to cycle a very easy 2.4km over a small hill to the next valley and Shoda onsen, where the minshuku Yumeno-yu is a mere ¥6500. Its massive, has fantastic food, great rooms and the village has many nice rotemburo so a nice alternative to the Kurokawa luxury resort. After evening meal I still had time to cycle back over the hill and sample the waters of Yamabiko ryokan in the moonlight. Todays onsen and minshuku definitely made up for the previous nights cold, cold camping by the roadside.
Still freezing overnight, frost in the morning and so I was able to use up my 3rd onsen stamp at Okunoyu with its riverside rotemburo. Really nice, I was in no hurry to leave this place especially knowing the main asecnt on the yamanami highway was just around the corner!

The rest of Yamanami highway is a really great cycle. I guess its not worth visiting at the weekend or during holiday time, but as this day was neither the traffic was negligible and I soon found myself at the highest point, 1330m. I expected a massive descent from here, but instead there are several more climbs to slow the progress to Yufuin, the next large onsen town (there are many small spots, too many to explore them all!) Yufuin is a nice town, but Im here at lunchtime and for me on a bike tour that means get some food, in this occasion have another outdoor onsen, then cycle on up - a 200m up to get out of Yufuin - then the real massive descent starts all the way to the ocean and Beppu, the town with colourful hot springs (not for bathing), hundreds of onsen and dinosaur themed love hotels.
I had a few hours to kill before my ferry to Matsuyama on Shikoku, so I followed the advice of the information center to cycle over to Hyotan onsen with the hope of taking a hot sand bath. Alas, its Tuesday and the center is closed - but this is Beppu and so only 50 m away theres another onsen which is open. I take a hot steam box sauna , nice rotemburo. The indoor onsen even has TV screens around the bath, but as the pictures are all about tsunami victims and the raising of the Fukushima incident to level 7, it doesnt make for a relaxing time in the bath!

Nagashima-Nagasaki-Kumamoto

I sleep one more night below Sakurajima, this time downwind of the volcano. Luckily the only rumblings in the night were from the Kagoshima ferry.
The previous night I talked to Charinko bike shop owner about the route out of Kagoshima, like any Japanese city its busy roads a plenty but route 3 is the best choice despite appearing like a major route on the map. A gentle 3-4% climb up, then descend down to the west coast with little traffic, but once the highway ends and all roads converge theres little space on this road around Satsuma sendai and the trucks hurtle past at great speed. Unfortunately no alternative roads for this section.
At Nagoshima sunset (thats the name of the hotel) I find an amazing beach with campsite all for myself. I take a swim, and yes its really cold. But still not as cold as Loch Tay in August.
The hotel has an OK onsen, but the sashimi is far more impressive.
This spot was the most impressive on the Nagashima and Unzen-Amakusa islands, which were at least quiet cycling but not as impressive as I had hoped for.
So northwards to Nagasaki for a rest day, as the dry weather I'd had so far was due to change for the next 36 hours so perfect timing for a city break. I stayed at Ebisu youth hostel and met some Dutch cyclists who had cycled from Thailand and had just sailed from Korea to Fukuoka, they turned out to be the only foreign cyclists I would meet on this tour. We wnt to Chinatown for some tasty "Champon" Nagasaki ramen.
Nagasaki is a really interesting place, the Glover gardens are really worth a visit to see how the British entrepreneurs of the 19th century lived as they influenced the development of ship building, coal mining and brewing in Japan.

Of course the city is infamous for the site of the second WMD experiment on a population, and at this time it was eerie to be reading all the radiation stories of the past whilst seeing todays newspaper of people in radiation suits combing the beaches near the stricken Fukushima nuclear reactor. The statue in the Peace park raises the right hand to warn the threat of nuclear weapons, whilst the left hand is level to signify peace throughout the world. Hope no bombs are ever used again, but clearly they'll be more nuclear disasters in the years to come.

After Nagasaki I made the decision to avoid the high road to Unzen as I wanted to save my legs and especially left knee for the hilly days ahead, instead cycling north and around this high mountain. I took the Unzen green line which sounds pleasant, but this is not for cycling. Its a direct road on the map and so attracts heavy trucks and large traffic. But more to the cyclists dismay are the series of steep valleys which the road traverses. Fast descents with cars tailing very close behind, then bottom gear ascents one after another. I soon had enough and headed for the coastal road, only to find this a busy and unpleasant combini/pachinko road. I reckon the long ascent up to Unzen would have been worth it.

I was more interested in reaching Shimabara which had more diverse attractions. Theres a castle, samurai houses, streets lined with streams full of koi carp, reclining buddhas and tea houses to be photographed and blogged. Also, screaming school girls trying to get photographed with gaijin cyclist! Another bonus for the foreigner in these parts.



At Shimabara I took the ferry over to Kumamoto, and saw another of those shiny white castles. But this could be one of the most impressive shiny white castles you'll see, even if its the only thing you do in Kumamoto. The sakura was in full bloom at this time, so the castle was extremely photogenic.

Yakushima

Yakushima is a 4 hour ferry ride south of Kagoshima, or if you prefer a 2.5hr jetfoil at twice the cost. If you're touring, then the ferry is the best option as you can take a shower and bath, use the washing machines and relax while you sail across the seas.
I always like cycling around islands, ocean views and mountainous scenery is always part of the deal and this island has plenty of both. The highest point is 1935m and so being such an obvious mass out at sea it generates enough cloud and rain at the highest points to make it the wettest place in Japan. But head up wind and you're sure of a fine day while the mountaintop is covered in cold mist.

This island is famous for its hiking amongst ancient cedar trees, up to 2600 years old. Yaku-saru and yaku-shika, the islands monkeys and deer which you will find but they're easily startled so the most common sound is the shrill call of the deer before darting away into the deep forest. The forest is the inspiration for the forest in the Studio Ghibli anime movie Princess Mononoke, and one of the trails in the forest is named the Mononoke path.
For cycling, theres an obvious 100km loop of the island. If you really wanted, there are 2 excellent roads up to the main visitor centers of Shirotani unsuikyou 白谷雲水峡 (650m) or Yakusugi lando (1000m) from sea level. They're gradual and never steep, but for these occasions I took the bus up and down the mountain roads. The roads look fantastic, but having energy to enjoy the walking trails are more important here.
The Shirotani walk is described as a 4hr walk on the leaflets, but I found 2 hours to be adequate for this section! The walk is very popular, so it never quite feels like you're away from the crowds, yet its still worth the bus trip up and is certainly a must-do on the island. You'll quickly see some ancient yakusugi with little effort. If you get up here, then the walk up to the lookout at Taikawa rock for an amazing view over the forest top.

Yakusugi refers to cedar trees over 1000 years old, and you can buy souvenirs made from the wood of fallen trees. All the old cedars are protected these days, but there aren't so many left as they were prized building material and in the 16th century cedar wood was taken as far as Osaka and Kyoto to build temples.
After descending by bus and cycling eastwards I met a local couple at a foot spa, which I thought was a normal onsen on the map. They recommend Green Hotel on the northern side of Anbo for a good hot stone bath, then Yakudon restaurant for a meal and campsite beside the restaurant. Great choice! This was one of the best camp spots on this tour, under the banyan trees over looking the sea - shame about the rain but that made it feel like I was really camping for a change.

The next day I took the bus up to Yakusugi-lando. Yes it already sounds like disneylando or any other lando spot in Japan, but here the highlights are the yakusugi and the easy walk around the ancient cedars is impressive. The light rain never stopped whilst I was there, so the umbrella borrowed from the info desk was invaluable, but the mists added to the mystery and atmosphere of this mountain scenery.
However, I again got round this walk in short time, and had to wait several hours in the open vistors center. Theres no heating of any kind here, the doors and windows are wide open and it so cold I was shivering before the bus arrived to take me down the mountain. In hindsight, I should have taken the bus higher up the mountain to the Kigen sugi as I would have been on the warm bus and dry.
Back on the bike, I passed by Hirauchi onsen. This is a warm rock pool by the sea, and is only available at low tide! I didnt use it as I still had some more km to pedal, and couldnt take a photo as the locals were clearly against this.
Kurio is a nice spot on the coast, and the youth travel village is a really good camping spot. Hot showers, plenty of cooking facilities but I went for the only soba restaurant in the area where I met a couple of Korean and Kagoshima medical students who are here on holiday. Kurio is one of several turtle nesting spots on the island, but the season is May to August so we dont find any down at the beach this evening.
Oh yes, if you stay at the Youth village, then you'll be woken at 6am by loud music resembling the "reveille" call they play at American summer camps. No problem when camping as I'm used to waking before dawn.
Its a coldish start, and as I head round the western section of the island, I find many yakusaru monkeys warming themselves in the morning light. This rindo is by far the best section of road on the island, zero cars to scare away the monkeys and deer and after a long climb up there are gentle undulations which drift down to the north of the island, via a banyan grove and more beautiful sea turtle nesting beaches back to the ferry port of Miyanoura.

Its climbing out of Shitoko that my rear wheel finally gives up - I first realised that the rim had split the previous night in Anbo, yet somehow I've cycled half way around this island, up and down narrow rindos and at some speed, but a small puncture occurs and I have to walk the final 4.5km to the ferry. Could have been so much worse, I had set off in the morning expecting to hitch back to port but glad to have got back by my own effort.

Yakushima was another highlight of this tour, if you go make sure its in May-August when the turtles are nesting and it should be warmer in the mountains. It will still be wet whatever time of year you go, but that really only applies to the mountain tops.

Miyazaki - Kagoshima

Day 1 of the tour started with an astounding flight from Tokyo Haneda to Miyazaki airport, clear skies and great views over Tokyo, Yokohama bay, Shonan beach and of course Mount Fuji and the 5 lakes. Later we flew over Muroto misaki, the south eastern cape of Shikoku which was clearly visible below. I had hoped for this, choosing the window seat on the right hand side of the plane, but hadn't thought the views would be so perfect. No need for any in flight film today!

Touchdown in Miyazaki, and I unpacked my cardboard bike box and assembled the bike. The box was a real help to carry the tent and made it really easy to transport the bike by bus from Fuchu to Haneda, and I could fold the box into a neat pile and hand it to the girl at the information desk, she seemed happy to accept it at least!
April 1st, and I almost became a major April Fool in the first 10km as I discovered a flat front tyre. I'd torn the valve pumping up the tyre, so this tube was useless. Replace it with a spare. Pump it up. Discover I've torn another valve, so another destroyed tube! All I can do is replace with my final spare, and hope to pump up the tube without ripping the valve again. I manage this, of course I'm aware I have no spares now so any future tyre trouble will cause a major delay. (I find spares in a small shop in Nichinan, south of Udo Jingu, and of course they have a track pump to boot)

The first tourist spot on the route 20 south is Aoshima. Its a small island linked to the mainland by a narrow sand causeway, but the distinctive sight here is the washboard rock formations around the causeway. Nice place to have a brief rest, but no more than 5mins I'd say. As I continued south, I discovered the washboard rock formation to be quite common here. 

Far more interesting and impressive is Udo jingu, 25km further south. Theres a shrine set in a cave above a cliff face, its an impressive sight as you walk beside the ocean and down the steps to the cave opening. As well as the usual souvenirs and good luck charms, this temple has the unique money making scam (over cynical perhaps) of throwing "undama", luck stones, into a sea water filled cavity on top of a rock below. It looks far away, and its made even more difficult as men are supposed to throw with their left hand. So I took the first of my 5 stones, and had to throw like a girl at the target below. Bulls eye! Big cheers from all around, but after that I failed to get close again. I will have to find out whether this means its winner takes all, and I get 100% of wishes come true, or will it be 20% of wishes for marriage and childbirth will come true in the future?

Route 220 has not been unpleasant so far, but once south of Nango and the road becomes the 448 does the road become really spectacular and special. Palm trees, huge beaches, terraced rice fields - some of the scenes reminded me of Bali. Very little traffic and its really worth taking the road out to Cape toi, more stunning scenery and this peninsula is famous for its wild horses. The trees were cleared from the area to provide grazing land for the horses of samurai. The samurai have gone, but the horses remain, though they are not particularly wild. Interesting discovery for me was the meaning of "ema" , the wooden board seen hanging outside many temples with wishes or prayers. In kanji, 絵馬 is picture and horse, picture of a horse! Once upon a time samurai would give real horses to a temple for payment, luck etc but as this was rather expensive the next best thing was to leave a picture of a horse at a temple instead of a real one. 

First night, first onsen at Kushima Onsen not so far beyond Cape Toi. This is my usual plan for Japan touring, see how far the ride is taking me, then look for an onsen on the map for a clean, meal and hopefully a flat comfy camping spot nearby!

The next day I rejoin route 220 and head west. Really a connection road, its not pleasant at all and full of pachinko parlours and family marts all the way to Kagoshima bay. Not a recommended route, but it gets me from A to B and I'm soon close to Sakurajima, the goal for the day.
I stop at a very rustic ramen shop for lunch, outside toilet and old furniture inside. I noticed how dirty their car was as well, these people didnt seem to adhere to the usual Japanese standards of cleanliness.  Further down the road, I notice other cars are dirty as well, then the pavement and even flowerbeds are grey coloured. I'd forgotten about the goal of the day, Sakurajima, being an extremely active volcano - this was all volcanic ash falling from the as yet out of sight volcano! I pass by houses with bags of ash, I assume to be collected by the council in the same way as PET bottles or aluminium collection days. All depends on which way the wind is blowing!
The approach to Sakurajima form the south is impressive as you see it across the bay with hundreds of fishing boats and the odd volcanic landscape. I stop at the main viewing spot for the active part of the volcano, and theres a fair cloud of smoke spewing from the scarred face. I even hear a roar like thunder from one of these eruptions, quite glad the wind is from the south today.
At the visitors center theres plenty to discover about the volcano, and enough to make you wonder about the most recent eruptions and whether its wise to camp within dustfall of the beast. Next to the vistors center is Magma onsen. Great onsen, with washing machines (so useful when touring), but no food here so you'll need to go to the supermarket, or just hop on the ferry to Kagoshima - it runs 24 hours a day and is only ¥250 so camping here is a great money saving tip for visiting Kagoshima city!

BTW, if you need a bike shop in town, try Charinko This guy saved my tour after my return from Yakushima by replacing a failed rim with a brand new rim, taken from a new bike for sale. Yes, after he couldnt find a rim of the right size and spoke count in his collection, he took apart a wheel from one bike and rebuilt me a new wheel in just over an hour for ¥6000! I thought it was a great deal, I would have paid more to keep me on the road, but he was happy to help a fellow cyclist continue to enjoy the roads of Kyushu.

Kyushu

This gives an overview of my final tour in Japan, a ride planned at the beginning of the year when the biggest natural disaster in Japan was the volcanic activity of Shinmoedake (same volcano as used by Blofelds hideout in "You Only Live Twice"). This volcano was spewing ash on the immediate area, and causing disruptions to airports in Kyushu in the same manner as the Icelandic volcano closed airports in Europe last year. Originally this area was on my wishlist of places to visit as its a great hiking area crossing the caldera tops, but right now its out of bounds.
Overall, I saw plenty of the island all at a very comfortable pace, stopped at plenty of sights and enjoyed the local food and hospitality. People really were waving, saying hello, giving me fruit and taking their photo of me, it really was a different experience to riding around the central belt of Japan.