Okinawa R&R

As I was in Okinawa, a long way from Tokyo with my bike I always wanted to extend my short trip to Miyakojima with a few days exploring the main island of Okinawa.
I flew into Naha and took the highway bus straight up to Nago city in the north. There are parts of the south which are beautiful I am told, and I missed a large number of tourist beaches, but most of the southern half is either developed or US air bases. Okinawa was still under US control until 1972, they used to drive on the righthand side of the road, had the Okinawan dollar and people from the island had to show their passports when flying to Japan! No wonder the locals want rid of the US army altogether these days.
From looking out of the bus window, it didn't seem like I was missing much.
From Nago I had to take another bus 45 mins west around the Motobu peninsula to home for the next few days, On the Beach Lue. I still dont know what it means, but it was a good base for exploring the north of the island.

The Motobu peninsula is great cycling, smooth undulating roads which were extremely low traffic. Great views over the shallow sea, most of the island here is surrounded by coral reef so ideal for diving and snorkelling. The small islands are connected by sometimes km long bridges, which have fantastic views and almost feels like you're cycling over the ocean.
Nakijin jo castle remains is definitely worth a visit if you're in the area. Built around the 13th century, the castle sits high up a mountain and commands a magnificent view over the ocean and islands below, and presumably the flatter land where the commoners lived and farmed the land.

The causeway out to Kouri island was the most impressive, but once on the island I discovered how heavy the short rain showers can be in these parts. Real torrential downpour just appearing from nowhere, but luckily this area has many cafes and restaurants. Blue seal ice cream is the number one ice cream in Okinawa, and this was a good place to try some and a coffee whilst waiting for the torrential showers to pass by.

So 85km round the peninsula on Wednesday, the target for Thursday was a longer ride up the east coast all the way up to Cape Hedo. The eastern road is again incredibly great condition, yet so little traffic possibly less than 10 vehicles along the 40km length? Thats what it felt like at least. The road is mostly inland, undulating and through the dense jungle. Massive ferns, lots of dead snakes on the road, I did manage to see one small live snake before it slithered away. These habu are venomous, and they're quite dangerous if you you get bitten by one of these.
Signs by the road warn "US army, Jungle warfare training area" Several protest signs are along this road referring to the proposed helicopter base, and a couple of activists were camped out half way along this road. From the look of their weather beaten signs, they had obviously been here many years.

Several sections have attractive coastline, and other areas the mangrove trees along the river banks create an idea of a tropical island. The northern cape itself is not so impressive, this ride really was a case of travelling being more enjoyable than the arriving. In total, 160km for the day, and after the previous days 85km it seems recovering from the Miyakojima triathlon has been very quick. But no chance of running just yet, my left calf was still making itself known at times that it was damaged.





Friday was wet, and cold! Hard to believe I needed to wear a fleece in late April, Okinawa but this spring has been very cold and wet in Japan. The other day it snowed in Tokyo, the latest time in the year in over 45 years. So this meant that finally a day of rest was forced on me, and so a great day to visit the Churaumi aquarium. The main attraction here is a HUGE tank containing whale sharks and manta rays. Worth a visit if you're on the island, and on a sunny day it would be great to sunbathe or swim on the artificial beach in the aquarium grounds. A vast reef extends out to sea, it really is quite stunning.

My final day on the island was spent in Naha. I got to the airport early, and checked in my bike case and ruck sack. Its been easy travelling with the bike case, no need to use the takyubin service on this trip as Ive been staying in single locations, not moving between hotels or campsites.

Naha has a monorail which starts at the airport and ends at Shuri, close to Shuri jo which was  successfully reconstructed in 1992, after being destroyed in the second world war. Again definitely worth a visit if you're on the island, but it won't take you long to get around.
In the city, I had heard about the Kokusai dorii, or international street which turned out to be a long road of souvenir shops. Try out the Tsuboya area which is behind the main market, its the pottery area and is where you'll find expensive Shisa lion statues if you haven't bought any of the cheap ones on the main street or anywhere else on the islands yet.

The shisa lions and the music of the sanshin instrument, together with the warmth of the people of Miyakojima will be my main memories of the Okinawan islands, its been a very successful and enjoyable time cycling around the Ryukyu kingdom.