Yesterday we didn't cycle, but went out for a day to Mt Aso together with Jan and Christine. Mt Aso is a big active volcano, and it erupted last in October 2016. Until today it's not possible to visit the crater itself, but you can hike around the area and have nice views. It was another fantastic Japan day, with the volcano, some temples and shrines, great food, onsen, nice people and of course great company. Jan and Christine left to Kyoto today, so we continued cycling with full load again, and without seeing our friends at the end of the day; we'll see them again next week in Nagasaki.
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Hiking around Mt Aso, with beautiful views
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| The smoking huge crater of Mt Aso |
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| This shrine at the foot of the crater was severely damaged; not sure if this was because of the eruption, or the heavy 7.1 earthquake in the region last year |
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| Jan and Christine back from their helicopter ride above the crater! |
Aso being in the Mt Aso caldera, well, it was a pleasure to descend into the caldera as I wrote before, but of course once you're down there you also need to get out again! That's the way our day started today, with a climb out of the caldera. There is one opening in the rim, but it's on the west side and we wanted to head (south)east - so east we went. The climb was not as tough as we had expected, and it was extremely beautiful! Today was also a cooler day (we were even cold at times) so that helped too.
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| A fresh looking baby volcano |
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| More volcano landscape... |
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| A view over the rice fields inside the caldera |
Once on top of the caldera again, we had some up and down cycling for a while, and then mostly downhill - oh yes, with some arduous climbs too - still through a truly wonderful environment. The end of our happy 70km today was in Takachiho, famous for its impressive gorge. We've had a lot of fabulous and very green nature so far, young spring nature, very alive, with fresh air, amidst impressive mountains. Japan is inspiring and fascinating us, you just "breathe" this country, you absorb it and it absorbs you as well. In any case, so far we've incredibly enjoyed Japan, today was yet another top wow day, let's hope this continues!
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| Leaving the Aso caldera |
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| Uphill it goes |
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| Almost at the top |
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| Really fantastic countryside cycling, small roads, no traffic, beautiful nature, interesting impressions |
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| More green; after a 360 degree turn, we were on the road below! |
And today, we've also made a very important decision - and purchase: we'll be flying back to Kuala Lumpur on July 7, from Hokkaido! That means, exactly another 51 days left to cycle, explore, enjoy...
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| The Takachiho shrine, one of its smaller buildings, so beautiful |
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| Descending towards the gorge - on foot |
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| Magnificent Takachiho gorge! |
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| Takachiho gorge; this is the gorge wall, with these impressive natural columns |