We were not in a hurry to leave the hostel. It was a nice place, yes, but also we knew we had a relatively short day ahead. As we left the people came out to wave us goodbye, and we left happily and refuelled. We knew we had about 15km to go along a major road, which all together was not too bad. After 15km we left the busy road, and started cycling along R33. From then onwards, it became really wonderful. We followed a route suggested by
Japan Cycling, a website that gives routes and route descriptions for cycling through Japan. I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have followed that inland route without that site, as it is a bit longer and less obvious, but wow, what a fantastic route!
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Very typical Japanese rural scenery
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| More beautiful typical Japanese scenery |
It's gently snaking between hills and mountains, but with limited climbing (so far at least), going on good and quiet roads, through small, typical, scenic villages, surrounded by a lot of green nature. We really enjoyed the first couple of days cycling in Japan, then had some lesser days around the bigger cities, but this was 100% wonderful again! After a bit more than 50km we came to the Akiyoshido caves, and went for a visit which was well worth it. From there, it was a few km to a campsite. The few km sounds easy, but it included one of the heaviest climbs we've had; around 1km long, but with on average around 11% uphill! Ouch! I made it, but it was very hard work. The reward was big however, as we came to a marvellous remote campsite, beautiful nature, nobody else around, warm showers, ... All you need!
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| At the entrance of the Akiyoshido cave |
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| Inside the cave |
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| An impression of the cave, it was a 1km long walking path |
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| Our wonderful campsite |
A bit later another cycling couple arrived, Joke and Jurjan from Holland. Nice, we meet so little other cyclists, and here we met some, also camping, also cycling Japan, and even also speaking our own language! After warm showers and dinners we chatted away until it became too cold, it was a nice evening.
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| Cycling on the karst plateau |
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| Goose bumps! |
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| Joke and Jurjan, encounter just before Hagi |
Today was another lovely day, and even shorter. We planned to go until Hagi, a good 40km further, which seemed to be an interesting historical city. So again, we were not in a hurry to leave in the morning, 2 cups of coffee were also fine, and then enjoyed easy cycling. We started by cycling over the Akiyoshidai karst plateau, truly wonderful, and responsible for several goose bump moments!!! From there it was beautiful cycling all the way to Hagi. Just before Hagi we met Joke and Jurjan again, stopped at the same supermarket for our groceries, but they then took another way as they would cycle still a little beyond Hagi. We went straight into the town and did some sightseeing on our bike. Hagi is indeed very interesting and pretty, it's 100's of years old and has not been destroyed by wars and natural disasters, it's heritage has been very well preserved.
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| Cycling through historic Hagi |
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| At the castle wall |
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| Well wishes at a shrine |
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| Shrine entrance |
We took our time to enjoy the city, then started to look for a place to pitch our tent for the night. We found a nice park, just outside of town, on a hill overlooking Hagi; once we were at the top part of the park, we found a nice spot, took our time to have a drink, a snack, our dinner, and wash a little (with the water from a small creek), then pitched our tent once it was almost dark. Ready for another nice night in the tent!
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| Sunset view from our campsite |
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| Night view from our campsite |
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| 9000km in the pocket, now getting ready for the big one! |