The past 2 days, the theme continued: wonderful cycling through Japanese natural and rural areas. Both days had a similar profile: half of the distance up, then the other half down. 2 days ago it was around 30km, most of the time slightly up with a few flat and short downhill stretches, then more than 30km mostly down. Yesterday it was twice around 40km, but really very gently uphill. And in both cases, it was through extremely beautiful countryside and nature, following rivers, in deep steep valleys surrounded by greenery. The kind of stuff we really like! There is no way you can enjoy and experience "the real Japan" as well as we do on a bicycle. You'd probably never come to these areas in the first place and if you would (by car), it would go too fast to absorb it all.
 |
Monks - I guess - watching over us as we enter the temple ground
|
 |
| Rice fields everywhere throughout the past days, with nice freshly planted rice on them |
 |
| On the road! |
 |
| Wonderful cycling |
 |
| The last few days cycling was so nice! Notice the haze... It seems we have had haze in every country we cycled through and even Japan get its share! Experiencing this everywhere and often, I think haze will be regular throughout Asia in many years ahead... |
 |
| More scenery |
 |
| So many beautiful places and sights here... |
 |
| Marvellous! |
We also rode through many places full of interesting and fascinating heritage. 2 days ago, after 5' riding already, we were at the beautiful Toko-ji temple, one of the main places to visit in Hagi. Around noon we took our time to ride through Tsuwano, another historic town. Yesterday, the final destination was Iwakuni where we visited the Kintai bridge, a completely wooden construction almost 350 years old.
 |
| Toko-ji temple, with 500 stone lanterns |
 |
| Stone lantern detail |
 |
| A big wooden fish, to call the monks for dinner |
 |
| Entering Tsuwano town |
 |
| Very nice bicycle lane at some roadworks |
When we arrived at our campsite 2 days ago, we met our Dutch cycling friends again. The day before they had gone further than us, but this day they took it easy - and so we met up again at the campsite in Makurase, and we also wild camped together in Iwakuni. The site in Makurase was another official campground that was closed, our fourth like that already. Again, no problem at all, as we had water, toilets, and electricity, plus it was a very nice place with a great view. OK, we had to be satisfied with a cold outdoor shower using a hose, but as it had been a very hot (31C, almost getting used to tropical temperatures again), sweaty, dusty day that really wasn't a problem at all! Yesterday, in Iwakuni, it was not an official campsite, we just camped in the park. When we arrived, we saw Joke and Jurjan at the other side of the river, and we had promised to buy some beer and chips to share if we'd camp at the same place again. So we went to buy the stuff, and by the time we got back, they were nowhere to be seen anymore. So we found ourselves a campsite, had some beer and chips among the 2 of us, to at some point suddenly realise where they'd probably gone. So I jumped on my bicycle, checked that place and sure enough, they were there indeed. We hadn't pitched our tent yet, so we just packed our things together and moved. We had a nice evening together, ate pasta - yep, the real camp food again - did have another beer, and then a good night with a loud frog concert in the background. Easy!
 |
| The impressive wooden bridge, Kintai bridge, about 350 years old and constructed without nails |
 |
| The bridge seen from below |
 |
| Kintai bridge as a whole |
 |
| Iwakuni temple grounds |
 |
| Typical temple entrance |
 |
| The Great Torii in Miyajima |
Today we had a short cycling day, from Iwakuni to Hiroshima. I really look forward to visiting Hiroshima, we've already done Nagasaki and now the other place, probably even more iconic, with the same sad historical event... The route from Iwakuni to Hiroshima is terrible, it's a big busy road, definitely too dangerous to cycle on the road, but with a terrible bicycle lane. I guess, after 4 magnificent days of cycling, we shouldn't complain! We made a side jump to Miyajima island, and visited yet another iconic monument, the Great Torii. Miyajima is absolutely beautiful and an interesting place to visit, although very touristy. We took our time on this island, went to a nature park where we had a simple lunch (our first cup noodles in fact...), wrote the blog post, and then we made our way to Hiroshima where we've booked an Airbnb room for 2 nights! Looking forward to that, a hot shower, a nice tatami room, although we've had really nice nights in our tent out there!
 |
| The menu at the restaurant. Just pick one... |
 |
| Another restaurant, this is how you order: make your choice in the vending machine, pay, get a ticket, get your food. Luckily the dishes were on display, so we knew which buttons to push... |
 |
| Vending machines are literally everywhere in Japan. Jan made an estimation that all the vending machines in Japan together use all the power from one small nuclear plant...!!! |
 |
| A nice campsite, official one, but closed |
 |
| So this is our improvised bathroom, with a nice shower hose |
 |
| And the campsite in Iwakuni, together with Joke and Jurjan |