Japan 2024 Kyushu - Week III

After a couple of drizzle days, awaking and looking out the hotel window at the smoking volcano of Sakurajima brought joy. The sun had returned. I had devised a route mostly on small and minor roads that went across the grain of the country. We often rode through woodland and then dropped down into small valleys with farms. Sometimes, we followed rivers, but mainly we encountered minimal traffic and through picturesque countryside. We rode just over 60km and we made a minor detour to reach the Omotochaya soba restaurant in Iriki. The few tables were all taken, so we sat down on tatami for lunch. I am quite keen on zaru (cold) soba that is served with a dipping sauce. On the side, a plate fresh tempura rounded out the splendid meal.

We were still licking our chops, when we pulled into nearby  Iriki-Fumoto that was once a Samurai town. We had a look around at the vestiges of another era including the Old Masuda Residence.  A few kilometres on, we reached Green Hill Hotel and Golf Club. The room was nice, it overlooked the golf course and there were instructions on how to watch Korean TV stations. The hotel had a kaiseki (multi-course) meal offering, so we opted to ride the sidewalk down the hill on the busy #42 to the nearby roadside station for a light meal before dark. The hotel with its large capacity in the middle of nowhere had low rates, and its onsen was well regarded. We went for a soak early evening; the onsen had a number of pools but I especially enjoyed the outside option. Our ride day totalled 73km with 650m of ascent and 1150m of descent, with a net loss of about 500m.

Green Hill put out a pretty good breakfast buffet that included Japanese curry on offer. I succumbed to temptation. Over the course of the trip, I had curry for breakfast a few times and each time I would burp it up hours later. Each time, I promised not to eat it for breakfast again.  We rolled down the #42 sidewalk and we were quickly back on minor rural roads. We rode the #36 and then shifted over to the #304. There were a few hills and navigation was easy, except that I missed a turn about 20km into the ride, but it didn't matter much. Our route intersected our first Kyushu ride in Hioki. On our first trip, we had lunch at the Shiva restaurant in 2019, and we had a look in the window this time around. It was too early in the day for lunch, but the owner came out and we had a chat. We rode through the centre of Hioki City and out on #37 that turned out to carry moderate levels of traffic. However, we were back on smaller roads at km32 into the day. The minor roads lead us to the Northern end  of the "turtle trail" (turtles were on the signage), the 24km long Kaseda-Hiyoshi cycle path (aka Fukiagehama Cycling Road), that was a former railway. The turtle trail started out right along the coast, but railway lines are built to haul goods and people, not to maximize coastal views. It was a relaxing, mostly inland ride. We encountered a few dog walkers but no other cyclists. 

The scenery improved when we reached the Manoose River and we crossed the Sunset Bridge in broad daylight. That was at the Southern terminus of the bike trail and we ventured over to the Bansei Tokkō Peace Museum. It seems that war museums are called peace museums in Japan. Good on them. The Bansei Tokkō focused on the young kamikaze pilots and their personal lives. It was very human. However, we were getting hungry and we dashed over to Manrei Ramen for lunch. Naturally, we rode the small roads to get there as it was on a main road. We were warmly welcomed and we knew right away that they don't see many foreigners at the counter. We all had a giggle and when we left, some of the staff came out to see us off. It was very nice.

It turned out that we had more rail trail to reach Kaseda and we were in town about an hour before check-in time, so we had a look around town and found an old gate and some ancient temple guardians. Kaseda was clearly not a tourist destination, but we found the central area to be quite pleasant. We stayed at the Yoshiyo Hotel and the staff insisted that we park our bikes in the lobby area. A young guy appeared and he explained a few things to us in English. Then we dashed off to the simple bath house. Earlier on, we had stopped in at the Pico supermarket and the Indian restaurant across from it called to us. So, in the evening, we walked over to the Namaste  restaurant for dinner. We had noticed that Indian restaurants in Japan excelled at making nan, and the Namaste was no exception. Esssentially, the curries are dipping sauces for the nan, so they tend to be saucy without much in the way of meat or vegetables. That day, we rode 72km with 1,100m of  ascent

We were in for a treat on November 19; the Makurazaki coast ride. The breakfast room at the Yoshiho Hotel was busy at 6:30 as they served up trays for people who looked like they were starting work at 7:00 or 7:30am. We were in the second setting at 7:00am and we ate a solid breakfast, but we skipped the natto (fermented soybeans). As we were getting organized to leave, the receptionist and server presented us with goodie bags, which we thought was ever so sweet. Now  we have a soft spot for Kaseda. We rode out of Kaseda on the rail trail and crossed over the #226 to reach the small roads behind Manrei Ramen to reach the Kaseda Port area. The Japanese coastline is covered in protective cement barriers to prevent further erosion. There in the port area, they had huge molds  where they making concrete tetrapods. Further west we reached a building shaped like a whale  that was built to honour the memory of 14 sperm whales that stranded on the nearby coast. 

Shortly thereafter,  the #226 left most traffic behind and we rode along scenic coast towards Satsuma Noma Cape. Although there was light traffic, the road featured a wide comfortable pathway. We detoured into Nomaike after 30km for a look at the cape and then headed south on the #226. The road shrunk and traffic dropped off almost entirely with a handful of cars over the next 30km. It was brilliant riding with verdant hillsides on the east side and off-and-on ocean views on the west side. At lunch time, we pulled off the road to reach the Umi no Kitchen cafe. We ordered the set lunch of the day (tacos!) and sat back to enjoy the view over the bay.

At that stage, we were not far from Makrazaki and we kept close to the coast and reached Hinokami Park. We rode bayside on trails and small roads to reach the city. It was 3;00pm when we reached the KoToKoTo Guest house. It was an old house that had been renovated and repurposed as a three bedroom guest house. We made ourselves comforable and other guests arrived later on. An Austrian-Japanese (Christian & Aki) couple and her Japanese mother arrived and we had a good chat with them.  We walked over to the Ichifuku restaurant for dinner and tried the seared bonito set meal. Sadly, it wasn't nearly as good as the seared bonito that we had at the Kochi market on Shikoku on our last cycle tour. The day's ride was 76km with 900m of ascent (perhaps a little less ascent than 900m as we rode through one tunnel).

We shared some Viennese coffee with Christian in the guest house and we were out the door by 8:15am. When looking at a map, it would be tempting to ride the #226, closer to the south coast, but it looked like it carried a fair amount of traffic  on Google Street View. So, we opted for the inland Nansatu Panorama Line. The inland route goes through agricultural land, that turned out to be primarily tea bushes with some sweet potato, market gardens in the mix. It was an undulating road, with little traffic and the Kaimondake volcano  was in the distance. Every so often, we could see the #226 down below, with a steady flow of traffic. The Nansatu Panorama Line was a  good choice. At km24 of the day, we peeled off onto small steep roads and then onto an unnumbered road and upper level tea bushes.

We continued past more tea bushes and then the road shrunk and dived down through forest. It was covered in cedar fronds and continued steeply down. We were descending a crater wall and we were relieved to reach and cross over main roads.  We carried onto the Ikeda Lake shoreline and a golden torii gate. Thereafter, we climbed back out of the crater on the #247 with unrivalled views of the crater lake. Once we reached the crater rim, we had a 250m descent to the outskirts of Ibusuki. We saw one vehicle on the #247. 

Some of the lunch crowd was clearing out when we arrived at the Komakian restaurant.  From the looks of the place, we knew that we were on to a good thing.  The tempura bowl with soba was excellent. I had pulled into the restaurant with a soft back tire, and it was indeed punctured by a shard of glass. It was the only flat of the trip. After replacing the tube, we made a stop at a supermarket and then carried on for another 4km to our AirBnb house for two nights. Our host, Yuchi, popped out of nowhere and he showed us around. I hadn't purchased any cooking oil and asked him if there was any. There wasn't, so Yuchi took off and happily offered us a container of oil. It was a large house with all kinds of old furniture, but it had a cozy lounge with an Alexa/Amazon music stereo system and streaming TV. The view to the north was of Kagoshima Bay and the Sakurajima volcano continued to steam away. The house description included a BBQ and Yuchi tutored me on its use. I had purchased some beef strips, and I was careful not to overcook them that evening. The day's ride was 50km with 630m ascent.

We had two nights at our AirBnb, so we didn't need to pack our things but we started a little later than usual at 8:30am. We followed the coastal road and some of the seawall around Tara Cape, had a look at the Ibusuki port before reaching the Ibusuki sand baths.  At 9:30am, it had a steady flow of domestic visitors. They were led into a covered area and buried in hot sands, scoring high on a novelty score. We had a couple of short climbs to reach the agricultural lands on the south shore. Cabbage salad is a mainstay in Japan, and now we know where a lot of it is grown. The small peak of Takeyama provided a scenic backdrop and we passed through a small town to reach Cape Nagasakibana, the halfway point of the ride. The area is a loggerhead turtle feeding ground and there is all kinds of local folklore about turtles.  The cape offers a nice view of the Kaimondake volcano and the nearby Ryūgū Shrine attracted a steady stream of domestic visitors wishing for good fortune.

The return journey offered a climb up a crater and into another caldera with Unagi Lake as the key feature. The roads along the east side of the crater were virtually without traffic. Finally we descended back down past volcanic steam vents to Ibusuki. Deciding on where to have lunch was an easy decision and we returned to the Komakian restaurant for a masterful repeat  performance. A little grocery shopping and we returned to our house, for the late afternoon sumo on TV and chicken on the BBQ. It was all good.  The day's ride was 50km with 1,000m ascent.

We started early to catch the Nankyu ferry across Kagoshima Bay. The plan was to visit the three-story pagoda of Takanoji, above the ferry terminal and catch the 10:00am crossing. However, we left at sunrise and we mde such good time, that we approached the terminal at 7:50am. We changed plans, purchased tickets and rolled onto the 8:00am ferry with four minutes to spare. It was a calm 12km crossing to the east side of Kagoshima Bay at Nejime. It didn't take us long to find the Lawson convenience store for a fresh coffee brew. We headed north and stuck to the shoreline and small roads, but when we reached the small town of Kamikawa, we got on the #269. It carried moderate traffic, so we launched into the interior at the first opportunity. We were greeted with a stiff 200m climb and then 7km of small roads. We returned to the #269 for 2km along Playa Hamada and then we kept to the coast on #68, while the #269 and its traffic veered inland.  We were "ahead of schedule", so we opted to make a detour north to the picturesque Sugahara Shrine. At Takasu, we jumped onto the Osumi rail trail north, though it was overgrown in sections, but the #68 was quiet. 

We retraced some of our route, back to Takasu and continued on the Osumi rail trail inland towards Kanoya. It was all going well until we hit a trail closure, so we veered off onto small roads. We were not sure how far along the rail trail was closed for repairs, so we opted to reach Kanoya by the Northern side and rode along a path next to the airbase. It was not the most scenic of routes, but it lead us to the airbase  museum. and the Tourism Association restaurant. They were serving Maritime Self-Defense Force curry and cabbage salad served on an aluminum plate.  Afterwards, we strolled over to the Historical Museum of Kanoya Air Base. It was not referred to as a peace museum, I suspect because it is a functioning air base. There was a hall dedicated to the kamikaze pilots and in the main hall, a Zero fighter plane reconstructed from bits and pieces.

We had the early afternoon to take in a few more Kanoya points of interest. There was a steep slope to ride to reach the Jintoku Inari Shrine. The interesting Shinto shrine was had plenty of torii gates with a fox theme to it. Next on our visit list was the Kanoya Railway Memorial Museum and a step into the past. The JR Osumi line was closed in 1987. The small museum is in the old station and would appeal to trainspotters. If the rail trail hadn't been closed for repairs, it would have lead us directly to the old station. We spotted an Aeon sign across the river and we made our way to the grand opening of the store. There was a certain amount of pageantry going on, and we joined in, on the fun. 

We reached the Kotobuki Hotel a little before 4:00pm.  In a previous life, the hotel was an office building, but it had been repurposed. When I asked at check-in, where we should park our bicycles, the receptionist recommended in the hallway in front of our room. It all seemed a little strange, as the receptionist helped us with the bikes in the elevator, but once we reached our room, we understood, as there was a large area in which we could leave our bikes overnight. Wouldn't you know it, the closest restaurant to the hotel was a Joyfull. We moved 70km that day including 12km on the ferry, with 425m ascent.

 Kotobuki Hotel provided an excellent breakfast at the nearby affiliated Take Bakery.  Kanoya was almost deserted when we rolled through town a little after 8:00am Saturday. The general plan was to head east following the Kimotsuku River on a series of small roads and paths. It didn't take long to encounter closures for roadworks. However, it was the week-end, and workers were not present, so we rode through them without incident. After 20km, we made a small detour to see a set of burial mounds. The Tojin cluster has a total of 130 mounds, though we didn't notice more than a few of them. They date back to 300-500AD, the earliest era of recorded history in Japan.  If you look real hard, there are apparently 160,000 burial mounds in Japan. We reached the seashore at km25 and followed small roads through pine trees and returned inland to ride through another burial mound set (Yokoze).At km40 of the day, we reached the  Roadside Station of Kuninomatsubara Osaki, that had an oversized beetle statue out front, but nothing much of a food offering. 

We had passed by road side pennants at Amenbou Ramen, so we backtracked for lunch. Although the restaurant does not seem to get huge review points on Google Map, I thought it served the best ramen of our trip. We picked our way through small roads to reach Shibushi for a quick stop at the Co-op Supermarket and then we rode down to the Sunflower Ferry Terminal.  After we had checked in, we rode back into town in search of an early dinner. Most restaurants are closed late afternoon, so we opted for another meal at a Joyfull. There were a handful of foreign tourists taking the ferry that day; we hadn't seen foreigners for a while. We loaded at 5:30 pm and took our positions in the grand bath. The ferry wasn't nearly as busy as the one coming over and we had been able to book a private cabin for Y20,000 (130USD) per person for the overnight journey. The day's bike ride was 65km with 650m of ascent.

The Sunflower Ferry landed in Osaka right on time at 8:50am and we made the 9km ride back to XB Rentals and chatted with Shinya, the owner. There were two Finnish guys sorting out their bikes for a v-blog trip to the Shimanami Kaido (bridge system between Shikoku and Honshu) and back. They were loaded down with gear and camera equipment. We wished them well and then we rode our bikes to reach nearby Sumiyoshi Taisha, an important Shinto Shrine. There was a lot going on that day with many parents and kids all dressed up for photos and there were a couple of weddings also taking place. It was a nice atmosphere. We stopped at a Kura Sushi for a conveyor belt sushi lunch before returning the bikes to XB Planing. Shinya was very kind and offered us a lift to the Sankai Train Station, so that we could catch a Nankei line train to the Kansei Airport for our flight the following day to Ishigaki. 

We had 15kms of riding on our final return day from the ferry.