Blue skies make all the difference, but the Goto Islands sure looked good on the approach from sea. We landed at the Fukue port from Nagasaki and we were rolling by 11:20am. We had some distance to cover, so we didn't spend any time in Fukue city, but headed north on the perimeter road #162. The light traffic quickly disappeared altogether and the road shrunk to one lane in places. 18km into the ride, we reached the busier #384 and we stopped for lunch at the unmarked Gino restaurant. It might seem a little strange to be eating Italian on a remote Japanese island but we were happy with the three course ¥1600 lunch that included pizza and pasta. 

We followed the #384, off and on, for another 12km. It carried some traffic, but less after we passed Kishiku town. We left the main road at Miiraku town and a lovely setting. We were self-catering that evening, so we shopped at the foods paradise of Tsubakiya Supermarket. It was cycling "paradise" north of Miiraku as we followed tiny roads close to the shoreline, past Takasaki Beach, reaching the scenic Jihongai monument (celebration of Buddhism at the far reaches of Japan). We carried along to reach  "Give Me Five" guesthouse/campground and a warm reception from the owner, Teppei. We left our gear and made a short 1km ride over to beautiful Takahama Beach. Meanwhile, Teppei, went off to catch seafood for dinner. The three of us shared a communal dinner in the guesthouse and had lovely evening. Teppei  had travelled the world (some 50 countries) and had moved to Fukue to  renovate an old house and create a rural island business. Our ride from Fukue Port to "Give Me Five" was 50km with 300m of ascent.

We had a "simple" breakfast (it did not involve many small plates) and we left our hand prints on the wall at "Give Me Five".  We had another full day ahead of us, so we were rolling shortly after 8:00am. The skies were dull and hazy that day. I surmised that it was dust particles from the Chinese interior deserts. The west and south-west areas of Fukue have few settlements with traffic levels to match so the #384 was a joy to ride. When we reached the juction with #50, Sheila took a break at a rest area and I made a detour out on the SW peninsula for hazy views of the Osezaki Lighthouse and surrounding landscape. We carried on east on the twisted #384, riding through lush vegetation up and down the scenic Maruko coast.  Eventually, we reached the Tomie towns and we searched out a recommended ramen restaurant. However, it was closed that day, and we fumbled and then reached the Goto Islands Noodle Factory for a high quality late lunch. 

We picked up some traffic after Tomie Town on #49. It wasn't significant as Sheila rode a tunnel while I rode around it. Thereafter, we followed a  number of small roads and then rejoined the #49 to reach Fukue City.  We later discovered that the Myojointenjoga Temple would have been a rewarding detour. We collected groceries at the large Ellena supermarket and proceeded to Oteragoto, our accommodation for two nights. Our host Ohnishi had heard from Teppei and she appeared out of nowhere. We had a fun conversation with her; she had lived in the USA and also spoke English. I recommended Whatsapp as a good medium to communicate with foreign visitors because most had data-only plans. She loaded the app on her phone and we used it a few times over the next couple of days. We had some concerns about staying on Wakamatsu because it appeared that the only supermarket there had recently closed, so we re-booked our accommodation to one that included a meals plan. That change required phone calls and she helped us out with that.  Our unit at Oteragoto had direct side door access into the  adjoining temple but we weren't tempted to use it. The day's ride was 81km with 1000m of ascent.

We had a modest riding day scheduled and the skies were once again blue, without the haze of the previous day. We made a quick stop at the Fukue wholesale fish market. It was a Saturday and we rode the #165 and smaller associated roads, south east of town.  We reached a visitor centre and learned quite a lot about the geology of the Goto islands, and quickly forgot most of it. Japan was once joined to Asia and it drifted off. The Goto islands are relatively young, geologically speaking. We rode uphill to Onidake and walked the grassy volcanic cinder cone (just 18,000 years old) for fine views of Fukue Island. While we were on the walk, a raven got into my bicycle pannier and pulled out the contents and made off with a small bag of peanuts.

We had lunch back in town at the popular Umatei restaurant, followed by grocery shopping at Ellena. We felt some minor guilt chilling in our unit on a blue sky day. Ohnishi came by later in the day, with more gifts and we finalized our re-booking on Wakamatsu. We rode 22km with 400m of ascent.

Goto Passenger Ship Company runs a beautiful inter-island car ferry service. We took the 8:00am New Taiyo ferry over to Naru Island on calm seas. We were cycling on Naru Island by 9:00am and we rode over to Naru Senjojiki, a place of geological significance, but mostly because it is a scenic spot. There are supposedly rhinoceros footprints in the rock. I don't doubt that rhinos once roamed the island, but I wonder about the footprints. In any case, we enjoyed the almost traffic-free roads of Naru. We checked out the village and were surprised to find two smaller supermarkets. We were a bit hungry and we found ourselves at the friendly Mikanya Restaurant just after 11:00am. I think it was the only daytime restaurant on Naru. The food was good and inexpensive. We were given small gifts (pins).  We had arranged to leave our bags at our house rental, so we dropped them off there. A woman was cleaning the house and everything was smiley and she gave us a door key. 

We continued riding and visited the NE arm of Naru. Although Naru, is small enough for a single day of riding, I had booked the house for two nights, mainly because it looked appealing. There is a charm to staying on a small island. There were quite a number of rental cars parked at the small ferry terminal, so domestic tourists must do day-trips from Fukue during the warmer, summer months. Our house rental included the use of a car, but our hosts did not reply to any of my messages while we stayed there. I had even brought an international drivers license along, but there was no car for us. We found it a little odd. On our first day on Naru, we rode 32km with 300m of ascent.

It rained hard overnight and it dragged out into the morning, clearing by about 11:00am. I realized that we'd be short of cash for the remainder of the Goto islands, so I made a quick trip to the Naru post office. Fortunately, it had an ATM and I was able to make a cash withdrawal.  We had lunch at Mikanya Restarant where we were warmly received. We were given more small gifts before we left the restaurant.

 In the afternoon, we rode the NW peninsula of the island as far as Okushi village. Egami Church is an iconic  island symbol, but when we were there, the gate was locked so were not able to approach it closely. The Goto islands are known for the churches as the Catholics had sought refuge from persecution from the shoguns.  The scenic Naru riding was almost traffic-free but not substantially different to that of Fukue Island.  Our day 2 ride on Naru was just 23km with 200m of ascent.

We had another transfer day and we went with an old friend, the New Taiyo onto Wakamatsu Island. The ferry was nearly empty. When we arrived on Wakamatsu, one of the other passengers went to a small bakery and bought us a couple of items and stopped us in the street to give them to us. Thank-you. We had a couple of kilometres to ride to our accommodation to drop off our luggage, so the kind woman and friend followed us to Suzume House. Of course, everyone knows everyone on Wakamatsu island, so they also got a tour of the bed and breakfast set-up. Google Translate got a full workout and then we set out for a ride to Hinoshima at the NW corner of the island.

The Goto islands are rugged, especially when you ride the secondary roads. The main roads on Wakamatsu are very quiet, but make for easier riding. We rode a loop out to the ancient Hinoshima stone pagodas (apparently a medieval, early 1400's cemetery). The riding was all quite beautiful.  On the return leg, we encountered a kayaking group and stopped to talk. The leader had lived in Tofino.  We had brought snack food, but by the time we reached the central town on Wakamatsu at 1:30pm, the one restaurant had closed for the day.  We rode back and forth across the Wakamatsu bridge (connects with Nakadori Island) before heading home at Suzume.

We had arranged for dinners at Suzume and our host put on a multi-course dinner in our 14 tatami mat room, including sukiyaki. It was all delicious and we had fun communicating with Google Translate. We were amused that while we sat and slept on tatami, our hosts were in the back of the house, sitting on chairs eating at a table and watching TV in comfortable easy chairs. On our first day on Wakamatsu Island:, we rode 42km with 500m of ascent.

One could say that there is only one full day of riding on Wakamatsu Island, but once again, a second day allowed us to soak in more of its slower paced charm. After breakfast, we started out on riding the NE arm of the island. Firstly, we stopped by the Doinours church and then proceeded north, and followed the coast closely at km10, gained elevation to ride a little over 100m above sea level. We had some ups and downs to reach Obira. The village has a church and an abandoned school. The Goto Island population has been in steady decline; it is about one third of 1950's level. We encountered the first vehicles of the day at Ryukanzan Observation Point with a trickle of domestic tourists visiting the viewpoint of the Wakamatsu channel.

We rolled into town before 12:00pm and were happy to see that the island’s only daytime restaurant, Yushokukan, was open, with a limited menu (bento box). We left well nourished and had a look around town including the Gokurakuji temple. We stopped in at a shrine above our accommodation. We had another splendid dinner at Suzume. Afterwards, we were invited to watch baseball in the lounge, which was quite fun. On our second day on Wakamatsu: we rode 35km with 500m of ascent.

It was time to move onto Nakadori Island. We crossed over the Wakamatsu Bridge and rather than riding the obvious #384 north, we turned south along the water on a small coastal road to the Kiri Church. When we approached Naro town, we veered north on the #384 for a short distance (yes, light-moderate traffic) and then followed the entire length of the #22 on the east side of Nakadori Island. The first part of it was in forest and it didn't offer much in the way of views. There were plenty of ups and downs, particularly further north, but it also became more scenic. Traffic was negligible until we reached the outskirts of Arakawa at the north end of the island. Our reward was the white sand Hamaguri Beach with a beautiful backdrop. We had plenty of time before check-in, so we rode east to the ferry terminal to check it out and we had an udon lunch at a nearby restaurant. There is some tourist infrastructure in the area though we didn't see many obvious visitors. 

We returned to the Hamaguri beach before riding west to Shinkamigoto through some traffic. We stocked up at an  Ellena supermarket before proceeding to our rental house on the west side of Nakadori Island, across the bay from the Oso Catholic Church. Our house was comfortable and well maintained. I hauled the bikes up steep steps to the house and we brought them inside with rain expected that night. It was cool enough to turn the heat on that evening. We self-catered. The ride from Wakamatsu to the house on Nakadori Island was 50km with 700m of ascent.

It was a day of sunshine and continuing moderate temperatures. The ride to the Tsuwazaki lighthouse was highly anticipated and it lived up to my expectations. I opted for a moderate version (skipping the Funasakigo coast) and we rode into town, and stopped at a shop for a litre of cold coffee, that fueled us for the initial climb from sea level up onto the first elevated section of #32. We reached the #218 after 17km and then we rode north on both sides of the narrow peninsula. We had regular gorgeous views along the steep coastline. Traffic was mostly touring motorcycles and other tourist traffic. We reached the lighthouse at 33km. The lighthouse appeared functional but not even worthy of a digital photo. The view was not as good as some of the views we had along the road, but still very good. 

We stayed with the peaceful#32 on the return journey and made a stop at Sofugimi Shrine before reaching Shinkamigoto. By then, it was past 2:00pm, when most restaurants close, so we opted for a healthy lunch of fried chicken from a food truck. We topped up our food supply at the Ellena supermarket and headed home for beer on the patio. It had been a great ride, our favourite of the Goto islands. It was home cooking for dinner (beef, potatoes and broccoli). The day's distance was 66km with 950m of ascent.

The first car ferry to Sasebo on the Kyushu mainland left at 11:00am, so we had plenty of time for the 10km ride including another halt at Hamaguri Beach. It was the Saturday of Golden Week so the ferry was busy but we had no problems getting on. The ferry was launched in 1987, so she looked a little worn and nothing like the New Taiyo.