We off loaded from the Goto islands ferry at 1:30pm in Sasebo.  The city is surrounded by hills and water so our road choice was limited to start with. We rode 4 kms on busy streets. The sidewalks weren't good options but the Japanese drivers were considerate on a busy Saturday of Golden Week. Once we were out of the core area, we rode smaller quiet roads but it meant a number of short sharp ascents to break free of the city. Highway #1 looked busy and fast, but our route kept south of it. There was a large fair going on in Hisami and normally we would have stopped to wander but we had distance to travel. There wasn't much choice of accommodation for the Golden Week weekend when I had made the booking a couple of months earlier. We were onto Takeo. 

The #102 had mostly light traffic on it, but likely more than usual, because a lot of people were moving around, visiting family on the Saturday afternoon. We rode a series of small roads parallel to #34 to take us north. Finally, we took an unnumbered road, east of the busy #34 into Takeo. We passed the Takeo Shrine around 5:00pm, at closing time, so we skipped it and headed for our booking of the Takeo Central Hotel.  There wasn't a great choice of restaurants in the area and most would require reservations on a busy Saturday night. We checked in and rode over to the Milan Indian Restaurant for a decent meal. We used the onsen after dinner. We had done quite well, considering the time of our ferry arrival in Sasebo. We rode 10km to catch the ferry on Nakadori Island and another 45km in the afternoon with 400m of ascent.

We hit the Central Hotel breakfast buffet just after 6:00am. It was surprisingly busy at that early Sunday hour. We were rolling just after 7:00am with a longer day ahead of us. For much of the day, we would pass through flat agricultural lands, and fortunately the crops were well advanced so we weren't looking at rice stubble. Interestingly, it was wheat fields for the most part and sometimes, when we passed by grain elevators, it felt like we were riding in Saskatchewan. The Japanese consume wheat in the form of ramen & udon noodles and in baked goods, including bread. For the most part, we kept to smaller roads that were punctuated with  small shrines throughout. At km37, we reached the Chikugo River drawbridge. It was a rail bridge in a previous life, but now it is a pedestrian bridge and there was an official demonstrating the lift bridge and we had to wait for it to be lowered to pass.

At km50, we made a small detour to visit the colourful Mizuta Shrine, dedicated to love fulfillment. The Saiga Noodle Shop was a short distance away and we walked into an Okinawa soba restaurant.  We had a good English conversation with other guests and we recognized the distinctive flavours of the southern soba, from our Ishigaki trip in 2024. We were making good time at km60 when we reached Yame at 1:00pm. We didn't know too much about Yame, but it turns out that it has an interesting old town, shrine and a large traditional crafts museum that kept us busy for an hour.

Golden Week brought moderate traffic to #52 going east of Yame, so we rode the sidewalk and took parallel small roads wherever possible. The traffic did  ease further up the Hoshino River but it never fully died off all the way to Hoshino village. We had a Japanese style room (tatami mat) booked and the onsen at Ikenoyamasou Hotel was splendid but busy as many of the campers were using them as walk-ins. We had a nice multi-course dinner, that was included in the room rate. The literature indicated the Aso Pond was nearby, so I rode up to it in the evening. It has a campground and cabins, and it was busy on the Sunday night of Golden Week. Total distance to Hoshino from Takeo was 88km with 300m of ascent.

We had another full day with plenty of hill climbing and I managed to draw my e-assist bike battery down to 1% but that is getting ahead of the plot. Breakfast at the onsen hotel wasn't available until 7:30am, so that gave us plenty of time for coffee in the room, soaks in the quiet onsens and a quick ride up the hill in search of a flame kept burning from the Hiroshima A-bomb explosion. Back in 1945, Tatsuo Yamamoto, from Hoshino had gone looking for family members and returned to the village with a burning ember from the fires.  Yamamoto kept the flame alive as a symbol of remembrance for all the lives lost in Hiroshima. The "flame of peace" has been kept going ever since and there is a memorial that stands near Aso Pond. I found the memorial, but didn't see a flame. 

The #57 was quiet beyond Hoshino and we didn't encounter any traffic on an unnumbered road that followed the Hyugakami River down to Hyugami Lake. We reached the scenic Hyugami Gorge area and then kept to the small #115 on the north side of the lake. Finally, we joined the #442 that would normally be very quiet, except it was still Golden Week. It was mostly light traffic, but we took every opportunity to ride on alternate roads including over Takahara Pass instead of a tunnel. 

We reached the Taiokinzan Rest Area at 11:30am and it was a hive of tourist activity with gold panning and even a busy zip-line going on. We opted for lunch of yakisoba from a food stand and kept moving, now on the #442, followed by #387. We couldn't resist stopping at the atmospheric Hokonomiya Shrine. Not long after, we left the #387 for good, in favour of side roads into Oguni. We stocked up on a few items at the Marumiya Supermarket and then headed south on a small road, leading to #40. 

We had more ascending to do on the relaxed #317. At about 70km, I glanced at the battery gauge on my bike and noticed that just 2% power remained. Those steep sections the previous evening and early that morning had taken their toll. We had a couple more short steep ascents to go, so I hopped off the bike and pushed it, to conserve the battery for the final stretch into Kurakowa Onsen. The gauge read 1% when we arrived at Kurokawa Onsen Yuusai Annex.

The thing to do in Kurokawa Onsen, is to soak in the onsens. I checked out the in-house onsen at the Annex, but it wasn't anything special. We headed over to the main Yuusai hotel (passes were provided by reception) for a soak. Our hotel did not have a restaurant. We wandered around the village and couldn't find any open restaurants, so we bought ready-made spaghetti at the "liquor store" that was more of a convenience store with a liquor sideline. We heated up our dinners with the hotel microwave and ate them in our room. It was delicious. Later in the evening, we returned to the main Yuusai Hotel for more soaking and lounging in the resting areas. The Yuusai offered free snacks and booze in the evening.  The ride from Hoshino to Kurokawa Osen was 75km with a whopping 1400m of ascent.

It rained overnight and it was forecast to clear in the morning but light drizzle persisted for much of the morning. It was also the last day of Golden Week and we stayed entirely on small roads and we were largely unaffected by homeward bound traffic.  We immediately rode on small roads through fog and reached our high point of the day at 1.075m at km8. It was downhill all the way to Taketa and we chose little roads through the beautiful, rugged hills east of Mt Aso. We reached Highway #57 by 11:30am. The #57 is the main highway between Kumamoto and Oita; we stopped at the Sugo Roadside Station. As it had been cool and damp, we both ordered Champon soups. My original plan was to follow the Ono River, but with the damp conditions, we opted for the slightly shorter route on Tamara River roads. We reached Taketa on the early side, so we went for ice-cream sundaes at Joyfull.

The ice-cream provided us with the energy to ride a short distance up to the colourful Ogimori Inari Shrine. At some point, a couple of people arrived there, but it was very quiet. Next on the agenda, was the Fukoji Stone Buddha that took us away from Taketa, initially along the Ono River. However, we had to climb out of the river valley and approach the 1,000 year old carvings from above. I had developed a route in "walk mode", and we ended up on hiking trails, but the alternative of going back steep hills was less appealing. We pushed through to the carvings but it was tiring. They had wonderful atmosphere in a natural setting. We took the roads and an easier way back to the Ono River, back to Taketa.

Taketa was a pleasant surprise with an old town in the centre where Hotel Tsuchiya is located. The hotel turned out to be reasonably comfortable and we did a load of laundry before dinner. Meals were included in the room rate and we thoroughly enjoyed the dinner. Later on, we had time and some energy to wander around the historic centre, including the Samurai district and shrine. We rode 63km with 950m of ascent

Although Bungo-ono is only 20km from Taketa, I had devised a more interesting route that involved going quite far south to the Anamori Shrine on the edge of the mountains. However,  I reduced the route distance by 20km as there was a request for an easier day.   We left Taketa on quiet #8, then followed the Ogata River on unnumbered roads before returning to #8 working our way up to the Ubasha Shrine and fine views to the south. We rode down to and across the Ogata River and we rode in the river valley for almost 20km.

We rode the side path of busy #502 for two kilometres and then side roads into south Bungo-ono. We opted for udon at the locally acclaimed Daruma Noodle Factory, south of town. We were well ahead of scheduled check-in, so we detoured a couple more kilometres to Renjoji temple and the  giant, mysterious Statue of Princess Hannya.We never figured out the story of the princess.  Time was on our side, and after a tour around town and the local supermarket, we checked in at the Masunoi Hotel. The receptionist was friendly and encouraged us to park our bikes in the spacious lobby. The Masunoi is passed its prime and a little worn but it was pleasant enough. Bungo-ono town was a little disappointing, without much character. Restaurants did not jump out at us, so we had dinner at a Joyfull, served by a robot. The ride to Bungo-ono was 51km, with 600m of ascent.

My original itinerary was to spend two nights in Bungo-ono and go for a day ride north of Bungo-ono. However, rain was forecast in a couple of days, and it would coincide with a move day, so I adjusted the schedule, leaving Bungo-ono to spend two nights down the road, in Saiki. 

There were so few guests at the Masunoi that night, that we wondered what the  breakfast offering would be, but the Masenoi delivered with a buffet. The scrambled eggs were worthy of a second helping. We followed the small Mie River road and then merged onto the #35. We passed by a couple of small trucks parked road side, but didn't encounter traffic for many hours. The #35 followed the Matsuo River and at the headwaters, it turns east up and over a small pass into the Banjo river watershed. At times, the #35 and the way forward wasn't obvious. From the top of the Banjo river, we followed a mossy, green centre line, eventually reaching small farms and hamlets. We made a detour to a scarecrow village (Kamitsuga), but the scarecrows were not out. We stopped at the giant water wheel and ate in the quiet restaurant there.

Once the #35 reached the #10, the party was over with abundant traffic, but we maneuvered on side roads and picked up the river bank path, all the way to Saiki. We found our rental unit for two nights and then rode to the Marumiya Supermarket for food supplies. Our accommodation was in the centre of the bar zone. It had been recently renovated and despite its unappealing exterior, was comfortable inside. The owner had rigged up a sound system that we could connect with via bluetooth. The bars didn't seem to get going until well into the night. We rode 60km to Saiki with 600m of ascent.

It had rained through the night and it was forecast to rain hard in the afternoon, so we figured that if we were going to see Saiki, we should do it early. As it turned out, it rained harder in the morning. We wore full rain gear and headed for the river path and to the port area. If the weather was better, we would have taken a ferry to Onyujima for a 20km ride. We looked at the Saiki Peace Memorial, peeked into the wholesale fish market and stopped by the downtown MaxValu Supermarket before heading home for a second breakfast. We had somehow missed large murals along the way, so we geared up a second time and rode the river path to the murals. We had literally passed right over them the first time.

The rain had eased so we went over to the Saiki historic district and enjoyed the Kunikida Doppo Museum, housed in a beautiful historic house. Naturally, we were the only visitors there. Earlier, we passed by the Pasta&Pizza OOIWA restaurant and the photos and reviews encouraged us to have lunch there. We had a fabulous lunch and we got a happy send off by the staff.  The people of Saiki seemed friendly and often greeted us on the street. Sheila took the rest of the day off and I went up to the Shiroyama Historical Park and the Saiki Castle remains, high (140m) above the city for views. We dried all our gear out and I used a hairdryer on my shoes. All that going back and forth in Saiki amounted to a 30km ride.

We opted to ride the inland route (roughly, the #36) from Saiki  to Tsukumi to allow for more time in Usuki and to see the stone Buddhas.  The coastal route (#217) was tempting but it was considerably longer with plenty of ups and downs. As it was, we rode 70km that day. We left the house at 8:00am and rode the river path, then alternate roads to #36 for 2km before turning off at the Yukagi Dam. There was a small road that followed the west shoreline of the lake. We encountered a closed sign and, of course, we carried on through the work site (it was the weekend) and rejoined the #36 for 5 km including a 2km tunnel with a wide sidewalk. 

We rode through unassuming Tsukami and then my route took us right through a large industrial installation, but on the public road out to a quiet coast line road. After about 5 kms, we had to gain some elevation and we stayed high for 4 kms to return to the water's edge and we rolled into Usuki at km50. 

I had made a reservation directly with the Credo Hotel via e-mail. Perhaps, an English speaking woman was scheduled to work at reception to coincide with our stay. We received a warm welcome and  she called us "like teenagers" so she received top marks from me. We left our bags there and carried on to the Usuki Stone Buddhas. We rode through a few of the old town streets and for no particular reason, chose to eat at the Wakakiya restaurant for lunch. Wouldn't you know it, but our server spoke English well. And she offered us a menu in English, something that we had not seen for quite some time (we were seasoned at using Google Translate for menus)..  Clearly, the whole city was expecting us.

The Usuki Stone Buddhas are about 6 kms away from the old town and we mostly rode on the small Usuki River roads to reach the archeological park.  The setup was more developed than the Fukoji  Buddha site including an admission fee. The 1,000 year old Buddha carvings are now protected from the elements.  I found them intriguing; very little is known about the carvings. We moved from pavilion to pavilion to admire the carvings. There were about a dozen other visitors scattered about when we were there on a Saturday afternoon.

We rode back into town, stopped at the Ryugenji temple area, then proceeded to the Nioza Historical Road where we saw two foreign tourists. Back at the Credo Hotel, we checked in, soaked in the onsen and ate dinner there. I had opted for the meal plan at the Credo, and found that the dinner was middle-of-the-road Japanese food. If I were to stay there again, I'd take the breakfast only option.

After dinner, I hopped on my bike and rode up to the Usuki Castle Park for a look around It was quite pleasant, especially at sunset. We rode 70km with 500m of ascent.

The Credo Hotel offered a solid buffet breakfast with a 6:30am start time. We were on the road before 8:00am and enjoyed an excellent coastal ride, largely on #217.  We passed the Shitanoe shipyard and quite a few people fishing from the shoreline. When we reached Saganoseki, the direction of travel moved westward. We reached the Oita bike path and we were optimistic on our prospects into Oita City. However, the path seemed to fizzle away and after a quiet section on an old railway bed, our ride was mostly on sidewalk/path parallel to increasingly busy #197. It was low quality biking.

We passed all kinds of large industrial complexes. By the time that we reached the edge of central Oita, we had done 50km and we were ready for lunch. We rather opportunistically stopped at a Sukiya restaurant, for our first experience with one of the several gyudon chain restaurants. The Sukiya boasts over 2,000 domestic restaurants and another 650 international locations. Some bloggers present these chains as something more than they really are. They are fast food operators that offer mediocre Japanese fast food.  When we entered the busy restaurant, there were a couple of tablets at the entrance. So, I submitted our food order and we sat down. We saw that all the tables and counter seats had their own tablets and we realized that we had submitted a take-out order. We foreigners can be such morons. We alerted staff and they were good sports and adjusted our order so that we didn't have to eat from paper bags. The food was not particularly good but it was cheap  at ¥1300 for 2 people, less than 5 USD each.

We stopped in at the remains of the Oita Castle and the large Shinto Kasuga-Shrine that wasn't very busy on a Sunday afternoon. We headed back to the coast and picked up the Oita-Beppu bike path. We rode along the ocean but somehow the grey sky and busy highway alongside it, detracted from the ride. Beppu is a city and not a cute onsen town, so we kept to the waterfront. Beppu was the first place that we saw foreign tourists in any numbers since Kurokawa Onsen. We had extra time before our ferry departure time, so we stopped in at the YouMe Town shopping mall. We scoped out the Sunflower ferry terminal and opted to eat on land at the nearby Sukesan Udon restaurant.  We loaded onto the ferry at 6:00pm and so ended our fantastic 2025 Kyushu cycle tour. The day total was 72km with 150m ascent.