The morning started with sounds from the forest birds and the small river close by gushing downstream. I got up around 7.30 and rekindled the fire. The big log had burnt down completely but the fireplace was still hot. I picked some more sticks and got it going again. It was still pretty frisky outside and I wanted to have a quick was using the campsite facilities (an outdoor tap), explore the campsite some more and have breakfast. The campsite was as stunning as I saw on the pictures the day before. Many wooden houses, a cute hanging bridge and a winding river that ran past it all, made this an impressive camp site high-up in the mountains and surrounded by a thick forest of needle and leaf trees. In the evening, I disturbed a bunch of deer that used the campsite for grazing and hanging out and who ran away as I approached at highspeed. This morning, no deer in sight, not even the car spite cat that greeted me yesterday.
After breakfast, which consisted of a rice ball, a cucumber and an orange, I walked around and bit, cleaned my fireplace and surrounding area and already started hearing noises of people cutting grass somewhere ; I think they’re getting ready for Golden Week, next week and the overall campsite looked pretty tidy. I packed up and cycled over the hanging bridge to the campsite store, which had just reopened. I bought some goodies from the store and asked for directions to Taketa, my next stop towards the onsen town of Beppu. The friendly store clerk assisted by drawing on a campsite map of the surrounding area. I had to go a long way back up the hill, the way I came from to get out of the valley. The climb was steep and my legs were screaming as it had just gone past 9am.
I was going to have to climb over 1,000 metres to get out of the mountains and back towards the coast. I noticed that my front break was getting weaker and made some more noises, now already for a few days, which I managed to ignore until now, especially because I often cycle with headphones in. It seemed to get worse and not fully being able to use my front break seems silly. I planned in a stop in Oita, the next biggest city next to Beppu, still some 65km away. I picked 2 bike shops hoping one could help. The journey out of the mountains provided a few more nice stops, some voluntary and one not, with just another road closure, which I decided to ignore as the way around would have been a real pain. Luckily, it was a collapsed road that was in the process of being fixed and the workmen let me pass by with my bike, somewhat bemused at my sight. I also stopped at some shrines and a temple, with some stones and entrance ways that must have been a few hundred years old.
The rest of the journey was pretty uneventful but the awe inspiring mountains and lush greens were soon to be replaced by small settlements, farms and bigger roads. After about 20km I felt I was back in civilisation. There were still a lot of mountains to climb before I was able to race towards Oita. My energy levels weren’t great and I used some store-bought raisins as little pick-me-ups through the morning. For lunch I stopped at a countryside “fast food restaurant”, a small shack serving fries of all kinds and Hot Dogs,. I had some potatoes chips and a coffee and some pickled salad from hr car shop next to it. That felt better. My legs had also warmed up and cycling was ok again. 3 more days to go before this adventure will come to its conclusion back where I started it, in Fukuoka.
At some point google maps told me that it’s pretty much only downhill from here no oh boy, I wasn’t quite ready for what that meant. The drop in height happened across a dramatic 10-15min downhill that saw me clinging onto my handlebars for dear life, tighten my leg muscles to keep the bike steady and for most parts, lean down over my handlebar to provide less wind resistance. The brakes just about managed to keep my speed in check and my soul was screaming DOWNHILL BABY! …let’s just not fuck it up by going too fast or drifting too far out in the corners, which were tight at times and my brakes had to work overtime.
The rest of the journey into Oita was pretty chill, I picked a route just off the main roads for as long as I could, past some nice villages and towns, even onto a road that seemed to have come straight from Japans feudal past.
I got to Oita around 2.30 and the first bike shop, as big as it was, didn’t have any brake pads but helpfully told me who possibly could, a bike shop that was almost impossible to find on google, which then brought together 2 of the bike shop assistants and the owner, leading to both a paper map and GPS coordinates. Why would a bike shop go through such length to make themselves so hard to find? Luckily the shop was only a few kilometres away and in the direction of my travels to Beppu. As I got here, the store owner was busy fixing someone’s high end racing bike and seemed just about happy enough to be distracted with my query, which he assisted with for ¥2,000 but also told me that the break pads were ok. When I showed him my small buckle in my rear wheel he also said it was ok. He seemed to want to go back to what he was doing before and I keen to get back on the road to Beppu.
The road between Oita and Beppu, both pretty large cities, was connected by a long, 10km cycle and pedestrian pathway along the coast. This was awesome as the 6-way motorway next to me was not something I fancied cycling on! I got to Beppu around 4pm or so, checked into my hotel which I got just around lunch time and which had a rooftop onsen! My room was ready and the friendly receptionist explained everything in perfect English! It was a great little budget hotel in a really good location and yet, affordable as it’s still pre-season.
Immediately after dropping my bags the room, I headed to the rooftop onsen for a soak. The Beppu water they use for their onsen was smooth and made my skin feel silky. But the best was definitely the rooftop, with great views over the harbour and towards Oita. I sat there, soaking my body, which was still aching from the ride being really happy. It doesn’t seem to take much to put me into this state lately, as often the small things make a difference. Like the little welcome card in my room with my name, the lounge they had playing some old record, the rooftop onsen and some green tea.
After soak and rest I headed to the nearest Starbucks for 2 days of blog writing and some decaf coffee and cheesecake! Delicious
For dinner I headed to a Japanese Izakaya but sadly it was full and a friendly staff escorting me to their second restaurant a few metres down the road on a side street, same menu, which is why I chose it. I had some salad, fish and tofu, accompanied by a mid-size beer. That felt good! Eventually, the people next to me started talking to me and they were visiting from Fukuoka here in Beppu on a work visit. It’s just a 2h drive but it will take me 2 days to get back. At some point, we settled our bills and they went to their hotel and I had picked a small bar called “Pickles & Beer”, with a friendly atmosphere. And the name was definitely accurate, I had a Kyushu craft IPA and pickles, whilst some of the patrons were eager to chat to me. One was a musician but now company owner and the other one an AI designer who designed characters using AI and who I could not distinguish from human characters, animated and everything. Just to my earlier point from a few days ago, we might not need human actors for long by the looks of it. Eventually I invited them to a German lager, which came from not too far away where I was born and is a staple beer in our area. It was too weak and didn’t taste strong enough for them, which now having tasted some of the Japanese beer, I would agree with…oh well!
At midnight I took my leave, full, happy and with one more mission in mind. A final soak in the rooftop onsen and taking in the night sky. I had painfully noticed that I still smelled like a campsite or a fireplace as the only non-cycling clothes I had were soaked in the smoke from the fire the day before. Oh well, who cares. I wasn’t going to wash them now and will just have to put up with this for another few days!
Exhausted, full but definitely happy I went to bed with a 8am alarm to get me ready for the second to last day of cycling and adventuring!
Crossing the Straits of Yura
the boatsman loses the rudder.
The boat is adrift,
not knowing where it goes.
Is the course of love like this?
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