Day 4: 90km ride, bike fails, onsen

The morning started with the alarm clock going off at 7am. I’ve stayed up till midnight to write blog, check some mandatory emails and charge some of my kit before heading to my camp spot to build my tent near Benkei statue. 

The night was pretty bad as I couldn’t sleep till 2am, mainly due to mattress fail, my fixing didn’t work, despite using 1/5 of my huge duct tape roll. That meant sleeping on the ground again. Soo uncomfortable. My new found friend stayed in his car and we agreed to get up early (he already went to bed at 9). That was ok with me, but 5h of interrupted sleep wasn’t great. It was really windy and the tent got pushed down in my face many times. Either way, time to get up. I had the cooked salmon from yesterday and my friend gave me a boiled potatoe. All mixed together, made a great breakfast. Some coffee and ready steady, rockn roll. Bring on the new day.

The plan was to cycle nearly 100km, all the way up to Cape Shakotan, Shakotan onsen to be precise, a leisurely 94km journey. We had the bikes parked at the onsen from the night before as Benkei rear spot was 7km away. That meant driving back to the onsen, rigging the bike, quick drink and lift of. 

Thankfully, The Valley of the Wind (Suttsu) was more forgiving leaving it. I had tail wind for the first hour or so. That felt great for a change, especially as the day before was spent facing strong wind. 

We agreed with Mr Shirahama to meet at Shakotan onsen at 5pm. That gave me enough time and he said he’ll be driving to explore the Shakotan cape. The first 30km went by really quickly and I made a stop to get a rice ball, a vitamin drink and tea. Those rice balls always give me enough energy for like 20km. But also having a protein rich breakfast was good. 

As I got to the first big(ish) city I noticed my front wheel/ tyre was extremely wonky. I stopped to check and the tyre itself was gone, I guess the internal threading ripped. Thankfully, this happened really close to a bike shop. As I parked my rig at the shop, the owner already came outside to investigate. We both concluded I needed a new tyre. We both fixed it and I had to ask him 5x to pump up my tyre more. He was always surprised when I asked again, but I insisted. It’s the one important thing, fully pumped up tyres. The rest almost doesn’t matter. The new tyre was a bit slimmer too 700 x 28C, instead of 30C. That suited me well. There isn’t much weight on the front and slimmer tyre means less rolling resistance, hence easier cycling. 

It was decided that the kilometres would be easier travelled with music in my ear. Thankfully, I had plenty on the phone, recently downloaded from my fiends soundcloud account (thanks Martin: https://m.soundcloud.com/msaupe). That really made cycling (long distances) so much better. My next stop was lunch, some 60km into my journey. I had ramen with one egg in a small town. 

It was already 2pm and I had another 34km to go. The coastline was really amazing, through sleepy fishing villages, with people either fixing their nets or being busy laying out sea weed. Some small manufacturing/ fish processing places but not many. There were lots of derelict houses, restaurants and derelict rest places. 

At some point I saw a big ice cream sign and I made another stop. Gosh this was delicious. They say Hokkaido ice cream is the best because of the grass fed and well looked after cows. I can only agree. Very “oishi” (delicious). The journey continued through many long tunnels, the longest 3.7km. I must have gone through some 20 tunnels today. I decided in the morning to keep my long cycle top on as the tunnels are always cold, I checked that my rear light was on and also my head light. I met one other cyclist a day or so before who had no lights. He was practically invisible in the tunnel. Not a great idea especially with Japanese people being able to watch TV in their cars (most cars have it fitted into the dashboard), others are on their phones... I especially scared of big lorries in the tunnel and on one incident I had one coming towards me and one from behind. I could hear the one from the back slamming on the breaks as he simple couldnt overtake me and not crash into the other lorry. Thankfully all my gear is reflective, planners, bag, backpack. That increases chances to be more visible, even when the rear light fails - as it did today. All my lights are USB chargeable but as I leave them on the whole day (too many tunnels), they empty quickly. Must remember to charge them daily...

With just 10km to go and around 3.30, I was feeling great that I’ll be able to beat my anticipated arrival time of 5pm by one hour. Not that it mattered but today was a great cycling day. Almost no headwind and the new tyre did its thing. Then, bang - my whole rear rack fell out of its top anchor and onto the street. This sucked. The weight and the constant shaking and vibration must have made it come loose. I stopped, assessed the damage and what tools if need to fix it. Thankfully I had all tools. It was a bit of an annoying job as I had to align the rear rack neatly so I could screw it back on. It took me two goes before it was all fixed. It took me about half an hour and I had to have some left over chocolate to get my mood and energy back up. It was now almost 4 as I raced towards Shakotan Onsen, the agreed meeting place. After about 20min Mr Shirahama overtook me surprisingly. I then saw him some 10min later by the roadside, where I stopped. He showed me where the camping grounds were, by the beach, incl food prep area with running water and toilets. What a dream. I put up my tent and took my valuables and then we went to the onsen. I couldn’t wait, 90+Km were slowly being felt in my body. Even though it was not nearly as bad as at the end of day 2. I think my body slowly gets it. Cycling is the things it’s got to do every day (ideally without fail). 

Along the way today I saw lots of sea urchin, a local delicatessen that also the birds enjoy. There are lots of fat ravens that must pick them from the sea and then open them on the concrete, saw lots of opened shells laying around. 

On our way to the onsen, we took his car, we went for a quick shop for some water and other supplies. Shakotan Onsen (a 9/10 on my onsen score, the only one beating it was in 2009 on the Noto Penisula, near Wajima. That onsen was similar but you were so close to the ocean and at seal level and it was a bit more posh and hidden) is relatively famous, for all the right reasons. It’s a sunset onsen where you can either have dinner and watch the sun go down, or chill in the hot spring pool. It was absolutely amazing. We had dinner (special salmon, rice, miso soup, picked veg) before going into the onsen. The usual procedure is to wash yourself, before going into any of the pools or sauna. 

Onsen in Japan are usually separate for men/ women and it’s no clothing allowed. Most places don’t allow tattoos and people carry their little “modesty towel”, a face towel that is either used to cover the important bits or work stylishly on your head. Today I finally bought a towel too, just to fit in a bit more. The onsen experience was amazing, the outside pool was a salt water hot spring and had views onto the ocean and the setting sun. It’s an amazing feeling to use both hot/ ice cold pools and then to just sit on a stone or whatever and get air dried whilst staring into the ocean. The water in the whole onsen was very soft, very different from all other ones so far.

After dinner (and another ice cream) and onsen, back to the campsite just a short drive away. The beach was calm and just a light breeze kept the mosquitoes away. I hung my towel and stuff to dry, charged all my lights, WiFi box and made some tea before my daily writing exercise. Luckily Mr Shirahama was very considerate and organised some card boards for me to sleep on since my mattress was unfixable with what I had. I think the beach is also pretty soft and I’m hoping for more sleep than yesterday. Tomorrow will be quite a bit of sight seeing, Cape Shakotan on foot, then a whisky distillery and a famous canal a few town away. I could have gone all the way to Sapporo  it it seems too stressful and not in the spirit of travel to just race there. 

Over and out 

Day 3: Easy Rider

The morning started in style at the onsen hotel. Typical Japanese breakfast (rice, miso soup, picked veg, some fish, some egg) with 2 extra scrambled eggs and 2 cups of coffee got me ready for the day. I know I need to eat better. Ive already lost 3Kg over last few days and need to make sure I get enough protein.

The journey was going to be 74Km today to Suttsu, further up the west coast. Again, I’ve picked an onsen in Suttsu to help my aching bones recover. This ride wasn’t far the quietest. Up until maybe 10km before Suttsu I only saw 20 cars. 

People even dried their sea weed on the main road (and on the pavement), despite this being the main coastal road. Generally it seemed this area and the people are dependant on the sea, lots of fishing villages, lots of dried fish outside and sea weed, i saw many people turning it to dry it better. 

My first stop wasn’t that far outside Setana, maybe 15km or so. I stopped at a fish place and had what I think were either giant mussels or oysters. I had two, they were...interesting. Not my usual style but I wanted more protein. Thankfully I had those two as there wouldn’t be another shop for the coming 40Km. 

Along the way I saw lots of dead things on the road, big bugs, dragon flies and even 2 snakes. For one I turned around and my suspicion is I may have actually killed it as I saw it too late, sunbathing on the side of the road. When I went back, it’s tail was still moving a bit but the head was pretty flattened. I felt sorry - if it was me that killed it, not evading it fast enough. I do Lu attention to the road a lot, I have to. Despite getting use to “the rig” (human-cycle-combo) and doing a few Km with no hands on the handle bars (to save my wrists), i always check what’s in front of me. Maybe not that time. I was contemplating what generally happens if we are getting (too) comfortable, in a place of warmth or general position in life. Things can just bulldoze over you. 

It’s strange how I’m not able to think about things for a long time on the bike, or contemplate things more deeply. Cycling feels almost meditative, being pretty much fully absorbed in the activity. The odd song comes to mind, or thoughts about lunch, or looking at/ evaluating the scenery (incl what people do that I see), but that’s pretty much it. A lot of attention goes to the bike and body, both always talking to me, either requesting gear changes or changing hand or foot positions to mitigate the pain (maybe I shouldn’t have taken barefoot shoes for 1000 miles cycling) and maybe the headset is too low after all. Some things I may be able to change, eg the headset, in Sapporo. Other things I won’t be able to change such as different shoes - I’ll have to live with changing stance ever so often from toes, ball of the foot, middle of the foot (still kind of annoying)

I stopped at a shrine/ temple which looked amazing. Turned out it was a Buddhist temple and a friendly lady invited me in. Then she even got the head monk and we conversed as best as we could using google translate. Eventually I wanted to leave but asked if there was a restaurant nearby. As it was too hard to explain, the headmonk jumped into his car to show me...me cycling behind him in the car. 

It turned out to be a great restaurant where I had a good meal. I also bought some fruit and veg there for dinner.

At some point, almost in Suttsu, I came by some ancient drawing and graffiti, they must have been there for thousands of years, depicting stories of old. Fascinating.

Eventually I stopped at a big resting ground, with a huge statue of Benkei, a famous samurai who lived around 1155–1189. Wikipedia gives a great account of this formidable warrior (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benkei). 

As I was having my fruit, looking at the ocean with the sure knowledge of Suttsu only being another 8km away, I was approach by an elderly Japanese person. To my great surprise he spoke really good English and told me he was a traveller too, from Tokyo. We talked and talked about evening plans. I told him I’ll go to the onsen, to soak myself. He liked the idea and said he’ll meet me there. I though this would only take me 20min, for 8km. How wrong I was. Not only was it hilly, i was also extremely windy. We are talking standstill windy. It took me nearly an hour to get to the onsen where Mr Shirahama was already waiting. He kindly had already paid for my onsen ticket. This was a very, very popular onsen. There must have been 20+ people in there and it had 7 baths, inside and outside area (onsen score of 7/10). We talked a lot, where he was from why he is travelling and eventually decided to hang out some more. We went back to Benkei Rest stop as it had toilets and even an indoor food area, with electricity and running water. We had a meal together, for me salad and edamame beans, for him squid (yikes, raw). He kindly shared his instant-pumpkin soup and I shared my salad and edamame beans (he said it’s too healthy). We talked some more and eventually he retreated to his car, where he sleeps. I had to do emails, there were some important work things (and I had left them behind, part from 1 specific topic: funding/ fundraising). Then i cooked some salmon for tomorrow’s breakfast and final activity of the day, writing the blog. I know i would forget a lot of i wouldn’t write it down, so, here it is.

Day 2: 80Km and feeling fruity

What a night. I remember sleeping on the floor isn’t that bad. But only if the air mattress does it’s job, and it didn’t. It’s got a puncture and so the night was spent pretty much on 5mm of plastic made up of ground sheet, tent bottom and whatever was left of the air mattress. That made for a short night, until 3am before the sheer uncomfortableness woke me up. I psyched myself into sleeping again after an hour of tossing and turning. 

The sounds of the forest were eery at night time but also calming. It rained a bit in the early morning hours and the owl and what sounded like pheasants had a short concert. Leaves falling on my tent from the high trees made the rhythm. 

The camping ground was in a beautiful forest of old trees and it seemed very tranquil in the morning, with the sun out. I dried my shirt and a few other things on a makeshift washing line made out of bungee ropes around two trees, got the gas stove out, made some tea before cooking porridge. Great start to the day. 

I had a look at the map and thought with the weather looking as it does, time for some serious cycling of 80Km. That would take me up the west coast all the way to Setana. A small town with all amenities. The first 40km went by pretty quickly. There was lots to see, beautiful coastline, little fishing villages, I stopped at a shrine to ask for safe passage and cycled through quite a few tunnels (maybe 18). I decided to keep my back light turned on all the way as getting off the bike to turn it on/off was too annoying. I made a stop pretty much every 10km to drink some water or have some onigiri (rice triangles, filled with fish/meat/veg). I went for the fish ones and ate 5 across the day. I also had some multivitamin drink, green tea and lots of water. It warmed up pretty nicely to about 25C, blue sky and sunshine l the way. 

The journey started around 10.30 and finished at 4.45. I had lunch at 2 in Miyano, about 25km before getting to Setana. In Miyano I had another 2 onigiri and tea before resting on the hot stonewall that separated coast from human habitation. There were a few fishermen right in the river estuary and a friendly local who stopped next to me explained they were fishing salmon. I could see them with my bare eyes, both in the river and the ocean and it didn’t take long before one got caught. The fisherman picked up a stone and with a few knocks the salmon stopped moving. 

I checked what there is to do in Setana, looking especially for a place to soak myself. I found an onsen inn (hotel really) and thought - perfect. A day night in a bed. This would also allow me to check the air mattress for the puncture and wash my trouser. As I cycled towards Miyano, I passed a crow that timed it’s shit so perfectly, measuring my speed and distance that it caught my right as I passed it. My trousers and front pannier got the most of it.

Bu the time I had lunch I was done, my things were burning and I was already exhausted. But I couldn’t and wouldn’t want to stay there, I had to reach Setana. The last 25km were up into the hills again, just what I needed. Thankfully it wasn’t as steep and long as the day before and having fully pumped up tires makes all the difference. 

With my last strength I reached Setana around 4.45 and found my way quickly to the onsen hotel “Kitahiyama Hotspring”, a pretty good hotel (£65, incl breakfast). It had to be done. My body couldn’t go another night on hard floor. As i got here, I asked for a bicycle shop to see if I can actually buy a foot pump, even if I have to carry it around for the rest of the journey. I also need a higher headset (stem) as my wrists are painful. I’ve probably tried all sorts of ways of holding onto the handle bar, regular, on the horns, just finger tips, back of the hand, one hand...it seems the pressure is too high, with me and the backpack pressing onto them. The bike shop couldn’t sell me anything, it was more of a fixing bikes shops. The friendly owner offered me a Japanese energy drink, which I did not decline. I quickly fixed my rear mud guard onto my frame with some rubber band to stop it from making noise. 

In the hotel, I had my last rice ball before checking out the onsen. It’s pretty decent (7/10 on my onsen score): 3 hot tubs, a whirl pool, the obligatory cold pool, and outside hot pool and a dry sauna. Comes with free hair dryer (usually ¥100). Lots of other stuff like massage chairs etc too. 

The food in the hotel restaurant was surprisingly cheap. Less than £10 for a big pot of Ramen and a huge salad. This was the best idea ever coming here after todays ride. I’ve managed to get sun burn on my left side as I had the sun always next to me all day. There will be more of this tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after...

I’m managing my budget by doing as much camping as possible, to afford the occasional treat. Generally, daily budget of £30 on average, around £15 for just cycling, camping and daily food (with one proper meal, either lunch or dinner).