All the Gear ....

Gear
This time I took a different list of equipment .
polish lavuu tent
Msr pot and wood gas stove
US army cup and canteen set
Czech army sleeping bag and summer down inner bag
Gerber knife and cold steel tomahawk
Udc candle light
folding campfire BBQ
inflatable sleeping mat
a travel solar panel

Let's start at the tent. The polish Lavuu is two canvas ponchos that button together to form a teepee tent. It's old school.
If you leave everything behind such as the poles and pegs and just take the poncho it weighs in about 3kg. a tad heavy but... it is bomb proof.
Let me explain bomb proof. This thing has not plastic parts and is made of canvas. You can light a fire inside , and I have! it will be fine. I have run aluminum air conditioning  tube out one of the arm hold and used a mini BBQ as a heater with no problems at all, try that in your silver nylon over priced garbage.
Also as simple as it is , it can be tricky to set up. I am 5,9 and if I do not get the pole height just right I can either sit up. inside comfortably and have my feet poke out the bottom or I can have my head touch the roof but the feet inside. there is a trick to the set up!
Thing is though you don't need to use a centre pole . Run a ridge line and tie off the top from the outside means you have no centre pole and lots of room, I mean lots of room.
But the biggest problem by far is it is dark and I mean dark inside! pitch black!
this means that you can quite happily sleep through the night and half way through the next morning!  All for 3kg !
I like the thing.
If I were going long term into the wild this would be the tent for me. Bicycle , motorbike this thing would be perfect. Ultralight , short term, maybe not, my light weight hammock or bivi would be the thing.
next on the list is the MSR stainless pan and lid and wood gas stove.
Again bullet proof with good points and bad points. The good points are that they fit together nicely one inside the other , both are stainless steel with no parts that can break , maybe the handle on the MSR pot but you would have to be trying !
The drawbacks; well the woodgas stove requires a fire and firewood, also it's efficiency is a problem in that it needs a lot of attention compared with a BBQ. Also try lighting a fire with wet wood and no matches. it's a skill I can assure you. ( a later trip saw the axe handle being used for tinder !)
I use the lid of the MSR as a frypan or plate, this works well. giving me a big pot and a large frypan. and being stainless steel , both could be a little lighter!
The GSI canteen and cup. This is one of those ideas that have stood the test of time. A cup fits over the bottom of a canteen and a stove fits over the bottom of the cup, add to that a lid that sits under the whole arrangement and there isn't anything I cannot do! bake muffins Mrs Jones sure no problem! bread? easy as!
The only real problem with the canteen is the amount of water , only one quart. Not enough.
As you. may have noticed so far, I use a lot of military equipment. Military equipment is cheap longlasting read bomb proof but heavy. If you intend to use this stuff everyday door a long period , this is the stuff, but you must be careful. The weight will soon add up. so only take the minimum.
So on that note. The Czech sleeping bag. what do we say about this!. It buttons together, a cotton inner sheet to a woollen blanket which all buttons to a water resistant outer , which has a metal full length zipper. Really nice to sleep in , but oh boy,  is it big!  add a down 2 season sleeping bag and you have something that is good in to the negative temperatures, I know I've been there and have the hat!
The good thing about the bag is you can wash the and swap out the individual components and it zips out into a blanket . A very versatile bit of kit Don't ask about the weight , possibly a ton or a ton and a half !.
Now we come to the sharp end of the conversation. Cutting.
A well respected outdoor person called Gear part 2
Dave Canterbury uses , in his words, the "5Cs"
Cutting
Cordage
Cover
Container
Combustion
There are other ways of remembering this but I find this the most convenient.
Cutting:
I took with me a cold steel tomahawk and a Gerber fixed blade knife and a small opinel folding knife
All were used and abused.
All came through with flying colours.
The tomahawk was used for processing wood ,making tent poles and stakes and fixing my bicycle frame , yes I hit it with the blunt side of the tomahawk untill it worked ..it's the best method.
Edge retention on all of the knife was ok , not stellar but ok , and that was in part to my lack of care.
The Gerber was and continues to be abused , smashed through logs when battening wood , cutting through food onto stone , cutting through cans to make burners. It's almost as good as the ginza steak knifes as seen on TV...
I could probably get a better edge on it but , hey it worked.
Overall, what can we say about the gear . Honestly.  It all worked and had its place in the grand scheme of things. The tent while being heavy was very warm and dark and I did sleep well ( too well sometimes ).  Would alcohol stoves worked any better ? they are quick to light but then I have to find fuel . The sleeping bag could have been a goose down high-tech wonder but then I wouldn't be able to wash the sheets though if I can keep its basic shape but get more insulation i.e warmer that would be fantastic.I will look into this.
While the tomahawk did help to fix the bicycle and cut a few tent. pegs  I wonder if I could have got away with less.
and on that note , the answer to the question did I take too much .
possibly. I could have gone with a silver nylon tarp and hammock but then the sleeping bag would have felt the strain , would a woollen blanket have helped , too heavy ?  these are questions we will only find out next time in
Okinawa.

Miyakejima and the boy

Miyakajima
Decided to get away and at the same time introduce the boy to cycle touring.
So chose a close(r) destination , that being one of the islands in the Tokyo bay area. ..
After a late start due to a touch of the hangovers we set off along the arakawa cycling road, this follows the river into Tokyo. It's a 50 km ride to the ferry and while I may be used to it , a 12 year old boy may not. So we went slowly with a stop or two. Cheese burgers were needed. Around five pm and after cheeseburger or two we arrived at the end of the arakawa cycling road. This necessitated asking our dear friend Google maps , whom promptly replied with , " left, right , straight, go home E.T."..
We turned right and went straight.
The ferry was a long way , and the boy did well to keep going. When we arrived at the ferry, he was on reserve. The ferry duely paid for we settled in for the wait , junk food helped.
Boarding the ferry was straight forward, once the silly people had been dealt with , they wanted the carrier removed for no reason. Not happening.
The ferry was very nice , clean and well run. We had a small tatami room to ourselves and the boy had a TV. He was happy.
A walk around the ship revealed a shower for 100 yen , bonus. 
At 10 we had a shower and went to bed, the light went off anyway. Knowing we had to be up at 5 am in order to be ready to leave the shop we set the alarm.
5am the alarm went off , we arose and packed up. Just as we finished a very hurried steward came running up to us , urging us to get a f###ing move on. He wasn't joking. The ship literally stops for a few minutes and it's gone .
Well there we were in the cold and weak morning light.
This time we didn't wake Google. It's an island.
We cycled up to the top of the road and turn right up the hill down into a lovely bay.
Now at this point, I should point out that Miyakejima is a volcano and sometimes it clears it's lungs . The beach is made up of volcanic moon rock. A lovely place to cook some eggs and bacon.
After breakfast we continued, on the look out for a convenience store. There ain't none. So after a few km, we stopped. It was sunny and warmer now, so the boy went to sleep on a rock and I cycled back to the nearest habitation that might have been a shop and bought supplies.
He was still asleep when I got back , so I made coffee and ate donuts before the monster awoke and saw donuts.
We continued along the road and took a detour to the lighthouse.
A walk around a windy volcanic shoreline is interesting , in that you can see the flow of the liquid mud and rock that came from the centre of the island . and the colours of the differing layers. It was easy getting to the lighthouse as it was down hill but returning to the road was long.
The boy by now was nearing empty and with lunch time approaching we decided to stop. Well he had gone from cycling to walking to needing the cattle prod . So the next lay-by lunch sorely needed.  He slept.
After lunch the hill was attacked once again and a steady plod finally was rewarded with the familiar long and graceful downhill.  The view was very nice to say the least .
Now we cannot call these villages , they are but one or two houses does not a village make . but the road started to rise again and I knew the cattle prod needed recharging so I started to look for somewhere to sleep.  I kind of already knew where but the boy was now on auto pilot .
We arrived at a volcano viewing site where a huge valley had been created when the island threw it's toys out of the cot . We dragged the bicycles up to the top.  It looked ok , but the wind and now the rain were starting to drive up from the beach making our intended resting place a little harsh. On decending to pick up the boys bike, I noticed a path leading to a beach. Following the path led to a lunar landscape  of desolate and quite beautiful proportions.  I, as by now you have realised have fallen in love with this place.  love may be a strong word but I do like this
Miyakajima 2
Island . it has a desolate beauty to it which I like. 
I set up a lean to and put the sleeping bags inside. gave the boy the bivi bag and I just slept in a sleeping bag. I started to cook , the boy was  talking on his phone and when I looked round his tank was empty and he was asleep.
Oh well. I ate dinner, bacon eggs and fried  spam with mashed potatoes in a mustard sauce and went for a walk.
On return, the boy was awake and eating , so I made some chocolate and retired for the night , the rain had settled in anyway.
The next morning the boy decided that he was going to follow higher instructions and try to return for his enterance ceremony on the monday. Which meant being back on the Sunday. Ok for me but I seriously doubted he could do it , well over 120km,  in a day ? . We packed up had breakfast and were on the road by 9:30. It was warm but the rain was on again off again on again affair. the boy seemed happy.
we followed the road around and up until we arrived at what looked like a shop with a vending machine. On giving the boy money he bought a drink and found 100 yen. looking some more another 100 yen . By the time he had finished he had found over 500 yen !.
I mean while was still in tears and in shock at seeing the price of a small can of beer. If I lived here homebrew would be the order of the day.
We followed the road round. What I mean to say is ; there is no other road so you can only go one way. When we arrived at the airport a helicopter was sitting on the tarmac and a plane was getting ready to leave. We decided to watch the plane take off.
As we were, I struck up a conversation with a woman looking after a small boy. She was the English language teacher at the local high school, which explained her use of the English language.  I found out a lot about the practicalities of living on the island. Amazon did deliver but.
With lunch and a ferry deadline approaching we bought Benton at the first and probably the best (so far)  supermarket as well as some souvenirs before hitting the road and arriving at the place where we had breakfast 24 or more hours before.
a big dinner consisting of everything we had left over and the bento we had bought , left us needing a walk on the beach and as we had a few hours to kill .
I like being a few hours before departure , everything ready just get on the ship. So after we had washed , changed and packed .The bike loaded into their container and tickets bought. We went for a walk .  Noticing a bit of swell in the ocean, I told the boy to stand by the big rock. He didn't see the wave . The photo is a classic .
The ferry arrived , an amazing bit of efficiency rivalling a F1 team and we were away. Same deal as before. 
I say in the cafe and read while the boy watched TV .  It's a surprisingly long journey. But a shower and hot food and a walk on the deck does wonders for the constitution.
The ferry was uneventful and arrived at 8pm .
We unloaded and set up and were on the road by 9pm . Now I wanted to sleep at the arakawa river then spend the next day going home . The boy had other ideas.
Tokyo. What can you say ! Are the people like everyone big city ,or is the Tokyoite gifted with a special brand of head-up-their-arse. The ride towards the arakawa , one should use their  own imagination to fully realize the frustration.
It was a straight run this time to the river and facing a 40km ride in the dark would land us in Tsuruse at 2 or 3 in the morning. I said to the boy if he wanted to camp , he said "no" but wanted a cheeseburger.
So along the river we went ,arriving at itabashi McDonald's near 11 pm.
Back on the road ,it was cold and clear and just a matter of crunching the miles .  Until the boys battery went flat . Around asakadai. About 10 km from home .
Rest breaks weren't helping, so the only thing to do was push when his legs gave out.
He did very well , very well indeed. We arrived at tsuruse around 2 am and that last climb up the hill was his  absolute all he had nothing left.
We arrived home at 2.30 am and he died at 2.31am.
I unloaded bthe bikes and had a snack before going to bed about 4. To die, to sleep,
To sleep, perchance to Dream; aye, there's the rub,
for in that sleep of death, what dreams may come,
when we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
And one of us had shuffled.
Miyakajima is a easy ride and a nice little adventure.
As with the other islands in the Tokyo bay it is easy to get to
If I have any complaints it's the cost of the ferry. But seeing as how long it took and how clean the ferry was with all its amenities . It's a small price to pay

Will I go back . Yes I will

Jet; noun. means of convience that promises convienience but delivers ...

The bus ride was typical Japanese efficiency, stopping only to pick up flotsam and jetsam in the odd brightly lit bunker.
We arrived at kansai international airport at " oh fking hell its still early" and I took a cart and procceeded to look like I knew what I was doing .
After taking the service elevator to the storage cupboard and catching the eye of the concierge for the second time , I found the bus to the other terminal, where I took another bus back to the original terminal after discovering that jet star had decided to move.
Then after finding out that the scales of the extra baggage desk were 5kg over , as I had already confirmed the weight. ( it seems this is a trick as both Narita and kansai were over and when I pointed this out the strict wieght limit magically disappeared!)
I now settled down to wait. Not much you can do at the airport than wait. I did however treat myself to the biggest most calorie Laden Burger king I could find. That wasted 5 min.
Pretty soon the humiliation began and I was on the plane, knowing my shoes were not going to explode and the bottle I had just purchased wasn't going to burn a hole in my flight suit, or that I want going to strangle myself with either my belt or my shoelaces.
I sat with economy, not talking to the Himalayain bag wearing lesbian or the underfed connected sales jockey on my right. We touched elbows.
After the delays and apologies we arrived at Narita. After which I realised it would have been far more efficient to pay slightly more and take the shinkansen. as it was I had saved Y1000 , and now it was 7pm and I faced a 90km ride home, and it was raining.
It took 2 hours to clear customs , change and assemble the bike and there  was PC , doing my job.
" gaijins card" , no , " why not ",  " because it's nine o'clock and it's in my bag and you are just being an arsehole"
Once the formalities were over and "PC doing my job left". and I started home. Then returned to pick up my hat.
The ride home was one to remember. Raining , foggy , cold and later on totally lost with a dead phone, but at least the compass worked!.
Found my way back until  I got lost !
Ya follow the road , watching the road signs , which only show the next big town , if you don't know the relationship between the town and say Tokyo, well you is lost !
so I stop and play the 7/11 game . The best one being on the route 16 asking where is Tokyo in as many different accents and styles as a French mime with a halepeno enema.
upon descovering that the route 190 was the one for me and I was to turn left at a car dealership , I procceeded to track down the Origin of mankind, stopping to ask at every confidence store if they had seen Bigfoot , aliens or the route 190.
At one stage , in the middle of nowhere , following a goat track called route 12, I get to a junction. no signs, no nothing, foggy with zero visibility , and rain. I go right , why? it's because I'm a wild and impetuous young man. Seriously Japan fix your road signs or at least stop using the Irish as your contractors.
At about 4 in the morning I decide to try my luck at a police station.  by now I am in the Tokyo metropolitan area and a few miles from Omiya . nothing can stop me now , so I ask " how do I get to Omiya"
maps and people appear. Conversation happens that only those who are party to the inner circle understand. I contemplate ordering a pizza.
After the earth cools and the land emerges from the ocean, I get to look at the map. It seems that I go straight then at the resona bank , I turn right. I am then to follow that road until I cannot.  At which point I turn , right ..  I forget the rest but it was very entertaining I can assure you.
Two seven elevens later and many kilometers of Japanese footpaths I had made it to yono. 9 km away from home. The bike explodes.
Now we are not talking about a cracked frame or a broken cable , the whole back wheel centre falls off , hitting it won't help.
So we have gears not attached to the wheel and very little of motion , especially in the forward direction..
I hit it .  nope that didn't work. So I try putting it back together.  but as half the parts are broken this also isn't going to work
so I use stones , the theory being that I will get forward motion IF I
jam everything together , so I jam stones into the hub , this works . but as soon as I stop peddling the chain has kiniptions, and I have to stop and untame the chain and put it on the correct gear.....
Three sets of lights in the morning rush hour , but hey only a few kilometers to home and it's sunny .
how many times have I done that last kilometer  from lalaport to home it's long and filled with many emotions .
I arrived at 7;30 am.

The Dinosaur from nymphoid hell

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

A bridge to long

Matsuyama to Imbari

Matsuyama apart from the castle is another bland Japanese city. But following the coastline from Hories town is quite pleasant with the Seto sea on the left. The road is so, so some parts are unkept other parts are well maintained, still the trucks are present.

I can’t say much about Matsuyama to Imbari , it’s nice as these screen shots from Google show.

As you near Imbari there are road signs which tell of the underground storage of oil. Huge underground storage of oil, hard to believe but Japan has about 90 days supply and that’s a lot of oil. All underground.

Now as my phone has frozen and been dropped into a river it wasn’t behaving. So when I arrived in Imbari looking for possibly the longest bridge in the world. I had to rely on asking for directions. Asking for directions from locals is an interesting affair. This time I saw a young couple on bicycles, I stop, and in Japanese I ask where is the bridge. They were from Taiwan. Very pleasant people , so cheerful.

Off I go picking up a blue line on the road showing the cycle path until it disappears; you call upon divine intervention and it reappears, seriously Japan the locals may know where to go,  but think about the point of road signs. They are there to guide people who don’t know how to get a particular place. One shouldn’t have interrupt a divine being in order to find the longest bridge in the world.

Once the blue line had been found and the road wound up to the bridge, I let the deity go and resumed my travels , I mean I can’t screw this up , it’s a bridge 

Creak, groan, creak, groan ; up the on ramp onto the bridge, and who should I meet ! Yes the lovely Tawanese couple. What nice people, if they are representative of the country then I want to go there,it was a beautiful day. Warm sunny and the scenery was nice, couldnt complain.

The bridge is about 70km long ( http://wikitravel.org/en/Shimanami_Kaido_Bikeway) a bit of a cut and paste follows as well , I cant be arsed repeating something one can look up by ones self !:

The Nishi-Seto Expressway, also known as the Seto-uchi Shimanami-Kaido (highway above sea), was opened to traffic on 1 May 1999. The bridge connects Onomichi City in Hiroshima and Imabari City in Ehime, as well as six islands (namely Mukai-shima, Inno-shima, Ikuchi-jima, Omi-shima, Hakata-jima, and O-shima islands) within the Geiyo Islands situated near the center of the Seto Inland Sea. The completion of the Shimanami-Kaido has made Ehime more easily accessible from Honshu and driving through the Geiyo Islands possible. The highway also allows passage by bicycle and on foot.

With unique island-to-island bridges, such as the Tatara-ohashi Bridge (the longest askew-arched bridge in the world) and the Kurushima-kaikyo-ohashi Bridge (a triple suspension-type grand bridge), the Shimanami-Kaido provides brand-new scenery in harmony with insular nature. The best viewing spots to overlook the bridges over the Seto Inland Sea and various islands are the Hanaguri Seto observation platform on Omi-shima Island and Mt. Kiro-san on O-shima Island. Thanks to the mild climate, there are many flower viewing spots, such as the Yoshiumi Rose Garden (where you can see various kinds of roses collected from all parts of the world), Citrus Park Setoda (which boasts citrus plants as the main attraction), as well as the Inno-shima Flower Center.

Anyway along I went till about 2pm when lunch called. Came off the bridge and just off the road was a hidden park?, I didnt want to move! The sun was shining, lunch was good and a nice cup of tea.

On the subject of tea. I’m English, I’m not sure one realizes this ! And our DNA needs tea. Now a good cup of tea is an art, an art derived from centuries of culture. Being from the east end of london where tea was stolen from the docks and milk and money was scarce, tea tea needed to be HOT AND STRONG!; Good quality tea leaves , not this “earl grey sweepings from the bottom of the warehouse floor packaged in a lovely box. DONT get me started on starbucks lavender earl grey pure shyt. Thats all I’ll say on that!

Once you have the the tea leaves, one cup, one spoonful ! Now add milk; A LITTLE MILK. Not half a cow, or the entire production of New Zealand dairying industry for 2016. A little milk and you will enter what some religions call nirvana.

So you can now guess that , it was late when I finally rejoined the bridge. 5 pm was approaching fast. The next island was nice enough the road followed the inland sea and some lovely little villages.

After coming off the bridge onto Ma island, I came past;. Sunset beach.

Let me explain sunset beach. Manicured into hell .

A well manicured dry lawn with a stage and a cinder block toilet inter-dispersed with the cheapest tannoys you can find spewing forth J-pops. Well it’s 5pm and I can be arsed looking for a place tonight so I decided to stay. It had showers. Now bear in mind I am the only one there.

1000 yen later and the tent up. The music stops , thank you. I cooked tea then set about showering and washing clothes. ( sunlight soap and elbow grease).

The next morning , 7am the tannoys start, first to tell you that the cycle path is open and that Mrs Jones at number 63 has a bad case  of thrombosis and cannot join the glee club coach outing to the community centre. Then silence . Until 8am then the city hall informs you that it’s time to get up. Then silence. Until 9am when the J-pops start.

By now I was ready to kill. Anything and anyone. So I made a comment to a worker about the noise. He agrees and off he goes. About a hour later the music stops. I nearly died. Some scratching and shuffling leaked from the cheapest tannoys on earth then suddenly enka burst forth. FK. The bastard’s had heard my complaint , but because the rules state this is how to create a nice environment is to pollute the air with akb and thinking of the customer , the fkers had searched and found a record from possibly the 1930s of enka.

Insert total joy and completeness in peace and harmony. Not.

But what was to come would more than make up for this. and it was to beat the plastic whale!

Its all down hill from here !

Its all down hill from here !

The 197 towards yasuhara is a nice road winding up the hill with the river on the left then drops down into a remarkably clean well ordered town, looks like there is some money.
The houses are European in style and none of the clutter such as telegraph poles and the inevitable rooftop spaghetti that has destroyed Japanese towns.
Going full retard and turning right, along the 440 we follow the Yasuhara river, until we get to our favorite pastime, tunnels. This one is new with a reasonable foot path on the right hand side, and its downhill! so one cant complain.!
Nothing to report , I  stopped at a seven eleven for a snack. Then following the 440 which changes to the 33 and back to the 440 in as many meters !
Luckily we didnt need google maps !
Then down a long long down hill and I do mean long into Tobe! lovely.  beautiful views over the town but that wind , a little chilly it could be said.
There is nothing I can say about Matsuyama. Tobe has some history behind it I think. It was a samuri clan who opposed the boys in Tokyo and is something to do with ryomas escape route. Im not sure.  Matsuyama is just another Japanese town , with a big road going to the centre,
It does have a castle.  Insert 3kg of pure excitement, not.
You can probably guess by now I have no to very little interest in “old buildings”  Let me quantify this. “Old buildings” for the sake of looking at old building because this is “history “ is boring. But near me, Koganei has an architectural museum. In this park there is a collection of typical Japanese buildings and from an engineering point of view, fascinating. Old castles and temples  because its history and you are under some obligation to “do it “ , not happening.
After the long decent into Tobe the road levels out and I started to pedal, well I was pedalling and things were going round but forward motions were eluding me.
Stop at a 7/11.  Wheel off , sprag clutch not catching inside the hub , how to fix it? I know hit it , hit it untill its fixed;  that works for machinery and bicycles.
Little did I know, this would come back to haunt me with 9 km to my house at 5 in the morning!
My mate in New Zealand reckons he is an important fella and I never really thought he was but I was wrong , old Horie has a whole town named after him.
I stayed the night in Horie’s place on a what might be called a beach behind a sea wall.
Insert a rant on plastic.
How do you start ?  How can you point out the garbage on the beaches.  Its almost like the Japanese are a related to the mythical Vogons. The buildings,  cars, beaches anything that looks like “nature” has to be tamed , concreteded over and garbage spread around.  Now I know that the average person is not like this and the garbage is mostly not put there on purpose, sometimes you see it. The smoking person stubbing out the cigarette and leaving the butts on the ground but by enlarge the garbage is blown into the sea and onto the beach,.
He is the problem, plastic. The beaches are disgusting, lakes , rivers anywhere there is a high concentration of Japanese people,   its the local residents, they by a lack of thought have destroyed their environment.  The funny thing is; IMHO surrounded by a lack of beauty and nature destroyed by garbage, the Japanese seek beauty, the vacation to New zealand beacause its  “nature”!
Well Japan could be beautiful  IF the locals cleaned the fking place up!
Now how the pollution spreads isnt by malice , its by accident. You buy a bento, take the lid of and while you are eating the wind blows the lid away. You try to find it but cant. The lid blows into the sea and up onto the beaches.
We and especially the Japanese MUST STOP USING PLASTIC. STOP IT. The buck stops basically with the manufacturers, and they wont do anything unless their bottom line is hurt. Stop buying products with plastic wrapping , print out a standard letter and spam the fkers.
Rant over.
One good thing about horie’s place is there was a supermarket within a few min walk,
Dinner was french bread , a foot long “sub”....

The next day I spent half hour picking up the trash, Then a second cup of coffee and everything packed away on the road by 9, so that was good.

Leaving Hories place and following the road to Imbari. the weather was nice and the road was basically ok. Following the route 11 towards Nihamathe footpath was wide enough but the 11 is a main route so trucks and cars and noise nothing to report.
When the road started to follow the ocean things started to improve. Stumbling upon a cycle way I stopped to take a photo of these enormous ships, I have no idea what these things ship; cars, oil or cocaine? they are big!.
Battling a dying phone, I managed to head towards imbari township where I stopped picked up a bento from the supermarket and put the washing though a coin laundry, I maybe on the road but there is no excuse to look homeless.
Clean and fed I headed of towards the bridge. Surely a 70km bridge should be easy to find !

Into the hills

Following the escape route of the Samuri Ryoma, who from what I can make out, pissed off the people in Rome , sorry Little edo and had to bugger off rather quickly.  Probably humming thwe iron maiden tune " run to the hills" .
Mountains, love them or hate them, they go up and they go down , usually with a tunnel at the top.  Anyway back to mountains, following the route 197 towards Yasuhara you get to a place called Tosa. This cant be the famous Tosa clan , prefecture? Its a post office and a shack , well ok a collection of mud huts and quite possibly a resident sharman who can read tea leaves.
Up she goes past beautifull gaggles of houses and tea Terraces to  a tunnel.  A new one ....
Sailing through the tunnel, I see a middle aged woman running the opposite way, she waves I wave, and she sails past. A few min later in the middle of the tunnel, I see her car! 10 ft skid marks from the tyres and parked in the layby.  WTF ? Did the engine blow up?  forget her wallet, hit the handbrake and run back.
oh well its 4pm and at the top of a mountain range. Its going to be a cold one !
The areas not frequented by the general public are stunning and so clean. Im sorry japan but shoganai is and has destroyed this country. Stop with the beautification and concrete-a-fication of your country and that goes for you to china !
The river water was so pure you can drink it, unlike New Zealands which I would boil! And not a sound to be heard. Just the waterfall and a bird singing, fantastic.
Dinner, was starting to get a bit grim as supplies were getting low. Curry rice and pine needle tea.  Yes I had to emerge from the man cave to piss at "oh fk me, its freezing  hundred oclock"
A nice night with a big fire was well spent
but the next morning... lets just say Im glad I am not a brass monkey !
A late start , damn tent ! and we were off, through the mountains up hill and down dale untill I spied a home centre.
"oh"  I thought, I will pick up a flat washer for the bike, A simple flat washer of an inside diameter of 13mm.   This is japan.
Everything else except a simple flat washer.
Lovely range of brightly coloured rubber boots for those long winter nights or working in the field. But no flat washers
Maybe the tastes are different in the ski resorts.....

Susaki and beyond

Susaki is a resort town I think especially along the beaches. long nicely kept roads winding along the coastline. Until you get to Susaki then it is a non descript Japanese town with ua flyover and a tunnel. ...
Luckily the tunnel is one of the better ones and shortly after at a very small non descript right hand turn the 193 appears....
The 193 follows the river slowly winding along, all the while the mountains in front remind you of what will come.
The river is beautiful , clean and with some large fish clearly to be seen from the road .
However pulling off the road and down a path to have a break is ruined by human feaces and toilet paper ..
I know you may be nearing 100 and a toilet isn't always handy but for fk sake bury your waste. Third word country, poor form Japan , poor form.
With light fading its that time of day again, where to sleep. This time just before a small village there was a slip road down to a parking area beside the river and it was near a 7/11. That will do Candide , that will do .
Let's see organized or total fk up. I'll go with total Fk up.
Off to 7/11 for some light refreshments. After setting fire to the light refreshments due to indulging in one of the ingredients before setting up the tent and cooking for the evening.  I had enough battery for some music ....
The next morning was cold and we were in the mountains. The sun had to climb the mountain as well .
The weather was cool but sunny just right for the long slow climb into the Foothills.

Following the route 55 , the Tosa-higashi highway. through Anan and along the coast.

Sorry for the Google images, but due to the cold and the grey weather, my phone battery died.

Phone batteries never like the cold!

Not a very awe inspiring country , but with japan it can change in a heart beat.

The road starts to climb into the hills. You know what that means , YES there will be a tunnel and you know how much I LOVE tunnels.

Into the hills

nice road, made even better by a crunching graunching sound from the bikes bottom bracket. It cant be the bearing as they are new !

Decided to stop early this day and have a relaxing evening , so when I saw a sign for Fukui Damn. I thought " hello " we might be in luck here.

Turn down the side road aver a small walking bridge follow the pathup into the hills and you enter some abandoned rice fields with a lovely stream running along side. Rice needs good water and so far its been very drinkable. 

You can see the path behind the tent

 It was very peaceful. Very hard to find a place where there is no noise. Very hard. If you are lucky,,,

Mountain weather changes very quickly. So yes it was sunny and then raining and then raining. Oh well.
The tent stood up well. Though it does need to be set up a little better than my slapstick affair. I left the window open.
Not too much of a puddle in the morning. The sleeping bag is water resistant, so all in all, everything was fine.
 One trouble with the tent is; its black inside and out ! I mean pitch black inside and coupled with the peace outside. I slept in.     big style.
 Oh well,  a lovely cup of coffee and a wash in the stream made the rest of the day so much better.

you can sense the sea

On the other side of tunnels, 90% of the time the road goes down hill.  It even feels nice to type that word, downhill.
On the other side of the tunnels  the road drops down through green heavily wooded mountains picking up the a stream that runs long side the road

Navigation is very easy , follow the road and when you hit the sea, turn right.

On the subject of signs and navigation in Japan. pace beads and a good compass are the way to go.

Google maps is workable, when the phone is working and the wee man who operates the map service hasn't drunk too much. The road signs are a work of art. IF you know the next town and IF you can fine one they work.

down from the mountains , turned right. towards......

But if you dont and you are heading towards a big town e.g. Tokyo,  good luck AND don't even THINK of asking a local or into a convenience store to ask. . IF you are lucky and meet a young person you MAY be in luck.  Otherwise you could face a delightful time trying to pronounce that large cities name in as many variations as you can imagine ...

Muroto point ......to meet Ryoma .....

From Tokushima to Susaki

The next morning, after all was done. I heard the sound of the dreaded " Ojisan", hedge trimmer in hand, weed whacking anything that moves , and if it doesn't , sprayed with chemicals until all life around the rice field is null and void.
Luckily I was packing up, so no worries. and at 9 off we went along the route 55 to Mugi.

Who ever decided to use indexed front mech should be shot, who, in all thats holy , puts an indexed front mech on a touring or every day bike. They are awful. Yes you guessed it, bike trouble. Just a few strange creaks and groans that annoy.
The weather , while not horrible wasn't brilliant. The first night through Tokyo THAT required ski goggle! that was breezy !.
Cycled through lunch and around 3 started looking for a place to sleep.  The road led up a hill to a tunnel ( as usual! ). So I wasn't keen on heading into hills at night. There was a sign informing me of a park in, or near a dam. Yeah right ! But, I saw a walking path heading into the forest. A quick scout and bingo! a lovely abandoned rice field hidden in the forest. So peaceful and no people just perfect !
On the subject of people, pilgrims, I saw one or two as well as a few young people touring on bicycles. That was heart warming ! . I thought young people had no sense of adventure, WRONG !
There are 88 temple one is supposed to visit in order to get enlightened. I'm sorry but not interested. They tend to be closed and just money making attractants.  If they were religious , surely they would rely on the gods for alms, as the pilgrims do not a locked box with a set charge for a bit of paper with your fortune written on it, great business I should do it !.
Dinner that night was Indian butter chicken, rice and fruit. Off to sleep ...The next morning , a problem with the tent appeared.  Its pitch black inside. Its a canvas tent, no light enters, so you don't know when the morning appears. Yes you guessed it, I woke up at 10 am. Damn late......

Tokyo to yokohama

Ok back now
Rode through Tokyo to Yokohama. JUST as i got to Yokohama. I received a phone call telling me to be back ASAP.
My plans suddenly changed. So as it had started to rain and I had stopped in a bus shelter to put on my wet weather gear. I decided to look into a bus.
After chatting to a "station staff "looking person , who said " there was a bus for 5000 yen but they wouldn't take a bicycle but big bags under 20 kg , i.e if they can lift it, no problem.
So, as I carry a bike bag which doubles as a tent floor. In the bag it went and a few hours later the bus arrived. A few tense minutes later and monies were paid and in the bus I went.
Arriving in nagoya at "oh dark thirty " . I assembled the bike and threw in some kilometers.
The next morning found me a few kilometers from Wakayama and surprisingly not tired.
Caught the ferry over to tokushima. 3000 yen incl bike. then turned left and headed out of town.
Tokushima is just a big town. The driving is terrible, it tends to be down this way!
Put in some more kilometers until about 5pm, a bit late as I usually look for a camp site, but one showed up. not the greatest but usable.
One of the biggest things about cycling in japan is finding a place to sleep. The thing is about Japan, if it doesn't fit into the expected norm. You ain't doing it. This doesn't mean you cannot do it , just that its difficult to do.
Free camping is one of them things.

Rice field outside Tokushima

Which was ok for me head ...btw you cant see me

Its strange when looking for somewhere to sleep. You will be in a big city or on a busy road and it looks like there is nothing , but a hidden corner will show up.

While I'm on the subject; I should explain the routine for those who haven't cycle toured ;
wake up, get fire stared , get hot water under way. Start rolling up stuff and packing away.  drink coffee and relax.
In a pot of hot water have a sponge bath and wash hair. ( sunlight soap!). change clothes ( wool is the best there IS no substitute ! ).  take down tent , pack bike and any repairs for the day that need to be done . Then away for the day.
If I wake up between dawn and 7am ill be on the road around 9am.

The ride around the island had truly begun.....

Third time maybe ..

I am adding stuff u stupid computer just publish it .., will ya.

A quick wobble
Off on me bicycle for a quick over night stay. I have found a place that is quiet and not so hard to reach , Arakawa river side about 70 km by bicycle from my house,
Old School Rules
Set up; Lavuu, Czech sleeping bag , oil lantern,and a wood gas stove  you know "old school".
The lavuu was set up with a ridge-line , so that the centre pole was not needed and the wood gas stove set up inside with a vent through the arm hole of the lavuu.
It kinda worked but didnt!
set up was quick and easy, but there were some small problems:
First, the tent pegs were too small for the soft ground , and they pulled out during the night,
Secondly the wood gas stove worked well for a quick meal but filled up with ash and stopped working, making the tent cold.
and thirdly the sleeping mat was inside the sleeping bag, which itself was too bulky, my idea of two woolen blankets didnt work!,and  I couldnt move freely inside the bag.
However, the main idea of the set up worked well. The lavuu is a great one person tent, so versatile! I slept until 11:00am! and the chimney system in the tent worked well !
So changes are afoot!:
I will modify the sleeping bag or sleep pad system  and bring a larger collapsible "fire pit" and make pegs from the surrounding material,
I will also try another location. One where the terain is more difficult and difficult to pitch a tent. So that I will have to " craft a bush bed " and make it flat in order to sleep well !
we shall see