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.....