New Zealand 2018

New Zealand
Over here to touch base with friends and family for three weeks.
Its always a little strange returning to a place. Even if you leave only for a short time . Things change.
This time, 2 earthquakes have had their wicked way. Shops , places of interest , old buildings all gone.  Replaced with miles and miles of orange cones  and the occasional forlorn person standing by a stop go sign keeping watch over the miles and miles of cones.
The flight over in cattle class wasnt as bad as I though . The service was fine and the check in went smoothly, surprisingly!.
The automatic check in  machine,  as usual  required assistance and took the counter staff had to re do everything. Yes that's progress!
First impressions of arriving on New Zealand . I'm sorry but, fat. All lot of people are just plain fat. 
How would you describe New Zealand ? A rural town that just got to big ?
There is something about New Zealand or the South Island in which a force or entity operates  a force or energy that makes you withdraw from world events and become cacconed in a bubble of complacency.
The faults , the house prices as per pacific rim are vastly inflated , either that or the purchasing power of the dollar is zero.
Energy prices are sky high , in other words , overseas interests have done naughty things to New Zealand bottom and the people we electronic to safe guard us against the evil have failed to do so. In other words in my opinion the social contract has broken.
On the positive side, the level of service has improved and the ease of which you can go about your daily life is much better. Shops are open later , services  while being online and a pain in the arse to use are for the most part effective. At least in Japan you deal with a human being though.
Finally the pace of life is much slower, much much slower. I wonder why that is ?
Is it the mass of people feeding of each other's energy ? who knows .
I took  a trip to Kiakora the other day 100km from here , nice but unfortunately the earthquakes had really shaken the inner town. with large sections missing. Still the fish and chips were nice !
Took the coastal road home but half way and just before the mountains , I got something in my eye causing me to see,   nothing. . Oh boy what a fun drive home .
State highway one of a duel carriage way which means it a single lane up and a single lane down .
So when you are on a bridge and the big trucks are coming towards you, at 100km/have , you only have a foot or so and no safety barrier between you and the truck.
So with one eye closed and the other not working too well , the trucks become a big mass of blurry , starry lights
Still , I am writing this a few days later so I didn't hit anything. I think .
A few days later we we looking for the elusive rabbit. turns out we do have them but they are small and would need trapping. There are plenty of hares due to the open cattle pastures, but no bunnies.  The hill we climbed was one of the larger ones in the area and gave a good view over the district. On the very top there was a stone with a brass plaque insert. To a couple called Robinson. What  a lovely place to be.
Back down on the plain , where the rain from Spain has stayed , Johnnie , out next door neighbour has killed a bobby calf for the dog, Rather than chop it up and put it in the freezer , he has left it outside on his front lawn, Chopping bits off as and when needed. Tis be a gruesome scene , more along the lines of hammer house of horror and probably not seen in the more afluent parts of Tokyo! .
Sunday night was spent at Hamner Springs , a resort village that used to house the Queen Mary hospital for the sozzled. A british belt and braces affair set in beautiful grounds , now returned to Maori.
We had a strange but delightful meal at this restaurant where everything that was , was not.  wasabi , that was cheese. Cucumber that was apple, apples that were sugar filled with foam.
well presented and nice. It was good.
Monday rolled around and I spent the day scrub cutting.  I dont mind hard work, Its honest and good for the mind, Then into Rangiora to pick up half a ton of pellets for the fire. This turned out to be an expensive day.  The pellets were about 600 dollars , the hire of the trailer , the gasoline about 50 dollars and the speeding ticket we got for doing  100km/h with a trailer. 95 km/h is the allowable speed with a trailer.
To those who dont know. The policy men , policemen are rather enthusiastic about their job. They love to drive around in unmarked cars with hidden blue and red lights. The cars are equipped with radar front and rear, so the first thing one knows or sees are the flashing blue and red lights and you pull over to receive your state benefit.
An ice cream and a pie made things a little better on the way home .
Tuesday, I spent looking at an old motorbike, "Just an hours work", he said. Still it made the brain work.
Thursday; went into town. when one says "into town " it means an hours drive and at least $ 50 dollars in gasoline. Stopped by the skate park again then off to the shopping mall to steal their free WIFI, then off to the "Army Navy" store for some new clothes. Well they are cheap! and as long as you like green , or now desert storm you can choose any colour you like.
After shopping we took a detour around Lyttleton. Lyttleton, is on its back foot. Remember it suffered an earthquake. All the old haunts are gone, The British pub is there but no longer occupied.  A street full of "craft shops" awaits you further up the road and that is about it.  A longest milkshake in town , with 3 scoops of ice cream preceeded corsair bay. A beautiful bay in which I remember swimming as a child. The addition of  changing rooms havent spoilt its appeal..
With time a premium, it was back into the car and off to a long time friends house. Well we would have if we had known the address. Back to south city and a brief flirtation with south city WiFI resulted in a prompt reply from Heather, Sally and Richards daughter.
Sally and Richard have been long time friends and have supported me through thick and thin, with Sally bearing the brunt of my internet presence. I love that the T.V was off and that there conversation flowed freely.
They have moved from a larger property to a smaller one on the account of sallys health. Set in a back section with a view of a small park. The house is of the town variety a handfull of years old in which Richard has made access easier for Sallys " Urban Tractor".
The thing is about the location however is that its in Oxford. Not Oxford England nor any similarity with Oxford England. But at the end of the straightest longest road known to man. The man whom was later employed in Australia and possibly America and may have sub contracted out on occasions as there is a bend in the road about 40 km into the journey.
Friday saw the new hiking gear loaded up and my brother and I at the start of the Lake Daniels walk a short walk through beech wood forest to a small but beautiful lake, 8 odd km in.
We arrived a little late but with enough time to set up and eat dinner. A mountain house " just add water " affair , it was eatable. Maybe after a moth or so opinions may change but for now the stew was good.
At about 12 in the night , I thought brother had given up with the cold , it was 2 degrees or less, and had given up! Retreating to the hut for warmth. However a group of "foreign types" had decended and decided on some pillow talk before bed. Being in a hammock in the forest, I wasnt party to their inner most desires.
I woke up just after dawn, my hotwater bottle had lost its mojo and the cold was making its presence felt. So I arose and lit a fire but the rain and the wood being damp made for old smokey. Coal just made it worse.
Lake Daniels is on the west coast side of the Lewis pass and has all of the west coast charms. Rain and coal and a golden history.
A golden history on which I had decided to capitalize on. Purchasing a gold pan, My pan was to mine for gold. Things were going to plan until we stumbled upon a sign. Not a sign which requires the ridicules of the neighbours and the construction of an ark, more a laminated photocopy from the Dept of conservation stating I was to remain poor.
One thing I realized about the area was that it was dead as far as biodiversity. A couple of More porks and  the odd twitter ,most likely from the Foreign types we had met earlier. This led me to ask the question about the use of 1080. Which it seems was used in the area in 2016.
I had the opportunity to chat to a few people about the quiet forest and the possibility of trapping the area. The reply was " makes ya fit "  but no problem.
Sad really. Especially when you arrive home and the back garden is alive with birdsong.  Something is definitely wrong.
I wonder if there is another way!
The final stage of the vacation was rapidly approaching , I got the bike started and started to pack.
Here we need to insert a rant of sorts !   Air New Zealand. at the economy level you get an economy service. I mean economy .
You are allowed 23kg. One bag. and the little white button on the side of the seat has gone.
Lets start with the little white button.  Years ago, you pushed the button and the nice lady came and with a bit of negotiation you eventually got a beer.
Now,  there is a touch screen. The touch screen has a handful of options. Call crew, for a glass of water and snacks , but the kitchen was always closed.
23gk means no shopping. But I did. So I had a separate bag, my bow. The bow which was checked in as a separate bag when I went to NZ and the backpack we had was checked  as a carry on.
So when I tried to return , I now had 2 check in bags. One at 23 kg the other at 750 grams  and a payment of 100 dollars.  Hey " I will send it DHL" , 400 dollars.
The flight back was good as regards to service, the dinner service I wanted wasnt available but the attendant remember when dinner came around . I thanked him later.
The process of entering and leaving countries I must say has speeded up , the slowest part being waiting for my bag !
Is it good to be back . we will see !

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

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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 !