Written by Dave

Hyuga to Aoshima –  (84k, 437m)

Our Hyuga business hotel turned out just fine. It was quiet overnight, dinner last night was acceptable and Japanese brekkie this morning was more than adequate. Nancy almost went for the western set menu but then reverted back to the Japanese set menu. I was always going Japanese

These old business hotels are funny. They almost always have a full room control electrical panel right at the bed so you don’t have to get up to turn anything on or off. They also often contain an odd water fixture or two – think bidet odd sort of. Last night we had a nice and shiny tap in the bathroom that we could not figure out how to turn on, or what it was for – see below. And the restaurant’s bathroom sink, while useable, was quite odd as well – see below also. I’m not sure these are one off, custom pieces or possibly found throughout Japan. Anyway, they gave me a chuckle.

We started riding with heavy grey skies and possible rain. I opted to go without booties and rain coat. Nancy rugged up with both. It only rained a little and my choice was the right one. We stopped at 10k for Nancy to strip off a few layers. By then, I was completely dry as the little bit of rain didn’t really add too much wetness. It is so nice that the forecast for the rain to end was correct.

I calculated that we rode past the homes of close to 1 million people today (adding up populations of towns). Komoot did a great job keeping us on back roads the entire day. We had to ride on busy Highway 10 a few times to cross rivers and always chose the footpath as traffic was brisk. Only once Komoot led us down a dead-end but a real-time double check with Google maps got us back on track without major issue.

We stopped for morning tea again at 7-11. And yes, we had pork buns and coffee again. Today I’ll include some photos to complete the picture. It is not haute cuisine or great coffee but it fills the void and is pretty tasty. The coffee is fresh ground and is a pour over, if you believe what the machine is telling you.

We came across a second rain squall but it looked minor so I decided to not rug up. Nancy stopped to put her rain coat again. I had in my mind that we were coming out to a main road and that there would be a roadside ramen shop where we could duck into for lunch. In truth, I had no clue, as Nancy has the GPS and is the only one of us who can read Japanese. Well, in one of those “blind squirrel finds a few acorns” moments, not long after Nancy got her coat on and started riding we came across a ramen shop. Nancy spotted the sign but this time I took a photo so I can be on the lookout tomorrow. The gal running the restaurant was really friendly and they served a super delicious ramen. And yes, the rain stopped by the time we finished eating.

The afternoon was a bit longer today because we had further to ride and because we trusted Komoot to keep us away from Miyazaki, the largest city on this part of the coast. We probably could have stayed on several of the main roads but we followed the Komoot goat tracks and arrived in Aoshima eventually.

We are staying at the Aoshima guest house. Both of the workers spoke pretty good English. I suspect in part because Aoshima is reputedly a fairly well known surf spot. We’ve heard a good number of foreign accents since arriving – Aussie and French for sure, maybe more. We are staying here tomorrow because there seems to be plenty to do and it’s not that busy and we’ve moved nearly every day for a week (even if in some of those days we rode little) – more on Aoshima tomorrow.

For dinner we tried another regional speciality – Chicken Nanban. The chicken is first coated in sweet, tangy vinegar, then coated in batter and the fried and topped off with tartar sauce. It originated in a couple local Miyazaki restaurants but has become so popular that it can now be found everywhere from izakaya bars to convenience stores throughout Japan. Nancy ordered the chicken, for me the fish – both prepared the same way. The chicken was better as it held the vinegar taste better. You’d be hard pressed to call chicken nanban gourmet, but it is unquestionably tasty. I may get my own serve tomorrow.

We’ve spotted a couple coffee shops for tomorrow, plus there’s an island to walk to and a botanical garden. And if all else fails, we are not far from an onsen for an afternoon soak. I’m sure the day will be over before we know it. Stay tuned.

Today’s map