Written by Nancy

Obama, Shimabara Peninsula to Kurume – (81k, 920M)

We skipped the hotel breakfast so that we could get an early start.  Yesterday we found a nice bakery and bought some croissants and pastries that we ate this morning, and we made coffee from the funny pour over packaged coffee that they sell here. It was all better than what the hotel provided so we were happy.

Making our own breakfast meant that we were on the road before 7am.  And for the first time riding in Japan it was actually kind of chilly.  We had a flat section as we rode along the water, then a small climb to warm us up.  Then we hit the big climb for the day.  And that’s where the ‘fun’ began.  The road we took up to the Unzen National Park was very narrow and, as it snaked deep into the mixed bamboo and cedar forest it was also very dark.  It clearly did not get much traffic as the road was covered in moss in many areas.  There were a few houses toward the bottom of it, but as we climbed higher it was mostly just forest.

The climb was pretty tough, with grades of between 8% to 10% for most of the 8k we had to ride to get to the top.  It felt pretty unrelenting at times, and there weren’t a lot of ‘flat spots’ to give us a break.  Funnily enough, there were a couple spots where they were actually doing road construction on it – it looked like they were trying to beef up the side of the road to prevent slumping from the high sides. 

We didn’t break out into the sunshine until we were almost at the top – it was such a relief to come out of the forest tunnel and see some light finally!  The trees continued up to the top of the mountains we could see – there was no visible tree line.  Things just grow like crazy here.

The wind was blowing pretty good at the top and the temperature seemed low so we were both quickly getting chilled as we made our way to the turnoff to the downhill.  Komoot had us turning off the main road down off on a side road but it looked like an overgrown path that would be a very slow downhill so we passed on that and continued on the main road down.  It was a great downhill, though between sweaty from the uphill and the cool temps we were both shivering on the way down. 

We made our way to the Taira Port in Kumini to catch the ferry across the Ariake Sea to the other part Kyushu.  We weren’t really watching the time, as we knew the ferries were relatively frequent, but we made it in time to catch the 9:55 ferry. It was pretty cold waiting for the ferry, as the wind was blowing pretty good and the temps were not that much higher even down near the water.  It’s only a 45-minute ferry ride, but it seems pretty well-used and they even put vehicles on 2 levels. 

Once we got to the other side (Nagasu Port), our 50k ride through the urban jungle began.  We knew it was pretty developed all the way to our destination in Kurume, but it was such a strange contrast to the ride on the other side of the water where it felt like we were lost in the middle of the jungle somewhere!  We found a decent (and cheap) place for lunch about 15k or so in – another udon and tempura, only about $10 for both lunches, which seemed really good value for what we got.

We continued to fight the wind on our ride into Kurume.  We did follow the Komoot route for part of it when the traffic got a bit too intense, but when we ended up on roads that were relatively quiet or had a good shoulder or bike path we opted for the more direct routes.  Komoot has a tendency to do a lot of diversions to avoid the bigger roads, but sometimes those bigger roads aren’t really very busy and it’s a bit frustrating to make a zillion turns through neighborhoods when it’s not really necessary.  Anyway, we are getting better at making a call when we see how the roads are and mixing it up a bit when it works.  Though it is a little nerve-racking to go off the route when you can’t read the signs! Dave doesn’t stress, he just keeps saying “are we on route” or “can you read that” – all very helpful with my stress levels.

We made it to our hotel, the Green Rich Hotel, just about 3pm.  It’s a decent hotel and we convinced them that we could store the bikes in the room.  It was touch and go at initially – the first answer was no, but then we told them we could carry the bikes in once all the luggage was off and that seemed to work.  All a bit funny, but the main thing is the bikes are inside so we don’t have to worry about them (or parts of them) disappearing while we are here.

We have a day off again here tomorrow – I know, another day off.  Actually, today seemed like a long day with that big climb to start with so it will be good to have a rest.  But more importantly, we have a chance to meet up with my Japanese teacher, who lives nearby and we couldn’t pass that up.  Hopefully there will be no test as part of the visit!