Thursday 25 September 2025
Not a bad night’s sleep. We had a larger bed (2 twins). I was awake at 4 but was able to go back to sleep until 6:00. This place does not serve breakfast, and the café didn’t open until 9:00. We were packed and ready to go at 8:15. We headed out and had a breakfast of champions at a 7/11: Boiled egg, cheesy bread, hash brown, a banana and a coffee – protein, carbs, vegetable, fruit and caffeine what more could you need.
I had planned a route to Hamamatsu, a distance of 85 kms because it was flat and along the coast. Ralf persuaded me last night that we should continue to do shorter distances, if we must make changes to the itinerary so be it. We are supposed to be enjoying the ride.
Map of this section of the Pacific Coast Route
The Pacific Coast Route, which is the general route we are following is a bit hit and miss. Sometimes it takes you on a busy Highway and other times it takes you along a lovely coastal route. We are using a combination of Ridewith GPS and Google maps. It seems to be working and is keeping us away from the busy highways. Often the route directs you down paved farm roads, which makes if far more interesting than having to concentrate on the traffic.
We had found a traditional Japanese guesthouse to stay which was about 50 kms from Yazui so that is where we were headed.
The route was lovely today, we cycled along the coast and saw surfers, we cycled inland and saw rice being harvested and we cycled up a slight hill to see a large smelter plant with huge slag heaps surrounding it. We did have a head wind today.
Surfers
Not sure why Lady Liberty is here at the surfing beach. As we cycle along the coast we notice a lot of the flood protection and Tsunami gates that are in place.
We also met and chatted to our first touring cyclists. They were from Brazil and on a two-year world trip. I got the feeling that they were not enjoying Japan. They had started in Hokkaido and Lari indicated that there were a lot of bears. I had read recently about a few bear attacks on hikers. Lari and Jean were a really nice couple. It was nice to chat to touring cyclists again. I invited them to stay with us if they decide to cycle across Canada. We shared blogs and YouTube info.
Lari said there seems to be several Japans. The north is beautiful and remote, with smaller population. Tokyo is Tokyo!! And the south is big city after big city and too much noise, population. They have also struggled with the lack of English spoken.
We arrived at our Japanese Guesthouse about half an hour early, I was expecting a small house, but it is quite a large complex. We were allowed to check in and the lovely lady working suggested we could leave our bikes outside or in a large garage. Ralf investigated the garage, and we were able to leave them safe and sound in the garage.
As this was a more traditional guesthouse, I had mentioned to Ralf that he should take his shoes of at the door. Ralf asked if he should take his shoes of at the door. No, she said O.K. here. She checked us in early and with the help of google translate and the camera translating text, we were able to work everything out. It is a traditional Japanese room with tatami mats. We roll out a futon and have linens and a quilt. It will be interesting to see how I sleep tonight. The Guest house does not have private bathrooms, there is a room with sinks, toilets down the hall and public bathing, which I thought would be an Onsen but is actually a large hot tub. There are instructions on how to use the public bathing pool. Remove all your clothes, and store them in the locker provided, shower and wash everything thoroughly, soaps and shampoo provided, then you can get into the hot tub. It seems very odd not to have a private bathroom, but we thought we should try at least one traditional guesthouse
It is a very peaceful place. There is soothing music in the common areas, everything is very clean, and the hot tub was wonderful. This place is not in a major city or even a town it is a bit out of the way. There is a restaurant on-site, but it wasn’t open tonight. Fortunately, they have various ramen noodles and rice and curries available for purchase and a microwave and hot water. Not an evening meal for champions, but it was o.k.
Tomorrow we have the option of a western breakfast or a Japanese breakfast we opted for a Japanese breakfast. No idea what we will get, life is an adventure.
