Sunday October 5, 2025

We are not made of sugar, we do not melt in the rain. After breakfast and rebuilding the bikes we headed out towards Osaka.

The forecast was for 30-40% rain showers, but we were heading for some hills and figured we were going to get wet. Wet we got.

Ralf saying foodbye to the hotel mascot.

Although it wasn’t really a pretty ride, it was very good. We were alongside two or three highways, although we heard the cars we couldn’t see them as they had huge sound barriers along the route. Ride with GPS took us along the Kitakawichi bike path for about 30 kms.

Although I mentioned my weak bladder yesterday, I am going to mention it again today. There is nowhere in Japan you can take a wild wee. There are people everywhere, even in the short time we were in a rural area, the highway was to one side and the houses were to the other.

Fortunately, there was a Lawsons’ that had a restroom.  There are three main convenience stores, 7/11, Family Mart and Lawson Station. They basically have the same food available and outside of Kyoto they have clean washrooms. In Taiwan, the 7/11 and Family Mart also had seating areas, in Japan they have taken them away.

The route to our hotel through Osaka was easy to follow. We are staying at another Apartment Hotel 11. They have friendly staff, kitchenettes, and a washing machine. We threw all our wet cycle gear into the machine and it is currently drying in the bathroom that has a dry fan, it ventilates, dries the laundry and has a cool breeze after showering!. I haven’t cleaned the bikes yet, but I will try to clean them before we leave. The bicycles are on the balcony.

We ate in the room and were looking forward to going to the Shimano Bicycle Museum tomorrow, but it is closed on Mondays. It may be a castle day.