Advertisement
Published: April 21st 2015
Edit Blog Post
Day 5
Dist. 63 miles. Avenue 14 mph
Ascent 637m
On reflection last nights meal was octopus tentacles and not the pork I had ordered. Oscar got my pork, but could not find any meat in it. The tentacles in my meal were ok once you had got the suction pads off the roof of the mouth, but I suspect the nutritional value was akin to Desperate Dan’s tripe and cow heal pie. The breakfast today was very good in the Dormy Hotel with a buffet with too much choice and the plates were filled sky high. We claimed we were carbo loading for the ride ahead. Whilst it rained quite heavily overnight at 8am it had ceased and was forecast to rain heavily again this afternoon. So of we went at 8 in overcast conditions to get a head start through the busy concrete city of cars and trams with pedestrians having the temerity to walk on our pavement. However, Ken lead us along some superb cycle paths alongside the river until well after we left town. We went into vegetable and all crop country including Soy Beans which at first looked like potatoes in neat ridges. We could have
been in Holland. Luckily as we headed west the promised rain never came and when we called at the soy factory the sun even shone. Our route took us along the Amakuso Shira peninsula to the bridge crossing onto the island of Amakusa Kamishima and then Amakusa Shimoshima crossing over a total of five bridges. There was a biggish hill mid morning before the Soy factory at Matsuai which was narrow and winding through a damp forest and musty at the summit. Most of the day wS rather flat along the coast and often into a headwind. The afternoon saw endless fishing villages and many overhead birds of prey, which I think were buzzards. After our afternoon break my son Martin, Martyn Franklin and myself set off at a blistering pace of well over 20 mph for the last 12 miles with Martin D and myself taking turns on the front only for me to blow up after 9 miles. I had to stop with the pretence of taking photos and had to chew some Haribos, whilst they carried on, and I limped into Hinoshima at 4.20pm. The Hotel Kiraratei was quite nice with a flask of hot water ,
a biscuit and green tea waiting in our room overlooking the sea which was an added bonus. My Garmin ran low on battery again today and I had to connect it to my reserve charger as we rode to ensure that it recorded the full day. I think it takes more power when the map is displayed. Tonight's meal was probably the best yet, just when I was thinking that I was getting too much Japanese food. There must have been ten courses with a whole tasty snapper, suchi, monster prawns, soup. tofu sauce with ginkgo nuts etc etc. The rice was again cooked individually with a type of night light candle burner. I was nearly full after all that lot. Ken gave us some entertainment with us drawing a mythical object and then described tomorrow's route which involved a ferry and a train. So breakfast at 6am and away at 7pm so way to bed.
Advertisement
Tot: 1.096s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 15; qc: 55; dbt: 0.7309s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb