AndreasOutside

Our final week, with bikes already packed, we traveled to Tokyo at 285 km/h through landscapes at blink speed.

A ferry would take us to the Goto Islands the eastern most point in our travels to visit scene settings of “Kids on the Slope”. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids_on_the_Slope

An early morning ferry took us across the bay followed by a short ride up and into the city. Hilly, a bit like San Fransisco, we noticed numerous cemeteries on the hillsides looking towards the sea. We visited the Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall for Atomic Bomb Victims and the adjacent Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum.…

Our warmest day of riding we got the climbing over with in the morning and rode the north coast of Shimoshima into the setting sun to our campsite on the shore next to castle ruins.

The day that started with a dramatic sunrise found us racing the sunset for precious light. The climbs today were beautiful but challenging taking much longer than expected. Rockfall, branches and 10%+ grades kept us moving slowly up and necessitated caution on descents. An excellent day of ups and downs.

Kagoshima lies on the shore of the bay with the same name across from Sakurajima, a towering active stratovolcano, that was an island before its lava flows connected in the early 1900s. Its smoking presence is noticed from most corners of the city. Museums tell stories of both the natural and human history of the…

An epic ride, similar to our first day on Kyushu, this time tea fields filled the air with sweet scents. A few off-road experiences tested our emotions with one 4 km section in particular that required walking over fallen logs, with multiple back and forths to carry bikes and gear over rough spots. Spider webs…

A home cooked breakfast and driving tour of the neighborhood got us started on our route to Kagoshima. Our coastal route was surprisingly limited with ocean views due to tsunami barriers and transportation infrastructure along the shoreline. When a view appeared, it was incredible. The daily riding was taking a toll on our bodies and…

From Usuki we headed inland to make our way south to Yumiko’s house in Kadogawa. The route took us repeatedly up terraced valleys, over forested passes and then down through terrased valleys, repeatedly. Rice fields were everywhere in different states of readiness for harvest. Scarecrows in one town outnumbered inhabitants. The descent in Kadogawa was…