Bike Touring Across Japan #3 – Shimonoseki to Onomichi

Bike Touring Across Japan #3 – Shimonoseki to Onomichi

[Music] well my one and a half week jint of peu is done now and that’s peu over there where I’ve just came from yesterday and now I’ve got a few days riding in h hn Southern honu before I go over to Chicago but to be honest with you today I don’t know how much of the ride I’m going to end up filming because all throughout the night and this morning and I think up until the afternoon there’s a pretty bad storm coming through there’s like Gil advisories Heavy Rain advisories thunderstorm advisories so I might just put my head down and Barrel my way through this today but we’ll see we’ll see what happens [Music] and after a decent string of only staying in hosts I’m going back to Camping tonight and you know what a lovely weather day I pick to do that again there is a risk of the campsite I’m going to being flooded which means I won’t be able to use it cuz it’s a free campsite and they’ll just tell you no so I think what I might do is just get there as fast as possible and just scope the situation out [Music] [Music] really well on the 10th day it was about to happen at some point first puncture which is really annoying cuz I would have prefer to change something like this when I’m about to have my lunch cuz there’s a Comin like right down the road probably like you know 3 5 minutes away but it’s happened up here and I’m not really going to roll down this road with a massively flat tire can’t [ __ ] believe it man you’re like literally a minute down the road and you can hear it [ __ ] punct it again well I guess I should have been a little more diligent before I set off there because found the culprate little bit of Glass on my tire lovely [Music] he let me tell you I’m in desperate need of this right now oh wow I thought for sure that this would definitely be shut off with flooding risks since the weather’s only gotten worse I’ve now returned from the town center with a few supplies and it’s good that I’ve managed to catch a little break in the rain so I’ve set my tent up and nothing has got wet and I’m even able to sit outside for a little bit I think it’s meant to rain for a little bit like in a couple of hours or so but you know I’ve got a couple of hours to enjoy the outside at least but for now I’ve got a few bits downloaded on my phone that I want to start watching so until tomorrow I’ll see you later it’s been quite a nice visual this morning cuz it’s been really misty when I got out of the tent and you can see the sun’s trying to get through it as well so it seems like it’s going to be a sunny day when it calms down but one thing that’s bad about the my though is that even though it wasn’t raining for the majority of the night my tent’s still soaking so I’m going to have to carry around a soaking tent with me cuz I’m about to pack up now and today we’ve got 88 89 km to do to another campsite and then tomorrow it’s a really short one it’s only about 35k so we’ll have a couple of rest days because after that we’ll be in hoshima literally as soon as the Sun starts coming out I’m like stripping off all my layers I will say though I’m one of those weird people who prefers being too hot than too cold you know not saying that makes a Japanese summer pleasurable to me they’re still excruciating from the small amount that I experienced in August last year but I guess let’s check back in in a month’s time whether I’m eating my words or not hey nothing like a short steep section of Road actually where wake yourself up in the morning eh [Music] [Music] it’s actually quite where in my experience that family mod has stuff marked down so that was a nice surprise the plugs in these seating areas are super useful because right now I’m going between camp sites that don’t have any like electrical outlets in so I don’t want to rely on my big battery packs like all the time so it’s nice to be able to just quickly pop it in fast charge out [Music] [Music] [Music] got about 10K on the main road now though at some points it is just unavoidable [Music] [Applause] well this has vared things up a little bit this is just at the side of the road as I was coming [Music] along how still playing it safe can’t say I blame him just when you think you’re most mostly going through just a state basically for the entire trip it’s always nice to come across something like [Music] this on what they climb that I have to do today today doesn’t include as much elevation as I’ve done before but they include the steepest roads that I’ve been on so far bloody hell [Music] lot to sent off my big climbs changed everything really look at the absolute scene of where we are now insanely [Music] beautiful here we’re coming right up to the end now and a big gray cloud has formed it’s starting to rain this better not turn into a theme every time I want to go camping like I’ll tell you what though I am a bit peckish and there’s a there’s a cocoi bind off the road and that might be a decent place quite a bit of Thunder there actually up the road so I think kokichi band might be a nice place just to hunker down for a little bit this is an actual full-on storm which just came out of nowhere but no better excuse to jump into a Coco I guess that could have been just the right amount of time cuz the sun’s creeping back out now don’t know why I’ve said that though I’ve probably cursed it now of course this [ __ ] park has to be up the steepest street I’ve been up so far my lord well there’s been a little bit of a blunder here because in this place you don’t reserve a spot ahead like you just rock up and check in but apparently the cit’s out with season but I swear I see nothing on the website that had to do with when the campsite was actually open it just said there’s a campsite here it’s 500 yen but apparently there is so oh well no [ __ ] way I go to set off and my tires flat can’t [ __ ] believe it so then I guess it’s quite an interesting one today because after I had to cycle about an extra 20 km to get to a hostel after the campsite was closed yesterday only got about 15 km to get to the center of hirosima so I’ve not even put my cycling gear on today I’m still going to wear my helmet I’ve just got my cup on for the time being but yeah I’m not even going to put any cycling gear on I’m just going to have a really slow and chill ride to get to my accommodation in hoshima I was staying in a hostel over there called omo Tashi and it’s actually really good I really enjoyed it it’s spacious and I didn’t get like the normal bunk kind of rooms I got a dorm still but it seems like that might be a repurpose office it seems like inside because my dorm room is very office like let’s say [Music] well the bike and the bags are now put away but I’ve got a few hours until I can actually go into the room and since it’s a nice day I might try and find a b with some outside seat and to have a nice beer with but unfortunately in Japan that’s a bit easier said than done even if I don’t get myself an outside beer I can at least enjoy this little perch that I’ve got here by the [Music] river and today the total distance of the ride you know before I did a little at the start is about 79 km and I’m going from hoshima to an island called osaki Kami Jima I think that’s what it is osaki kamijima and it’s an island a little Southwest from hoshima [Music] it’s getting exciting cuz I’m starting to see painting on the road now for cycling routes leading into omichi which is the start of the very famous shiban armi kaido but called your horses that won’t be for a couple days and probably the next video in this series maybe who knows because beforehand we’re doing some cheeky island hopping a bit West of the shim armi kaido and then going back up to amichi and then going down the shimanami kaido and you know before where I said where we’re going today is Southwest got that totally wrong Southeast [Music] that’s one [ __ ] way to give a cyclist a heart attack like those bloody Vans are the megaphones absolutely everywhere [Music] while I’ve St to get a bottle of water from the vending machine I just need to take in some of my surroundings a little bit cuz I’m on a cycling course right now going between a few Islands similar to the shim kaido and the cycling course has been so nice that I just want to keep going not stop at all so while I force myself to stop the rehydrate we need to take him minut just uh bask in it a little bit [Music] well to end my journey today I need to take a short fairy ride and it doesn’t leave for almost an hour but looking at this scenery I think I can forgive that there’s a nice little restaurant over there by the ticket office as well hadu Katon and it was really good actually it’s probably one of the better ones that I’ve had and considering that I quite like Katon it’s quite a big statement for 400 Yen like this come site that I’m at is a pretty decent set up it’s right by Beach which I’ve got a little bit of daylight left to appreciate it I’ve been able to take a hot shower and I’m the only one here right now so I’ve basically been able to Commander a full bench to be able to eat my food on later although there is a lot of bugs so I’m going to have to run back and get my bug spray in a second cuz they’re already starting to eat [Music] me today’s ride it’s not going to be too much of a challenge I think overall 60 km but I think 10 km that is a ferry ride that I’ve got to take back to Mainland honu so it’s probably around about 50 k but still be fun either way come sit’s next to a footy field in a little putting green area and there’s no vending machine by them absolutely devastated must be more remote than I thought [Music] and it’s also a good thing on this far out remote as well cuz I’ve just gotten a coffee out of a coffee machine for 50 Yen and that is unbelievable I know them all ran locally but never a bad word said about daily yamazaki again if you can find some with prices like [Music] that now that I’m over the water I’m deciding to do the tactic which is go on the windy high up roads next to the main road just to avoid a bit of the traffic but I don’t really know whether that’s going to be worth it but I guess I’ve got a lot of time before I have to check in so might as well although the main reason it might not be worth it is that there’s quite a lot of hornets up here so uh yeah that’s fun [Music] I guess working harder on the Hilo Ro isn’t such a bad thing when you want to keep up eating as much food as you [Music] do well I’m riding right past this looks dead interesting but [ __ ] me there’s a lot of stairs but you know why not well here we are nearly at the top I’m definitely not leaning onto the railing what are you talking about [Music] I felt a little bit negative this morning with the like Misty and wet weather but now that the sun’s properly out and it’s actually quite warm feeling much more energetic and Alive you know like two coffees will do that as well n [Music] so I pretty stoked about finding some coffee on that water side very nice little area and it’s quite nice to be able to stop over and onor meet you because you know I’m not too much of a gamer anymore but one of the games I have played in the last few years is Yakuza 6 and I think around the game is based in onomichi so it’s quite nice to be able to explore something that I played like that thinking I might just go and recreate the scene where they throw the baby about like an American football up by the shrine might be fun but it’s time to go eat and I’m in another place that’s famous for its Ramen so it would be rude not to eh

Recorded April 2023

Music by ZARG – explore – https://thmatc.co/?l=528D3E19
Music by gardenfire – Origami – https://thmatc.co/?l=E9F95F22
Music by Ryan Little – LOVE HARD – https://thmatc.co/?l=80CC099C
Music by Mark Generous – Keeping A Distance – https://thmatc.co/?l=A31A9713
Music by MP3vius – back in the day – https://thmatc.co/?l=A6C126E7