This was the day, the real cycling adventure would start, leaving the safety of the big city and the hotel. I woke up super early again, around 3am and unable to sleep until 5am. Then I must have dozed off until 7am. I packed my bags, knowing I’ve got to check out at 11am. I headed to the breakfast restaurant and had a big meal with fish and ordered some extra Natto (fermented, sticky soy beans), I’ve always hated them but apparently they’re good for your guts. I tried some, not quite as disgusting as I remembered and I observed someone opposite me putting soy sauce on them. That helped a little bit plus eating them with a mouthful of something afterwards as a chaser.

From breakfast it was off to Starbucks, same ritual: Decaf Mocha, Tall size, Hotto, drink in, cuppu, Creme nashi (no Creme). I had 2 cups whilst writing the blog. I went a bit overboard writing yesterday but I do enjoy it and it’s gonna serve as a reminder of how this all feels in a few years when I can look back at this. As I laid awake in the night, I planned out my route into 3 stages, first to the Couples Gate (31km), then to Totoro’s Forrest (12km) and then to Hideaway Sunset Camp in Dainuy (20km). I didn’t quite know whether this was too much for the first day or not but I was gonna try. I remembered from my 2018 trip around Hokkaido that I averaged 60-80km/ day. With the blog written and about 30min to go I headed to the hotel to pack and check out before 11am. As I packed my stuff, I must have forgotten my cycling gloves somewhere but I didn’t immediately notice. I had a few mins to spare so I rushed things. I took the bike and my bags down and put them all onto the bike. I had 2mins to spare before checkout deadline and was happy with the timing. I refilled my water bottle at reception and was ready to go. As I was about to leave I felt that something was missing, my helmet. I had to go back to reception and get it from the room, then finally ready I wanted to leave but oh no, where are my gloves. I had to take all the bags off again, unpacked most of them but couldn’t find them. Ok, no problem, thank good for secondary gloves from 2018. 

I finally set off around 11.30 after much faffing, leaving Fukuoka city behind me. I stopped in a garden centre to get some extra cable ties as memories of my rear rack falling off one time in 2018 flashed back. This is most likely one of the worst things that could happen and entirely possible considering everything is help by 2 small screws. I also got some more water and a small bottle of Pocari sweat. Jeez, cycling without weight the day before was one thing, cycling with all the weight completely different. The bike feels like a lorry. Small bumps in the road deliver shocks to bike and rider and I have to slow down as I want to save my spikes from too much of this, knowing that they’re the most susceptible to breaking under this pressure. 

Once I got out of Fukuoka I enjoyed riding much more. In Japan, motorists are still king and don’t really care about cyclists. This is worse on small narrow roads but just as bad in the city as cars and lorries will overtake you neatly scraping past me with 20cm to spare. I take as much space on the road as needed, especially on more narrow sections as I don’t fancy getting knocked over. After about 20km I took a break in a cafe, had some cheese cake and lots of water. Then onwards to the couples gate. I was already pretty exhausted, my bum and wrists hurt and this wasn’t helped that I had strong headwinds since leaving Fukuoka.

In the cafe I notices some young, hip travellers and little did I know that I’d see them again and again. First stop couples gate, a nice viewpoint of the ocean that was pretty busy. The group of travellers were here too, which made me feel like I’m making good progress keeping up with motorised travellers. From there I changed cycling glasses to sunglasses and took off my helmet. I couldn’t go fast anyway as the headwinds just got stronger, some times feeling like I’m coming to a standstill or just about making 5 km/h. On we go. Halfway to the Totoro Forrest I stopped at a farm shop, more strawberries - yummy! I ate the whole crate before continuing. Google maps continued to be annoying which made me take out my phone from the case to check it. I was gonna have to rely on my senses and just override the voice in my ear that said, next left, then right…when I knew it was a relatively straight road.

Totoro Forrest was a really a viewpoint and just because it looks like a bit of a tunnel through some thicket, didn’t quite warrant the description. As I arrived, so had the other group of younger travellers. I passed them by on my way up to the viewpoint exchanging smiles as they took selfies… the viewpoint was really good and a welcome break for my legs ti rest for a bit and walk around. I also visited a local shrine next to the viewpoint, which seemed like it hailed from many, many centuries past with wooden carvings and statues of tengu (the long nose demons in Japanese folklore). This was the point here I noticed my neck was in pain, I could have only been sunburn, despite putting some on in the morning. My suspicion was confirmed later, but not only on my neck but pretty much everywhere else, face and legs. Yeh!

From here it was onto the last leg of my journey to the Hideaway Sunset Camp. I didn’t book anything and assumed I could just rock up there and pitch my tent somewhere. 20 gruelling Kilometers with continuing strong headwinds nearly killed me. My legs felt like pudding, finding a good seating position that didn’t hurt was impossible and my wrists were shouting stop. On we go. I arrived at the amazingly looking Hideaway Sunset Camp which was made out of some wooden structures, hidden away at the end of a beach point. There were palm trees, a bath house and only one group of travellers. I cycled in and found two workers plucking grass. I asked if I could stay but they said that’s it’s reservation only. After some exchange in English and Japanese they called the owner who spoke really good English. I asked if I could stay and he said that it’s reservation only and usually ¥8,000/ night. I asked if there’s anywhere to pitch my tent as I didn’t need a pre-made tent and bedding. He said he only has the guest room available some streets away. I thought to myself, let’s check it out. One of the staff drove and I cycled for another 500m. The guesthouse was empty, probably last used in the previous season. I was shown a room with bunks and said great, I’ll stay. I parted with ¥2,200 and looked forward to the hot bath and a bed for the first night. Somewhat disappointed I wasn’t camping but also not too much as I couldn’t find an onset that was open anywhere and I so longed for a soak. Before that, I got back on the bike and cycled back to the campsite to watch the sunset. That felt great. I also checked out the camp a bit more and it just looked amazing. I’m sure staying here is awesome.

Once back, I had a bath, changed rooms to a neighbouring Japanese style room as my room light didn’t tur off and laid down. Jeez, I was exhausted but very happy! I must have cycled for around 4.5h, drank about 4-5l of water. For dinner I ate 2 pieces of chocolate before checking out tomorrows journey and eventually going to bed by 10pm. I was rudely awoken around midnight with heavy rain drumming on the porch roof. This continued into the early morning until about 6am. I felt pretty happy that I decided to stay and not press on and stay in a tent. I had a good rest, found some rosemary and mint in the garden, made some tea and then set off again. 

The journey continues.