"Adventurous Cyclist", the fun of cycling in Japan, my adventures

[adventurous cyclist]

July 17th is actually a holiday it's Monday and it's what they call the the sea day .
Here's some more pictures I'll try to talk a little about him as I post them.

this lady here does the bolts that only do what the sail on it. The Shimanto river was to be a big goal of mine to take the canoe but I understand you they take the canoe there's has to be two people but this lady has the boat that goes by sail only and I just didn't have time and the timing actually worked out pretty good for me for today July 17th Monday.

I still got about 180 km to the 1000 km tour of Shikoku.





This is camping next to the Shimanto river..
There were quite a few campers actually that came in on Sunday and I'm sure Saturday night there was quite a few also it's very primitive but it has water and the toilets are actually the toilets are on a like a moving wagon it's kind of funny but at least they have toilets.



I needed to stop into a bicycle shop to see if I can get some chain oil anyway I walked in there and I explained to the guy I'm looking for some chain oil sadly he looked like he was so much mentally deranged and senile and actually he was scary looking as you can tell by his shop it looks like he probably just crashes out on the floor and sleeps there.





Anyway I had to try to find some oil for myself I probably got more oil on my fingers because all the cans were empty but this guy was scary I mean it's like I don't know you hear about people that need to be in a special Ward this guy was probably one hour away from being admitted


Well this is the picture of the Shimanto river.

Sadly I heard so much about this River but I just didn't have time this morning to take the 11 km one way to see it and I'm on a time schedule because I got to leave Chicago within the next couple days but anyway my goal was to see the river. Which I did



This is the 11 km road along the Riverside

Couples more pictures on the next thread

 

[adventurous cyclist]

Okay July 17th Monday here's a few more pictures and then July 16th Sunday.

Camping at the Shimanto river campsite in Kochi.










The famous Red Shimanto river bridge.






This river is really beautiful I don't know how deep it is but as it gets closer to the ocean I don't think it's very deep.

 

[adventurous cyclist]

Okay, got some time now to update the tour.

Here are some pictures.
Actually this was the 16th.
I am camping one night Shimanto river. It was free.
The above post is best.
Mistake, now is the 17th.

This is the lady that has the sailboats you ride on the Shimanto river. She has an air pump handy for us cyclists.




Getting close to 1000 kilometers.


This guy has the only bike shop around for over 100 kilometers . and he is crazy too

More t

 

[adventurous cyclist]

More pictures of Kochi prefecture. July 17th July 18th.

I finished the evening off of July 17th with my favorite evening meal a can of fish.


July 18th now


Not sure about this picture.


Many many smaller rivers or streams cutting through the countryside that go out to the ocean very lucky that there was hardly any wind to face.



My next destination would be Uwajima. I think I had a lot of more kilometers to go to get there.

Actually the tunnels weren't too bad in the charity go through it was pretty pretty safe I'd have to say.


Matsuyama 128 more km so I remember right it's about 60 more kilometers to Uwajima.


Small little country villages on the way reading very peaceful out in the countryside here.



Yep 37 more km to go.

Okay more pictures to follow next post.

 

[adventurous cyclist]

Today would be July 18th Wednesday.


People are actually living in these little huts right next to the boats on this Bay area it's really fascinating you can smell the fish while you walk by the little I call him bungalows it's pretty amazing and people are so friendly I stop over and ask one about them some eating some fish at 9:00 in the morning and nothing was open how late are you at the market down the street and she told me about the restaurant that is really highly recommended which I eventually went to later on in the day.


Many parts of this road I think it was highway 56 there's no room actually for your bicycle and these little student bike dots really coming very handy especially on blind curves.


The lush green vegetation is really something looking down toward the ocean it's really beautiful and I'm really high up in the mountain kind of like rose like a 3-hour push my bicycle up the mountain.


Uwajima is actually my goal for today and there's a reason for that because it's the 18th and I've got to be back in Yamaguchi on the 20th.


Very typical type of picture along the ports.



Another tunnel.


This is a bay area I wasn't able to talk to any of the fishermen in this area to see what their farming for fish I have no idea actually whether it's fish or some other type of ocean food.



These are some of the mountains I had to push my bicycle up luckily I didn't really have as much weight on my bicycle this time around but it's it was early late morning actually.

Okay I'll post more pictures on my next thread.

 

[adventurous cyclist]

Okay more pictures on July 18th Wednesday going to Uwajima, Shikoku.

This is Marie. We met up 3 times while cycling. This is where we will cycle to Uwajima.
She is doing the Ohenro 88 Temple pilgrimage. I believe she had two more temples to go and then she'll be departing Shikoku also
We actually met up at the two guest houses on the way through Shikoku.





Well this was the fish lunch that I've been hoping to get along the ocean seaside this place was highly recommended and it's really a really good food but I was so surprised I heard it was very expensive but what you see here actually only cost me 1,000 yen and well I couldn't believe how reasonable it was.






These little fishing villages were so unique to each village itself the people are just really friendly and had a good time chatting with them.

 

[adventurous cyclist]

Actually July 18th was a Tuesday and I'm going to continue with Tuesday and I'm going to July 19th till Wednesday and continue with July 20th which would be Thursday.

Not sure what happened to my other pictures but what had happened was that I had to get back to Yamaguchi by the 20th so the 18th and 19th I went to Matsuyama I left Uwajima and then took the train to Matsuyama because I wanted to sightsee and they would give me a day and a half to see Matsuyama castle and see the famous Dogo Onsen.

So here are some pictures of Matsuyama castle and the only sand and the covered Mall leading up to their own son pretty much the .

the pictures speak for themselves






This is the big part by the I believe it's the library and the museum the art museum there in Matsuyama and the castle is down the street where you can take the rope rope chairs or it takes you up to the mountain Park to see the castle Yamato Castle.




I bought a quick lunch at one of the grocery stores super cheap and they had ice so I packed it with ice luckily I did otherwise it would have spoiled it was pretty good food pretty good shoes sashimi







Okay I'll post more pictures the next thread of the castle and the Onsen.

 

[adventurous cyclist]

That's what made July 18th and July 19th at Matsuyama in Shikoku.

Here are some pictures of the Matsuyama castle and the so-called very famous Dogo Onsen.




There's a place to park your bicycles and it was free actually Junior high School student had told me the place if it wasn't for her I probably.



That is a chairs and I think it was free oh no maybe 100 yen I forgot something like that.

This is the entryway for the rope walk or have whatever they called it wrote something I took the chairs and it was pretty nice they went really slow too.









This is at the park entry to the library maybe or then the art museum is real big park next to the downhill actually from the Matsuyama Castle

 

[adventurous cyclist]

Okay time to see Matsu Yama Castle






It's nice that most of the signs are also in English that's pretty cool.


I think the way they constructed the brickwork is that it's earthquake proof and this type of style is found throughout the world even in South America..






The walls are actually pretty tall.





Okay more pictures to come next post.

 

[adventurous cyclist]

Here are some more pictures.

I believe this Castle is the largest one in Japan it's really big and itself pretty unique the wooden floors are used with the special wood that or the bugs won't come into the castle something like that anyways especially wood.







It actually wasn't busy at all very few people there.

 

[adventurous cyclist]

Sorry about the above the pictures I don't know what happened maybe I'll edit it later if it doesn't look too good but here are some more pictures of the castle.





Here's the third hold the sword job heavy it is actually they're quite heavy.



there's an explanation with these are but then I have some kind of meaning to it perhaps the sign will say what they are.

 

[adventurous cyclist]

I'm not sure about the attachments so I'm going to try to post again.







It started to pour down rain for the next 30 minutes.





.

These weapons are decorations have some kind of meaning for this Castle.






I feel sorry for the poor soldiers who had to carry this luggage and it's big and heavy too.

 

[adventurous cyclist]

It's Wednesday July 19th and I'm still in Matsuyama shikoku.
A few more pictures of Matsuyama castle and the famous Onsen called Dogo Onsen.











I think the buses were only like a hundred yen or something like that pretty cheap that was pretty actually it was a long ride from the where I was staying till the Matsuyama Castle yeah really a long ride.


Everyone here wants to get their picture taken in front of this train.



Today they're a lot of Chinese tourists a lot of Chinese stores today and they're all dressed in kimono.



Well this is a good old famous red clock it's pretty cool actually.



This is the
Entryway to the mall it's actually the stores are pretty unique but they really kind of close pretty early around 5:00 5:30 and I was really surprised that they were actually I'm not going to say a lot but I was surprised that there were some stores that were shut down that never really recovered from the covid epidemic.

 

[adventurous cyclist]

August 16th Wednesday I hope anyway I'm camping in Shimane at Iwami seaside Park. A few campers here but I guess I missed all the campers for the big Obon. It's been raining yesterday today and it's going to down for tomorrow and then Friday it's going to rain also and that's going to be a fun day for me anyway after this I'm heading up to Tottori. There's a big fireworks in totally Friday night but check it out also meeting up with some camper friends that I've met couple years ago just pulling up I'll get together and go camping enjoy the fireworks.










About a can of coffee I couldn't open up the darn can it always happens with this brand it's called Georgia coffee the kind of sweet coffee with milk in it yeah and then you think by now they would make the adjustment on their lids cuz if you twist it really hard and try to open it it will leak but you still can't open the son of a gun really Burns me up 150 yen.

 

[rarirureroberto]

The adventure never stops, no matter how much it rains.

Stay safe.

 

[jdd]

after this I'm heading up to Tottori

By train again, or cycling?

 

[adventurous cyclist]

By train again, or cycling?

Mostly by train . yeah I have to take the train because I got to be back in Yamaguchi next week .i I got a couple medical appointments and then if everything goes okay the result are good. I'm going to take the bus to Fukuoka then everything then fly to the Okinawan islands. I don't know actually until I get there but ishigaki and miyako Jima and the other Islands I don't know if I'll actually go to Okinawa itself but we'll see anyway I'll be posting



Shimoko river leads to the sea.



I don't know if people fish here.



Iwami seaside Park



August 18 Friday leaving at campsite 7 pm .
The back luggage wasn't very secure as I found out about 10 minutes later.

I'm not sure how many kilometers I've traveled so far but I didn't put it on zero before I left Yamaguchi.
I would probably have to say around 60 to 70 km so far.
Today's the 18th Friday but I'm taking the train to Tottori. And it's a 7 hour train ride .

 

[adventurous cyclist]

August 18 Friday. In Tottori now. Nice weather.

 

[adventurous cyclist]

Can't cycle without it. Lol

And l am at the police station in Shimane.
Enjoy. Yes l ended up there with a tire repair.

 

[adventurous cyclist]

I actually got a late start trying to go to Hokkaido and I mentioned that of course I'm going to go to Okinawa but on August 16th I decided to well just do what I want to do and that is go to Shimane, Tottori and Hyogo and back to Tottori and currently I'm back camping at shimane.
Today is Monday I think it's the 27th or 28th actually should have checked before posting this but maybe I'll edit.

It's very hot today sun is out the ocean is pretty well it's not very smooth but there's some ways crashing in but it's pretty nice and the shade is really very relaxing I'm the only camper here yeah I mean this is a big very big Park and I'm the only camper here on a Monday but anyway I'm going to post the pictures from August 16th and so stay tuned and I hope you all enjoy the pictures of my travels and cycling actually and of course I take the train yeah she don't get to come down hard on me there are times when I want to take the train because time scheduling and typhoon and heavy rain and tunnels and heavy traffic on the roads with no bicycle paths.