9 October - UP and down in many ways!

After a typical Japanese Breakfast with style....  Maggie and me set off to catch up time lost yesterday.

still in the hills, but where's the elevator???  didn't help that I spent time struggling up the wrong mountain almost to a temple I didn't really want to see - but the postie set me straight - and down the hill I went again..  dang it, but there were still some wonderful things seen - and I got past the farm dogs without being molested.

so eventually found Route 439 and there's a sign saying Kyobashira Pass...  do I need to worry about the word Pass?  think it means it goes over the mountain, but that must mean there's some coming down too!!

basically - I struggled all the way up to 1133 metres - then spun down the other side...  it was a hard grind - some bits I had to get off and push Maggie up - other times just standing and gasping - and thinking - and I thought I could do this yesterday afternoon!!  sometimes its good to go with the gut feeling!  there definitely was nowhere to stop along the way.

but having grumbled about the pain of going up - it was still beautiful and there could have been bears there - but I didn't see any this time :)   only on a sign...

here's some pics - they can tell the story better than me!

Breakfast!!  more bowls arrived - still liking the bowls more than what's in them!! 

Doorman insisted on taking my photo

so I took his....

this is where I headed off in the wrong direction - but it was very pretty

I blame this little bird - he was really telling me off about something.....
any ideas Jo W?

right in amongst the mountains

back on the right road - some autumn colours just starting to appear

the road is wide enough for logging trucks - here anyways

so how high is this pass - am I nearly at the top

waterfalls and springs all the way up

and another one

surely we are near the top of this mountain??

heaps of these pipes sticking out along the side of road, had a little taste - it was really abso tasteless which is always a good sign!!!

At The Top!!!  I don't believe it!!

thankfully the only bear I saw today :)

looking back down the valley I came from

it looks all downhill from here - and it was :)

looking into the afternoon sun  really shows up the smog

Past little villages where the modern world has caught up with them with electricity but not a lot else.... 

getting down now as the rivers are getting bigger!

 to cut a long story short, when I got into Itoyo, there wasn't anything obvious in the line of accommodation.  I stopped at a busy place - it looked like an office of some importance, never did work it out - but they all just looked a bit surprised that someone would be looking to stay there...  so nothing really for it but to head onto Kochi - another 30km away... it was already dark, but  I was banking on it being all downhill as Kochi is on the coast - and thankfully I was right.  I don't mind riding in the dark, there was no wind, not a lot of traffic and the road was mine most of the time... top speed was 49.5km, so I didn't break any speed limits :)  saw some little animal crossing the road in front of me, maybe a tanukis?  yep never heard of them before, but I saw a road kill and it sorta matches the size and shape what I saw...
eventually I arrived into Kochi - which is a large city (I was there in 2011) and knew there were hotels near the railway station, so just followed the signs and scored a small hotel just around the corner from where I stayed last time...  phew...  98.5km - thankfully most of it was down hill....

a mini svampen all lit up - I rode past this in the daylight last time.