Had a head-start as I had stayed on the outskirts of Shinshiro - down on the Cherry blossom park. it just meant crossing the river and getting onto R69 until I reached R259 which would take me all the way to the ferry terminal.
But let's not make things so easy... another day of dodging from one side of the road to the other, in search of a continuous bike path... on occasions when the traffic was light, especially downhill, I hit the road and took advantage of the smoother surface.
The route took me thru the edge of the built-up areas, so a lot of time was spent riding through the farming area. This time, thru market garden areas, with heaps of glasshouses (or should I say plastic houses) where I could glimpse strawberry plants, tomato and eggplant, chrysanthemums (maybe for tea) and at one stage thru tea plantations... Cabbage and broccoli were growing profusely in the fields and a new sight was corn growing. in a couple of places it looked like maybe the cabbages had been hit by a late frost - they looked red like maybe sunburnt or probably frost-bite but they were rotting in the field, so you can imagine the atmosphere.
but not as bad when I rode past barns with wagu cattle, tied up in stalls and on floors above their excrement. empty stalls were being cleaned out and there were several trucks going back and forth with load of shit to be dumped in piles on the side of the road, maybe to be collected by farmers for fertilizer! Matias will remember a similar experience in Estonia!!! gasp choke!
another experience today wasn't quite so pleasant!!! am always looking for a shady spot to stop and have a snack - when I saw on the other side, a parking area probably for trucks, but nice and shady and alongside a canal... so I pushed Hennie through a break in the garden and quickly ran across the road... suddenly I felt something in my shoe which was stinging me - yoiks must have collected a bluddy ant - so hopping around, trying to get my shoe off and not drop Hennie, I was a bit freaked when I saw a 10cm long centipede head off!!! geez, no wonder it hurt... well, I know that in Oz centipedes are not deadly, so I was hoping that same applies to Japanese centipedes... but the pain was making me wonder!!! I finished off my bottle of Coffee Boss - Cafe Latte sugarless - yeah, not a fan, I think the 7/11 100yen coffee is 10x better... had a snack and thought if I saw a drug store, I would go in and find something that might lessen the pain... but the pain lessened off after an hour and another hour later it was just a slight ache, so spin those pedals.
just goes to show how beautiful scenery can eat into a day's km... however, think I prefer the forests any day! so the ferry chugged over the bay in 55 mins and I was following the lone motorcyclist off the ferry and looking for an information centre... found the bus stop and the information centre which was closed... well, never mind, will just head off in the general direction of Ise and will stop at the first hotel I see... so just around the corner towered the Toba Internation Hotel - looking pretentious as they all do.... only this one is the real deal.
I always wonder what the staff must think - this old sweaty, slightly sunburnt daggy old western women arriving on their doorstep without a reservation... I could see the guy was weighing up saying straight up - no room - or should he be polite! of course he chose to be polite and invited me in and took me to the reception desk.. Much checking of papers and discussions with the other male receptionist and they came to the conclusion there was a Japanese Style room available and with breakfast it was going to be quite substantial... but when I checked if they could do a vego breakfast, there was no option, so I just chose to take the room - for 166,000Y - yep this is night of luxury I think - that's about bit over $200... well, I paid for a room just under $200 and it turned out to be a pokey smoky room - lets see what this one is like...
The guy helped me unload Hennie and put all my bags on a trolley, showed me where to hide Hennie safely away and then asked me to take a seat on the sofa for a moment. A young woman served me with a iced green tea and a small slice of very yummy cheesecake, which I gratefully devoured! then I was escorted to my room, my dusty panniers wobbling on trolley. Yep! this is the real deal - a large tatami room with 2 single beds, a small coffee table with 2 western chairs. inside the wardrobe was a yukata and a toiletry bag in case I wanted to go down to the Onsen on Level 1. A separate bathroom and toilet . a shower space and deep bath, I decided to fill that up and just shower and soak here, because too tired to be bothered to go down to Level 1... yep, this old body is starting to feel the 1000km over the past 3 weeks. am sure it will enjoy the day off coming up!
maybe will get some photos up tonight - tho don't expect wonderful scenery today :)
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| forgot about this dead snake |
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