Gino's Travels

We bought a sandwich last night at a lawsons shop ( just like 7/11 and everywhere in Japan) for breakfast, the over priced hotel didn't deserve more money and I'm not a big breakfast eater anyway. On the road for 10 do do the 100 miles to Kumamoto, part of it was really nice, through mountains and there was loads of bikes everywhere, an amazing array of Classic Japanese bikes as well which was a surprise as I didn't think classics were big here but I was obviously wrong.

The other half of the trip was going through towns which is traffic light he'll. I reckon it takes 3 hours at least to do 100 miles. Got booked in to our hotel which was a faf, obviously not bike fans but the good thing was we got into our room early so we didn't make the reception look scruffy to the very well dressed locals !

A pleasant night in Kumamoto , a wee look at the castle which has been damaged from various earthquakes but getting rebuilt again, then into town and ended up in a kind of market for food, stalls everywhere but proper cooking, clean is what I should say. Ended up getting high with too much sake ( they have a machine which dispensed it, dangerous!

Monday a hangover and sore throat to help us into Nagasaki, a famous place for wrong reasons . The hotel was upmarket and pretentious, it was like a Scottish Hotel, freezing or if you like fur coat and nae knickers. The restaurants were closed, why I have no idea but they had a free bus ride into town so we did that, had spaghetti at an Italian place, it was shite, I was feeling terrible so we got the shuttle back to our cold hotel and I went to bed at 7 feeling crap but woke up in the morning feeling much better.

A friend reminded me of MaCarthys bar in Castletownbere which I have visited often, the former owner ( now sadly passed) was presented a samurai sword by his captor at the surrender of the Japanese. He was a pow just outside Nagasaki when the bomb went of. The sword still hangs in that bar . An amazing chap, worth reading about him and a visit to McCarthys is also worth doing, over the Heally pass on the Beara Penisula ( near Cork in Ireland )

Tuesday and it was forecast rain and by god did it rain, all day, I thought I was back at home! Fiona had mapped out a couple of things to see, the Glover garden near the centre of Nagasaki, named after a Scottish merchant who contributed to Japan, and being true Scots we took a photo and left before we reached the ticket office, I'm sure Thomas Glover would have been impressed especially since was from Fraserburgh!

Then a other 80 miles in the rain to see rice fields which we couldn't see properly because it was raining and finally after 5 hours riding and sitting at traffic lights to our digs near Karatsu wet but happy..

A wet Hiroshima

Still wet

Hopeless trying to get a good picture

And again

Well it looks like Scotland and feels like Scotland, we just got turned away from 2 restaurants, probably because we were foreign and they didn't like the look of us. Like something out of a fawlty towers sketch , the young guy came out to meet us before we got in and indicated to wait, then a young girl had a look whist Fiona translated on her phone we would like to eat then the older woman came out and said reservation only. There were 2 people eating and 5 chefs sitting doing nothing all in a 70 - 100 seater restaurant. Onto the next place, we followed a local ( actually got pushed out the way from a local and his bratty kids) then the owner I assume said sorry, holding up his hands like a cross which means closed. So the 7/11 it is for some noodles which we can eat in the common room at our hotel. Impressed, not a lot, met a Texas girl booking out who had a few days left on her stay but she said it was time to move on, now I know why, Karatsu, I will be glad to leave

We woke to the sound of pissing rain outside, am I in Kennys hotel in lochinver I thought? No I'm still in Japan, a later start too give the rain a chance to stop but it didn't so nothing for it but to put our sodden gear on and start again, our intercoms were playing up which might not sound like a big deal but we rely on them to keep each other right when we are in strange places, I could hear Fiona fine but she could barely hear me. We stopped after 80 miles for some food and to poke at the comms to no avail. The services were nice though with a great view of the sea on both sides.

After food onward and upward the rain almost stopped eventually as we rolled into Yamaguchi which sounds like a kid's toy. Glad to get another 130 miles done safely even though I was hoarse trying to speak to Fiona . Seen some nice scenery today when the rain relented though

Impressive bridge

Custom shop

Working on an old Kawa

Nice

Best burger ever in a restaurant near our hotel.

I woke up thinking something was wrong and I couldn't figure it out for a while until I realised it was sunny with blue skies outside, brilliant. Bikes loaded and on our way on a quiet duel carriageway, riding through amazing scenery, what a difference from the previous days. We have ridden bikes in all sorts of weather, the occasional rain is ok but day after day incessant isn't good for the body or the soul. My Daytona boots which have given great service for about 10 years have become non waterproof, so they won't be making it back to Scotland, it feels like I've got trench foot, Fionas boots were never waterproof anyway and the plan was always to dump them so now they'll have company!

Over 200 miles today in perfect weather, what a difference a day makes. We had a nice conversation sitting outside a service station on the steps with a guy who spoke good English. I think he thought we were vagrant but we ended up having a great chat about everything, the Japanese people are in the main polite and I am now starting to realise their stand off behaviour is because they can't actually converse with the two scruffy whities and it's a coping mechanism ( except for the other night when we were turned away for food )

We continued to ride in reasonable weather, because we had done a big loop and the bikes were due back Saturday lunchtime we didn't get many photo opportunities but the the Friday we headed into the Kawasaki museum in Kobe, of course they are a massive engineering company so it wasn't all bikes but enough to keep us happy, plus we booked into a posh hotel next door, not quite sure what the well heeled locals thought of us with our clothes in several poly bags! Stunning view over the city from our hotel room, to think most of it was destroyed in a massive earthquake 30.years it really is impressive. The Scottish nationalists have take 20 years not to improve the A9 or A96, we are truly hopeless.

Saturday and a short run to hand our bikes back. If anyone was thinking of renting a bike in Japan I can recommend Moto Kanzai in Osaka.

Sunday was a tourist day, getting lost in massive train stations and seeing the Japanese and tourists at their worst. Enough said, a day of stress and not a lot of fun but got some photos .

Monday and we picked up our comedy car, a postie Pat type car but done the job to get us out of Kyoto and 300 km later to Hamamatsu home of Suzuki and Yamaha, interesting hotel that night made more scary by a Tsunami alert, from my sister in Perth and then several more from our friends in rapid succession its good to know people are still caring for us, thanks We checked and it was a bit further north of us but the earthquake was felt in Tokio so quite serious and we were staying right on the seafront so nothing to worry about much!

Luckily we woke up not drowned and visited first the Suzuki museum and the about an hour away the Yamaha factory, some nice bikes but strange a lot of bikes weren't there that I thought would be. Our opinion is that the Japanese look to the future and don't dwell on the past unlike is in Europe, I prefer our way!

Onward to our expensive tourist hotel looking over Mount Fiji

Picture fest now, sorry, enjoy or dont