Day 7: Yunomine Onsen to Nabari

We woke very early again this morning (6:30am) in preparation for an early start. Our planned route is nearly 5 hours long and history tells us that in practise it will be almost double that. In fact our route ended up being what is shown below. Our travel time was 2 hours more than google's estimate.

The final route taken today

Anyway, breakfast in the minshikyu was amazing as always, and we dallied a little longer than we would have liked before finally getting moving.

Breakfast in Minshiku Kuraya 

Finally the panniers were packed, the bikes turned around in the small lane beside the minshikyu, and we were ready to go. We jumped on, revved the engines and bid farewell to the strong sulphur smell of Yunomine Onsen.

Early morning packing beside the steaming sulphurous village stream. 

Right from the start things didn't go to plan. The GPS took us on a nice little ride north along route 168, following a beautiful gorge but taking us away from our intended destination - the Ryujin Skyline. When we finally realised something was wrong, we decided to take the time hit and turn around.

Back down route 168 a ways, we stopped to get petrol and asked the station attendant for directions to the skyline. He suggested route 735 (as opposed to route 245 which was our only other choice) to get us there. This was a road that we didn't even know existed - one of the tiny tertiary roads that appear in white when you get google maps to zoom right in.

Directions from a very happy, and very helpful petrol station attendant.

Turns out, Mr Petrol Station gave us the good oil indeed. Route 735 turned out to be a fantastic ride through the very heart of rural Wakayama. The road twisted and turned, down to one lane for most of it's length and winding its way up the side of a steep valley, over the ridge and down the other side.

Riding route 375. 

For portions of the route there was no guard rail and the side of the road just plummeted down hundreds of metres to the winding stream far below. A perfect road for motorbikes, and an adventure all on its own! It added 1.5 hours to the day, but it was a really, really amazing ride. Completely different to anything we had ridden on previous days.

Route 375: This is the real rural Wakayama.

As route 375 levelled out and neared Ryujin, we stopped to ask more directions from a friendly bunch of tree-shapers working on someones front garden. Yet again we were given as much help as we needed. The dude that spoke to us even offered to show us the way in person! We've had such an amazing reception, and such a lot of genuinely friendly help from everyone we have met so far on this trip.

More directions from the friendly neighbourhood tree shaper. 

Turns out, Mr Petrol Station's directions put us right at the start of the Skyliner. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. Before it really got going though, we stopped in Ryujin for some curry-rice to refuel our weary bodies. It's cheap, it's stodgy and its powerful stuff.

A quickstop for curry-rice is just what we needed. 

Fed and watered, it time to tackle the Skyliner (route 311 north). This turned out to be an another amazing motorcycle road with wide sweeping curves heading up and up to the top of Koyosan (at altitude of 1000m). On the way up we saw our first glimpses of really true autumn colours - one of the things we were hoping to see during a trip at this time of year.

A taste of autumn colours. If only we were here a little later!

The trees were starting to show their colours, with all different shades of yellow red and green all on display at once. They're not close to their best yet, but they certainly put smiles on our faces today. I can only imagine what they will look like in the coming weeks, Hopefully as we head further north in the coming days the leaves will be even better.

At the top of the Ryujin Skyliner.

At the top of the Skyline we parked and took a few photos. We were approached by a very friendly Japanese man, strung with cameras, and who wanted to take our photo. Of course we posed for him with our bikes and are now expecting an amazing portrait from him via email or facebook.

After leaving the Skyliner, we delved back into the country roads of Wakayama, continuing on route 311. We again twisted and turned down into a deep valley and out the other side before finally reaching civilisation - a vast urban sprawl that we finally descended into on our way to our final destination - Nabari an the Shorenji Lake Hotel.

Unfortunately, we descended at 4:00pm, just in time for peak hour. It was like a descent into hell. The last 60 kms of our journey took two and a half hours of stop-start traffic, and we hated every minute of it.

We arrived, finally, totally exhausted to our hotel the Shorenji Lake Hotel. Thankfully the wonderful dinner laid on by the hotel, and the gracious, helpful lady serving us helped to restore our spirits. There's just the onsen to try out now and I'm sure it will exceed expectations.

An aweful photo, but a superb dinner at Shorenji Lake Hotel.

Postscript: We just tried the onsen and it was indeed awesome. It took literally 15 seconds after our arrival for the 4 old Japanese guys sitting in the outdoor bath to leave and find water elsewhere. I would be the first to admit that the sight of 3 naked white dudes is pretty scary, but come on!

Day 6: Toba to Yunomine Onsen

We woke very weary this morning to the sound of music outside our window. The primary school kids that are sharing our hotel were out in the carpark doing their morning calisthenics. We should have gone out and joined them! After 2 hard days riding the aches and pains are starting. Sunburn was still glowing on our faces, and general dehydration is a bit of an issue. The sky today is as clear and blue as the last two days, and promises to be another hot one. I still can't believe how lucky we have been with the weather!

The route today promises some amazing scenery in Mie and Wakayama. The plan is to ride from Toba to Ise over the Ise Skyline - a road that twists and turns its way over the mountain pass separating the two coastal towns. From Ise, we'll work our way down the east coast of Mie and then cut inland  to our destination - Yunomine Onsen.

Today's route from Toba to Yunomine Onsen.

So after a beautiful Japanese buffet breakfast, we finally left the Senpokaku Hotel in Toba at around 9:30am. A little later than we would have liked, but not too bad. We stopped immediately at the CircleK at the bottom of the hill to get some sunscreen. After much fussing and searching by the diligent staff, some SPF50+ was produced and duly purchased. The sun can now officially go to hell. Who would have thought we'd need sunscreen when we are each carrying our own weight in thermal and wet weather gear!

Soon we were at the foot of the Ise Skyline and raring to go! With no electronic toll on this road we had to stop to pay cash, but with the transaction completed the nice man in the booth waved us on. Off we dutifully tore and in no time we were at the summit.

The view at the top of the skyline overlooking Toba.

As you can see from the video, the riding itself was nothing short of breathtaking. Although the speed limit was 40km/h (an unfortunate problem with many secondary roads here in Japan) we managed to ride a touch faster than this and get in some wonderful cornering around the many sweeping bends and tight switchbacks. It was with very wide smiles on our faces that we finally pulled into Ise for fuel.

My pit crew hard at work.

After asking the station attendants for directions, we found the Kisei Highway heading to Awase and burned rubber at the absolutely breakneck speed of ... 80km/h down the highway.  Man the speed limits here are the pits. Despite the speed restrictions (that to be honest we don't always follow), and the tunnels - many, many, many tunnels - the ride along the Kisei was just beautiful; with high wooded hillsides, deep valleys, and wide gorges filled with gravel and turquoise rivers.

Riding along the Kisei Highway.

Just before the end of the Kisei, we stopped for lunch at a truck stop at the side of the highway to stave off tiredness and refuel for the next leg. We had definitely earned our coffee and ramen - although I had some issues with the ordering system, and inability to answer even the most simple questions.

Truck-stop ramen and coffee. Lunch of champions.

Fueled-up on caffeine and noodles, we pulled back onto the freeway and were soon on route 42 headed for Kumano on the coast. Again the route down to the coast was beautiful and we had little traffic to hold us up.

At one point, route 42 split into route 42 and route 42. Confused, we stopped our bikes close to a flag waving stop-go man at the side of the road. Faced with 3 gaijin in motorcycle helmets, something that certainly wasn't on his agenda for this or any day, the guy was visibly very nervous! While he was genuinely helpful and tried his best to give us the information we needed, he was shaking a little and had to go to his thermos for a sip of tea half way through the conversation. In the end he told us what we needed to know and was so happy with the outcome that he shook hands and sent us on our way with a smile.

In no time we arrived at Kumano and jut happened to park our bikes right next to the famous, world-heritage-listed, Shishi Iwa - just one of the uber famous rocks on the Kumano coast.

Shshi Iwa and BMWs and some hairless idiot.

Having helped some kind Japanese ladies with their photo taking requirements, they offered to take our photo too. While Lucas laid on the grass pretending to review the map, Richard and I posed for a quick snap.

World heritage 

The route in hand yet again, we jumped back on the bikes and headed for route 311, finally heading inland from Kumano towards Hongu. And what a beautiful ride we had! Route 311, along with the Ise Skyline, is now etched in our memories as one of the best riding roads to date. A great mixture of sweeping bends, zero traffic and beautiful scenery combined to make our day.

Running down route 311. What an amazing ride!

After route 311, we changed to route 169, 168 and back to 311 enroute to Yunomine Onsen. All these roads provided a great riding experience strung end to end over the course of the afternoon.

The bridge over Dorokyo Gorge, joining route 169 with 168.

Finally we made the last turn towards Yunomine Onsen, and wound our way up the small secluded valley. We arrived to be greeted with a village square surrounded by Minshuku. The GPS coordinates we had could have refered to any one of them! We had to ask which one was Minshuku Kuraya - our bed for the night. Turns out it was the most beautiful one, right on the edge of the river with a smiling hostess and it's very own onsen.

Gaijin on noisy machines invade the idyllic village square.

Munshuku Kuraya, our home away from home.

Bikes parked in the small available space.

Kyuraya's private onsen hut on the river's edge.

With a little time to spare for once, we wandered around the town, rehydrating and snapping photos as we went. Unfortunately, half an hour after we arrived a bus load of european tourists disgorged onto the street and filed into an establishment across the river. We selfishly rued their arrival as spoiling the purity of the place. Hypocritical? Maybe. But hey, it's my story.

The beautiful village of Yunomine Onsen.

With a quick bath before dinner, we donned our yukata and felt immediately more comfortable. Minshuku Kuraya is a beautiful place to stay. In no time our dinner was served and we sat down to yet another traditional Japanese meal. Amazing.

Dinner is served.

Loving every mouthful.

Well, dinner is over and the blog is done. Time now to go soak in the onsen and then drink 5 litres of water. Or maybe Pokari Sweat. Either way it will be wet all round.