Trip 2 - Day 4 - Masaki Port to Kurakawa Onsen

We had a very early start this morning after the lightest sleep on the thinnest futons in Japan. Up we got, packed our shit and said goodbye to the 'Walk-On' riders-house by 6:45am.

Leaving the 'Walk-On' Riders House.

Riding the 100 metres to the terminal, we were lined up and registered by the required 7am threshold to catch the first ferry to Kyushu.

Our ferry to Kyushu.

After waiting in line for half an hour, we finally rode on to the ferry and after the diligent crew had secured our bikes, we sat our fat arses down and let the ferry carry us between the two islands.

Waiting in line to board the ferry

It was a journey of little event - the sea was glassy and there was minimal other sea traffic to break the monotony. After an hours sailing we were rolling off onto a new island for new adventures. Likewise, the journey from the disembarkation port to the Aso area where we were to spend our afternoon riding, has little of interest to tell. Suffice to say that we had the usual navigation challenges getting past the traffic snarled city of Oita, but once we were out in the countryside everything went rather smoothly. Our route can be seen below, with us bypassing the urban areas and making a beeline for Aso.

Once in the Aso region things got interesting. We started by riding the 'milk road' - so-named (i believe) because these roads wind their way through the numerous dairy farms in the area. To be honest, the grassland, the smells and the uneven road surface reminded me of riding in NSW. Very unusual for Japan, and I didn't find much to inspire me.

Things hotted up, however, when we started climbing from the farms in the crater up the side of the caldera to the Aso skyway and beyond. Here not only was the riding spectacular, with many long turns and tight switchbacks in even measure, the scenery was just stunning. The walls of the caldera are made up of steep grasslands and broken mountain sides, all covered in a sheets of purple flowers. It looks altogether otherworldly.

Panoramic shot in the caldera showing some of the purple flowers

From our vantage up on the edge of the crater we could see the farmland far below, and see across the caldera to the hazy opposite side miles away.

Bikers up at one of the caldera summits

A mini cone near to the caldera edge.

After taking some snaps of the various mountains, Lucas and I headed to our bed for the night; a room in the Kurukawa Oku-no-yu, part of the Kurukawa Onsen village. Along the way we ran into a little adventure when the GPS route we had chosen to get us there included a small farmers road (which was fine) but then a goat track that somehow still counted as a road in google maps. Turning down the track on our road bikes, we plunged into the grassland and patches of forest following its rough, rutted and rocky line. Inevitably I hit a big rock in a rut, my front wheel kicked out and I dropped the bike. Fuuck! And in the middle of nowhere no less. Here's a video of the event..

There were a few tense moments while we tried to get the bike started again. I admit that I was a nervous mess, but in the end a little patience (Lucas' patience - not mine) saved the day and the bike righted itself.

We've arrived in paradise

Drama over, and crisis averted, we finally reached Kurokawa Onsen and the place is beautiful. Well worth the additional effort and the extra cursing, that it took to get here. Nestled in a valley along a swift flowing stream the buildings all draw from the same source of onsen water.

Kurukawa Oku-no-yu

Overlooking the gardens from our room in Kurakawa.

The place is immaculate and the rooms overlooking a beautiful garden with the sound of a fast running stream a constant background noise. With our shit unpacked and strewn all over the room to begin the process of de-stinkifying, we allowed the hotel staff to help us reserve a place for dinner.

Charcoal BBQ - dinner of champions. And of bike droppers.

We found a small restaurant serving a traditional charcoal bbq arrangement. The food was amazing and we sauntered slowly back to our lodgings through the village.

With dinner done it is now time to find a hot rotenboro (outdoor onsen). There are so many to choose from, we are having trouble working out where to start ;).

Postscript.
OK, so I'm back from the onsen and it was superb. The best ever in my limited onsen experience. Imagine an outdoor rock pool - right on the edge of, but sitting a little higher than, a river that is splashing and racing down its rocky bed. There's just the slightest breeze on the air. As the river splashes, the hot water lulls you into complete relaxation... Heaven.

Trip 2 - Day 3 - Ishizuri to Masaki Port

Lucas and I woke bright and early today, the sun streaming through the window. It's gonna be another hot sunny day in paradise! We quickly gathered our shit together, got it on the bikes and settled down to a traditional breakfast in the hotel. Ahh, the finer things...

Traditional breakfast of champions

Appetite sated, we jumped on our pair of MT-09s and blazed out of the carpark to start our route for the day. Our plan was to head up the Ashizuri peninsula, taking in some coast and some mountain roads and finish up at Masaki Port ready to catch the ferry to Kyushu tomorrow morning.

Our route from South to North

Right off the bat we headed up the nearby Ashizuri Skyliner - a fantastic road full of tight twists and turns. A really great way to start the day. The skyliner had to come to an end eventually and so, with our hearts now well and truly started, we headed back to the coast for a more leisurely trip up the 'Ashizuri Sunny Road'. This coastal road ambles through small fishing villages and pleasant coastal scenery on its way up the west side of the island. It was a nice, relaxing pause between adrenalin rushes.

Hot on the heels of the Sunny Road was a run down to Kashiwajima (cape). This notable road was a fantastic ride, full of long sweeping turns as it headed right out to the end of the peninsula. The speed limit of ahem 50kms was a distant memory as we burned our way out to the end. And then we had to turn around and come back. Shame!

A speedy run down to Kashiwajima

With permanent smiles now installed, we headed towards Sukimo to meet Richard at a 'Michi-no-eki' (roadside stop). Here we met a couple of Japanese guys who had been popping up at the notable roads for the last two days. We shared some riding stories, took some photos of each others bikes, sucked down some Pokari Sweat and went our separate ways. Bikers really are the friendliest dudes.

Japanese bikers at the rest stop.

From Sukimo we headed to route 4, taking us back into the mountains. The amount of variation on this road, the number of riding experiences that it offered was astounding as it followed a mountain river up a densely wooded valley. Starting with wide sweeping corners that had us healed over and our speedo's pinging, as the road drew closer to the level of the river it changed to a single lane all over hanging with foliage. Once we crossed the river, the single lane gave way to a wider road again, this time with shallow twisties that had us throwing the bike from side to side with abandon.

Wide sweeping curves of route 4

And down to a cosy single lane down at the water's edge

With route 4 completed we were famished and stopped at a quaint little restaurant just outside Uwajima for lunch. For very little money we filled our stomachs with a buffet of gyoza, tempura vegetables, karage chicken and many more delicacies. The iced coffee was particularly nice and a few glasses helped to focus my mind for the afternoon's ride.

Mmm japanese delicacies.

Our quaint lunch spot.

Back on our bikes and we took to the coast again with yet another run along route 378 through sleepy fishing villages surrounded by citrus groves on unbelievable slopes. Yet again the landscape was awe inspiring with the rank upon rank of Shikoku's mountain ridges marching from the sea into the misty distance. It was a slow trip, with much of it being single lane and requiring 30km/h riding. All in all a very satisfying ride yet the slow pace was very tiring!

Stopping on our coastal crawl to admire the scenery

Finally it was time for us to make our way north west to our final destination. This is the small port town of Masaki from which we will be catching a ferry to Kyushu tomorrow. Jumping on route 197 we again flouted the speed limit as we burned along the high ridge running the length of the narrow ithsmus out to the port. Yet another great ride to close out the day, and one we had no real idea existed.

The port town of Misaki - from whence our ferry to Kyushu leaves

Dinner was another ordeal on the scale of the night before with no shops being open after 6pm. Damn these quiet country towns! However in true arsey Lucas style, he was saved from having to eat convenience store food by a very nice shop owner who offered to make us poor gaijin bentos for dinner. Phew - saved by the bell. She'd even closed up shop and stayed around to do it for us - such amazing hospitality

Saved by the Bento

Now we're sitting in the rider's house stinking the place up with sweaty riding gear, eating our bentos and thinking about the plan for tomorrow. Yet again there's very few photos inserted into this post owing to the shitty state of the internet here. I'll try to get some added in the coming days. Stay tuned!

Trip 2 - Day 2 - Konan to Ashizuri

Wow what an amazing day we had today. At the moment I’m sitting in the warm afterglow of a long hot soak under the stars. The awesome rotenburo (outdoor onsen) here in Ashizuri Pacific Hotel Hanatsubaki sits right at the ocean side. Although I couldn't sneak my camera into the bath, here's what it looks like in the daylight:

Rotenburo at Ashizuri Pacific. Heaven.

Pretty sweet, and we are relaxed as fuck. As you may have guessed, Lucas and I are in Ashizuri at the southermost tip of Skikoku after a glorious day’s riding from Kamon. We awoke early after our horror day yesterday to a clear blue sky. Amazing! I’ve never in my life seen such a wonderful sight. We slowly got all out wet shit sorted - rain outers were dried out on the driveway in the sun and were stowed, jackets and pants were laid out in the sun and...never really dried until about lunch time. Thankfully I have a spare pair of gloves so while I rode today my soaking ones were lashed to the outside of my bag. As I type they are almost dry!

Drying those pesky wets.

Anyway, with the sun shining and not a cloud in the sky we were soon packed and on our bikes heading for the Pacific south coast of Shikoku. Our planned route would take in some quiet fishing villages along the coast and then head inland to follow the rivers along routes 381 and 441, and then finally head south to Ashizuri. A leisurely 5 hour ride.

Our planned route from Konan to Ashizuri

As usual, the japanese countryside did not fail to delight, with surprises around every corner. I am still gobsmacked by how the route differs from what you imagined looking at the map. The japanese landscape and countryside is just so dense with soaring mountains and tight valleys that you just can't imagine in 2 dimensions. The ride along the coast was amazing (I seem to be using that word a lot) with some really cool bridges, and wonderful coastal scenery dotted with islands and rules by huge sea eagles. Some great riding was had along the twisties of the Yokonami Koshiro Line. Heading inland we stopped at Family Mart for a little breakfast Onigiri and Royal Milk Tea before getting fuel. After having to pump petrol ourselves yesterday (oh the horror) we vowed to only go full service today and my petrol server did not disappoint. Much.

Enough said.

Fueled up, we headed into the river valleys of routes 381 and 441 for some beautiful riding. I'll add some more photos here a little later when I have some upload speed worth a damn. But here's a little taste of what the ride down those valleys was like.

Riding down route 381, or was it 441?

Maybe this was 441? They all blur together into one awe inspiring ride

Carpe Diem.

The only thing we would have wanted to change about today were the dinner arrangements. After being told by hotel staff of the local offerings in the neighbourhood, we wandered and found none open. Increasingly frustrated we jumped on our bikes and rode the 20 minutes to Tosashimizu (in shorts and t-shirt) to try and find one of the hotel recommended places. All shut. For fuck's sake! In the end we settled yet again for the convenience store, eating in the parking lot beside our bikes. That's 3 pieces of fried convenience store chicken for me today and that's enough for a lifetime. Lucas has vowed never again! No more convenience stores on this trip. We'll see if he can make it work.

Anyway the bath afterwards made up for it all, and now it's midnight and our futons are calling us. Sorry it's a bit of a lame post tonight but I'm beat. Hopefully I'll have alot more time tomorrow night for writing without an onsen to distract me.

Trip 2 - Day 1 - Kobe to Konan

Day 1 of our Shikoku and Kyushu tour started with a splash! After a very late night arriving in Kobe, grabbing a bite to eat and getting all our shit bike-ready, we got up at 7:30am to meet Shin - our contact at Best Bikes Japan for the bike handover. Looking out the window confirmed that the little pitter-pat we could hear was indeed rain. Fuuuuuck! It was therefore with no small amount of trepidation that I filed out with Lucas and Richard to board Shin's van to a nearby parking lot where our bikes were ready for us. After installing ETC cards, getting our packs strapped down, and donning our rain gear, we finally ventured forth.

Shin - the man of the hour!

The planned route for day 1 was to burn from Kobe to Shikoku, straight across Awaji Island, and then down to the south coast town of Konan. Right from the start the rain came down, and it continued to come down, and down, and down. So much fucking rain.

Route Day 1 - Kobe to the South Coast of Shikoku

Right from the start the rain came down, did I tell you that? And it continued all fucking day. We jumped on the freeway just south of our Kobe hotel and soon we were winging our way across the Akashi Kaiko Bridge to Awaji island. Rain pelted us, and although we could see the water of Kobe Bay from the bridge, we missed out on the amazing view that the bridge offers. Hopefully we'll get to see it on the way back.

Crossing the Akashi Kaiko Bridge to Awaji Island

Once on Awaji, we stayed on the freeway all the way to the other end of the island, and the Onaruto Bridge to Shikoku. The Onaruto Bridge spans the straight between the two islands, and has a turbulent whirlpool underneath it caused by the shape of the sea floor and the smaller islands that dot the straight.

As we crossed the bridge we caught a glimpse of the whirlpool, but yet again the weather was against us. With my helmet camera also feeling the deluge, there's not even a reasonable photo to show.

A glimpse of the whirlpool beneath Onaruto Bridge.

Anyway we finally crossed the bridge (another crossing that will hopefully be better on the way back) and were finally on the island of Shikoku. We continued a few more kms just past Tokushima - the main city at the top of the island, but with stomachs rumbling and gear sodden we pulled into a Coco-Ichibanya - a great little curry-rice chain store - for a well-earned lunch.

Pulling into Coco-Ichibanya. The rain still falling.

We jumped off our bikes and headed in, dripping all over their beautifully polished floor as we proceeded to undress. And we were fucking wet man, completely sodden. The amount of water pooling on the floor around our table was ridiculous. We did apologise about it to the nice serving girl, but she just waved it away. Awww. Anway, we proceeded to order three rounds of curry-kutsu and it was glorious. Spicy curry heaven that blew my head off.

Mmm Cury-Katsu and rice.

While we ate and dried out a little, the rain continued to come down. In fact it got worse. Heavier and heavier it fell. I'm not proud to say that in a low moment I considered chucking the whole god-damn thing in, but in the end we all decided to gird our loins and soldier on. We were wet already, and nothing was going to change that. And where the fuck else where we going to go? On went all our wet gear, and on to the bikes we climbed. Soon we were (very carefully) motoring into the heart of Shikoku, finally ending up, as planned on route 195.

Rain or no rain, the ride down 195 was worth the effort. The road travelled through small farming villages and rice paddies before plunging in to a steep valley; heavily wooded and shrowded in misty mountain sides. The road followed the river at the bottom of the valley, criss-crossing it with many bridges as it raged; milky green and fast flowing.

The start of our ride down Route 195

About halfway to our destination, during a short break in the rain, we stopped en-route for a quick toilet break at tiny village rest stop. Here we were met with a string of colourful carp strung across the river. A bit of colour to brighten our day.

Carp strung across the river

With the light fading, we finally reached our destination, and old onsen hotel 'Shioyajuku' on the coast in Konan. Our gear was soaked through and we were bone weary, but we made it.

Onsen hotel Shioyajuku (the next morning)

Bikes parked out of the rain next to the front door

We stripped off, hanging all our shit as best we could (the hotel foyer is currently full of it) and sat down to a nice meal in our room.

A very welcome dinner

After dinner we headed to the simple yet functional bath to warm our bones. The end to a very wet yet ultimately rewarding day. Tomorrow promises to be clear and warm, so with any luck we'll have dry gear in no time.

The bath in Shioyajuku - calling our names!

Android: Navigating a meticulously constructed custom route?

Given the number of hiccups we encountered with Garmin GPS on the last trip, this time around we've decided to forgo the rental expense of GPS units and use our mobile phones instead. Between us, we've got a diverse selection of Samsung Galaxy (Android) phones so the interesting question for us is: "How do we transfer the routes that we have agonised over for nights on end to our phones so that we can navigate them (turn-by-turn) on the bikes? Is there a method to take routes from Google MyMaps and navigate them on the Samsung Galaxy?

Unfortunately, application support for turn-by-turn routes is still very thin on the ground where smart-phones is concerned. I have managed to find a way to do this, but it took a few weeks research and testing to find a process and target application to meet our needs.

Google MyMaps

The tool we use to plan our Japan trips is Google MyMaps. We tend to plan a set of daily routes over months; typically with a lot of back-and-forth on the start/end points, the must-see sights to along the way, various notable roads that must be ridden and so on. Google MyMaps provides the perfect tool for such collaboration. Waypoints can be entered and the route between them dragged and tweaked until the perfect set of roads is selected. The results are stored in the cloud, and the maturing routes can be accessed and modified by all participants right up until you step on to the plane.

Google 'My Maps' is perfect for route planning!

MyMaps does have large limitations however. Most notably, it's not a navigation application. It can't provide turn-by-turn navigation, nor does it even know about your current (GPS) location. For this you need a navigation application. Even during map development this limitation means that MyMaps can't even tell you how long a chosen route will take you to ride. It can give you the distance in kilometres (sort of) but not the all important time measurement. For this statistic, Google Maps must be used - tracing out the roads that you've selected in your route yet again and checking the time taken. Yes - it's as annoying as it sounds. If the Google dev team could just get off their fat arses, stay away from those Mountain View office perks for just a few hours each day, maybe they could get their two mapping applications better integrated. We would all be kissing their arses big time! Are you listening Google?

Ok, so how then do you actually navigate a route created in MyMaps when you're on the bike? Well on the Garmin Zumo for example it's possible to load the route into the device as a KML file. The Garmin struggles to stay on route though (hence our issues last trip) with the slightest deviation causing the device to recalculate out the wazoo. Goodbye perfect set of mountain roads.

Now that we've done-away with the Garmin, what are the options on the smart-phone?

Google Maps?

There are several navigation options available for Android devices, but by far the most polished and most obvious choice is Google Maps. Or so you would think.  Google Maps provides a beautifully rendered display and easily digestible turn-by-turn navigation. The trouble with Google Maps, however, is that it is completely incapable of following a route created externally. The worst part of this is that you can actually load and display in a route created in MyMaps, but Google Maps won't use it to navigate. It just displays it for reference only.

Google Maps can kinda be used in a pinch. If you have your specific waypoints defined, you can use it to navigate to each waypoint individually.  Unfortunately:

• you need to start navigating again after each waypoint is reached
• Google chooses what it believes to be the most efficient route to each waypoint.

This is problematic for us because we have very specific routing requirements - those skyliners and notable mountain roads are not to be missed!

So what other options are out there?

OsmAnd

After trying nearly every navigation app available for Android and getting increasingly desperate, I happened upon quite a good process for route navigation using the application OsmAnd. Phew! Finally I'd found a way to get a route from MyMaps into a turn-by-turn navigation app that actually:

• provides turn-by-turn directions from your current location to the start of the route
• actually follows the route you've specified
• let's you know when you've left the specified route
• tries to navigate you back onto the route if you leave it, and
• most importantly, if you re-enter the route at a position other than were you left it, the turn-by-turn navigation adjusts and continues from where you re-joined the route.

Add to this the fact that maps for Japan can be downloaded for free and used offline, and you've got a pretty perfect navigation tool for our needs. Of course the real-time display that as flash as the one Google Maps provides - especially Google Maps in Android Auto mode - but it's usable all the same.

Routes from Google MyMaps to OsmAnd

Getting a route created in Google MyMaps into OsmAnd ready for navigation is a little involved but, in the end, is very straightforward process. I guarantee you'll think the investment in time was worth the effort. The process is laid out below:

Step 1 : Generate a KML file in MyMaps

1. Open your map in Google MyMaps.
2. Click on the "three dots" in order to see the list of options.
3. Click Export in KML.
4. Keep the first check box unticked (it's only useful for online work).
5. Tick the second one ticked to generate a KML file.

Step 2 : Convert your KML file to GPX

1. Visit https://mygeodata.cloud/converter/kmz-to-gpx
   
   
   
   
   
2. Drop your KML file onto the left panel and click Continue.
3. In frame 1, you'll see all your layers from your map (e.g. one layer for your Points of Interest, one layer for the route, etc.). You can keep frame 1 unchanged if you want to convert the entire content of your map or you can remove the layer you don't want. Personally I just select the route I want to ride.
4. In frame 2, select GPX format.
5. In frame 3, click "Convert Now".
6. Click on download and save the GPX file.

Step 3 : Import the GPX into OSMAnd

1. On your computer, email the GPX file containing your route to the mail account on your phone/device
2. On the phone/device, receive the email and download the GPX attachment.
3. On your phone/device, click on the downloaded GPX attachment and select to open with the OsmAnd application.
4. OsmAnd will display the route and allow you to use it for turn-by-tun navigation.

And that's all the news that's fit to print. I'm going to be doing a few test rides to get used to using the OsmAnd turn-by-turn instructions and so on, but I'm pretty sure it's going to be a useful resource on the road in Japan.

Preparations: New Adventure, New Luggage

Preparations are finally underway for our new Japanese moto adventure, this time taking us from Kobe down through Shikoku to Kyushu and back! We're flying out in under a month and I literally can't wait. Having found a good bike hire in the Osaka region, we have secured ourselves Yamaha MT-09 Tracers for the duration. My bike will be delivered without panniers, and that means bringing my own roll-bag luggage.

Yamaha MT09 Tracer - my ride for our new 13 day trek.

Having never gone this luggage route, it was time to invest in two Enduristan Tornado bags, one Large (51L) and one small (30L). Using rokstraps through perfectly positioned cargo loops, the small bag sits nicely on the top of the large allowing for maximum flexibility. I really like these bags because they are top loading, 100% waterproof and stylishly black with a demonic red interior. What more could you ask for?

Enduristan Tornado rollbags. Great choice and relatively inexpensive.

The large bag is just wide enough to allow me to pack my 13" laptop (a very important inclusion) and given my riding suit will be on my back for the duration, I'm hoping that the large bag will be enough to pack everything I need to take on the bike. The small bag will give me a little insurance for dirties or wets, and allow for some expansion in the likely event of purchases on the road.

I grabbed some cheap dividers the other day from Aldi and used these for a test pack. The results were extremely satisfying.

All items compartmentalised ready for packing

Everything except for my camera equipment and rain suit fitted nicely into the 51L bag. Pretty impressive. The camera equipment and rain gear will be going in the top box that I'm assured will come with the bike.

Large 51L Tornado is fillled, with camera+wet suit and the additional small 30L Tornado.

So that's the pack planning taken care of! Everything else is pretty well in place. We've ordered ETC cards (Japanese toll cards), Pocket Wifi devices, International drivers licenses, and the route and accommodation planing is almost finalised. All that is left to do is jump on that Qantas flight to Kansai on the 12th of May. Woot!