The last few days of the tour saw me cycling on some of the most secluded roads since Hokkaido. I started out from Cape Tsurugo with an exhilarating descent along the headland in the morning sun. The route then flattened out and wound along the coast for a short while.

Dawn over Cape Tsurugo

I was glad I took the advice of one of my hosts in Shikoku and made my way south along the east coast. It was absolutely beautiful and quiet. I saw maybe three cars all morning on my road. There was a highway nearby that cut through the mountainous terrain, but I was happy to trade some steep climbs for a quiet road.

It was descending from one of these climbs that I got my first puncture since, I think, Nara. A had the tube swapped out in minutes but disaster! My hand pump was broken. I was regretting now cycling on a road so remote, there wasn’t a soul nearby, just the road and the sea. I pushed my bike down the rest of way. About 20 minutes later I reached a small group of houses clustered in the bay. An old guy there gave me a lift (with my bike) in his truck to the next town over where there was a garage. Didn’t take long after that to fix everything up.

the garage owner and town English speaker

There was one hard climb left that day and the rest was smooth and flat as the mountainous coast gave way to a flatter, beach lined one. The puncture ordeal had set me back about 90minutes, or 30KM of cycling. I would just have to cover it tomorrow.

I found a campsite near Hyuga, but their price for the night was crazy high. I cycled 10 minutes down the road and camped in a park by the sea.