The final days of a tour has a lot of “lasts”. Today would be the last time I woke up beside the Pacific Ocean, for example. It was also the last day of riding that would end with a night spent camping. There was a solid day of riding ahead, so I left Kannonzaki early. I was cutting across Kyushu now to get to the road on the eastern side of the peninsula, as there was no route directly to Cape Sata from the Pacific Ocean side.

The morning and early afternoon ride was along lonely cliff roads with great views of the ocean that would descend into small bays with sandy beaches dotted with surfers.

I was lucky that the road I had planned to take was actually open, apparently it has been closed for the last year as part of it had collapsed into the sea!

A few hard climbs met me as I turned inland to cross over to the other coast. I was saved from spending the whole day climbing by following the Nitta pass. It was here also that I saw the first road sign for my Satta Misaki, my final destination!

flat land along the Niita pass

I arrived on the other side of the peninsula at about 3:30. There was a campsite I had planned on staying at ninety minutes further down the road, but I decided I’d rather spend my last touring night down on the beach overlooking Kagoshima bay. I set up down by the sand, but while cooking dinner spotted a large front rolling in. I decided to move camp up to the grassy park above the beach and took cover under tree. It wasn’t perfect weather for my last night sleeping rough, but it was fitting.

setting up for last night

I was down to the final three days of the tour now. Today saw me pass through the city of Miyazaki after leaving Hyuga. This was the final city I would have to cycle through on the trip. I think by now I have actually gotten pretty good at navigating into and through these sprawling Japanese cities.

palm trees line the flat, straight road out of Miyazaki

I was into surf country now, long beaches and big waves. I decided to take a little detour through the town if Aoshima for lunch. The populated almost exclusively with people heading down to the beach to surf. The sand from the beach was blown partly across the road. I had lunch down by the harbour.

Aoshima was the last glimpse of settlement I had until I stopped that evening. The coastal road I followed was almost entirely devoid of buildings, except for a few beach houses here and there.

It was a long straight road with a pleasant tailwind all the way to Kannonzaki, a small coastal village with a beach campsite I had set as my destination for the day. I had managed to make up the distance I lost yesterday, and I was feeling good when I pulled into the campground. There were some other campers there, something I hadn’t seen since Octoberbegan. As it happened they were foreigners living in Japan, two teachers from Osaka. The BBQ they shared with me was a pleasant break from my usual pasta dinner.

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.

I’ve been home for about a week now and still haven’t finished the journal! At any rate, I only have a few more days of the cycle to finish writing about, so I should be able to get them out quickly now that I’ve settled back in.

From Beppu I was going to be riding along the comparatively undeveloped and isolated east coast of Kyushu. The coastline was lined with headlands and capes. Depending on the size I would either stick to the coast or cut across country to leave out what sometimes could end up as an extra 50KM

going over land and through tunnels

The road was probably the quietest it has been since Hokkaido. The coast road especially was pleasantly devoid of traffic.

Toward the end of the day I was going across country in order to reach a campsite before dark.

I came across a construction worker standing in the middle of the road after making my way halfway across the headland. He told me the road was closed ahead due to a landslide or something. After trying to argue with him to let me through anyway (it was going to be dark soon, I knew I wouldn’t make it to the campground if I had to turn around ), I reluctantly retraced my steps and started following the longer, winding coastal road around the cape. It was getting dark quickly, and as I was climbing a headland still far from my original destination a came across a perfect spot to set up.

After almost a week of not cycling, five night in the city then two out on Nogata I left early on Sunday morning ready, refreshed and eager to resume the cycle. This was the start of the final leg, in less than a week I would be finished.

Nogata to Beppu was a pleasant cycle, mostly flat as I followed a river. There was going to be a climb at the end of the day that loomed over like a dark cloud, but I enjoyed the easy riding in the morning, trying to forget I had to go over a mountain to get to my destination.

I passed by a shipping container that had been out by the side of the road and turned into a diner. I thought it looked cool, so I stopped there and had lunch.

The climb before Beppu wasn’t as bad as I had expected actually, the mountains I had seen on the map and thought I had to go over were divided by a small pass that the road and railway followed. There was some climbing, sure, but not half as bad as I expected.

an old theme park I passed while coming into Beppu

Beppu is a city famous for its hot springs, both those you can bathe in and the scalding hot springs that pour out of the earth. The latter was one of the reasons I came through Beppu, to see the famous “hells of Beppu”.

This was a short day of cycling during which I backtracked some and then started to cross inland from the west coast over to the east, this side of Kyushu I wanted to cycle along (it’s less populated and, I had been informed, more scenic)

Nogata was the destination here because it was where David, my friend from back home lived.

There wasn’t a whole by way of scenery from Fukuoka to Nogata, Although I found Nogata itself to be a pleasant city situated in a river valley framed by mountains.

The ride was less than 50km, so I wasn’t sure whether to include it in its own post or not, but I suppose I made progress on the journey, so I have.

I was looking forward to crossing onto the final island of the trip, Kyushu. The ride from the campsite to Shimonoseki, the city where I could cross over, was an uneventful one through farmland and urban sprawl. A low hanging cloud threatened rain, but soon cleared off a d the sun came out.

fist sighting of Kyushu and the bridge that connects it to Honshu

At Shimonoseki the distance between Honshu and Kyushu is at its smallest: only 700 meters!

For bikes and pedestrians who aren’t allowed on the bridge there is a tunnel that connects the two islands.

It wasn’t too l g a ride from Shimonseki to Fukuoka. I took the shorter, less scenic route that brought me through a lot of towns and cities.

Arriving in Fukuoka felt fantastic, I had finished all of Honshu! My host there, David, brought me out to a yatai, a street food stall, something for which the city if famous.

the yatai we ate at

Tonight would be my last night spent on Honshu, and the final full day of riding on the main island. Much of the day was spent on the Route 2, which went from busy three lane highway to single lane mountain road. After lunch the road I was following became I cars-only route, but a smaller track followed the exact same path and wasn’t as traffic heavy at all.

the highway providing shade from the afternoon heat

following the smaller route that ran parallel to the main road

Most of the day was spent inland until just before I arrived at my campsite when I merged back with the coastal road that.

rice paddies before getting back on the coast road

The campsite was a bit hard to find. It was right at the back of a public park. Free as most of the campsites have been since September, but busier I think because it was a Saturday.

My final Honshu sunset

I took an early boat off the island, not before getting a photo of the gates at high tide. This was my second last day on Honshu and it was absolutely beautiful, riding along sandy coast in the sun with a stiff tailwind.

I followed the same coast road almost all day, riding inland only for about 15K to save travelling around a long peninsula. After this the coast became a bit rockier but just as picturesque.

There was an island very close to the shore that I thought would be nice to camp on as the end of the day approached.

the bridge onto Kasadoshima

I found a really nice beach to camp at on the island. Another place I think would be full of people at high season, but I had it too myself mostly.