November 29, 2025
Day 88 — Kuranomoto to Togo
Marilee here.
We woke up to a brilliant blue sky on this lovely cloudless morning. There had been a heavy dew overnight and the tent was soaked, so we knew we’d be taking our time this morning, waiting for the sun to reach us so we could dry things out a bit before packing up. We took our coffee cups and bag of breakfast supplies across the road to enjoy them on the beach.
There was a large building at the entrance to the beach, with changerooms and showers for summer beachgoers, and as we came around this building to get onto the beach we surprised four or five motorcyclists who were camped there, their tents tucked together on a grassy strip between the building and the beach. So we weren’t the only campers, even this deep in the off season! They were already having breakfast, and we exchanged good morning waves and bows as we went by.
It was a beautiful morning and the water, to my dipped-in toe, was quite warm but the air was cold and I wasn’t tempted to plunge in. We just sipped our coffee, contemplated the waves, and watched the sun stretch across the sand, until finally the coffee was gone and we roused ourselves to get going.
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We were glad that we’d given ourselves time to fully wake up before jumping back on the bikes, because the ride today started with a series of stiff climbs — first from the beach up to the highway, and then back up to the restaurant and Michi we’d visited the night before (the Michi was signed “Potato House Boyo” — which seemed appropriately (if unintentionally) Irish for a store specializing in potato products).
Along our route this morning we passed one of the mysterious little ATM-like kiosks that we have started noticing along the highways. It turns out that these are coin-operated rice milling machines: you bring your bag of home-grown rice, pour it in, and for a hundred yen or so, get it polished into white rice. Nifty idea!
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We’d made the right choice yesterday to follow a coastal route, and we bet on the coast again today. We had some great views, especially in the morning, but the road today was busier and it wasn’t quite the wild lonely coastline we’d experienced the day before. Still, it was exhilarating riding along the rolling hills.
And the rest stops were fun too!
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As the afternoon went on, we left the coastal road and turned inland, through the town of Satsuma, towards our destination for the night.
The only campground we’d been able find in the area was a privately run operation, connected to an onsen hotel. So we were prepared for it to be more expensive than the municipal campgrounds we normally stay at (i.e. not free). But as we biked along I started to worry about even getting a site: it was a beautiful Saturday afternoon— what if the campground filled up before we got there? And sure enough, when we pulled in and presented ourselves, sweaty and disheveled, to the nicely dressed and coiffed hotel registration staff, they said oh no, so sorry, all full. To which we said, oh but please? And made bicycling motions and exhausted faces to communicate our dilemma — we’ve come a long way! We’re very tired! Our tent is so small!
Rather surprisingly, this worked. It turned out there were some back sites that weren’t normally rented out, and we could have one of these. The price was rather staggering for a campsite, especially once we found the back sites: unlike the rest of the campsites, which were set out on a flat grassy lawn, the back sites were uneven and muddy, tucked in the trees. Clearly they were being redeveloped and weren’t quite ready for prime time. We were happy they were flexible enough to let us stay, but a bit cheesed they charged us full price, which was by far the most expensive campsite we’ve had in Japan. But the price included use of the hotel onsen, so we resolved to really enjoy our daily soak tonight. Which we did! And crawled into bed soon thereafter, ending our second to last day of the north/south traverse of the main islands of Japan!
Today's ride: 69 km (43 miles)
Total: 4,472 km (2,777 miles)
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