Day 8 – tour day 4
Lovely hotel, much quieter and smaller than the Las Vegas style Prince Hotel. Nice buffet breakfast with decent coffee, then we packed up and headed out for 8 a.m. under grey skies, just spitting a little. Forecast was for clearing later, and clear it did, yielding to lovely sunny skies for the majority of the day plus a bonus, a tailwind for a good part of it.
We cycled out of Kanazawa initially on roads then onto a bike path, then turned south onto a bike only path. Gorgeous, with beautiful sandy beaches.
the only place I’ve seen garbage, and that was mainly b/c it washes in from the sea, and blows around.
The beaches were amazing, mile upon mile of sand. Some surfing done here apparently.
We had frequent stops at strategic locations where Hammu could come in with the vehicle and we were well provisioned. Japanese toilets, in parks and public places, are AMAZING. Most have heated seats and bidet functions and are spotlessly clean. At times it looked a little Dunkirk-ish, with bamboo barricades for wind on the inland side and the breakwater concrete pilings on the sea side.
One of several nutrition breaks.
We stopped for lunch at a park close to a family mart which had an amazing selection of food; settled on some sushi (excellent), iced coffee and chestnut daifuku. Views were lovely but needed to be in the sun as the wind was chilly.
As we cycled along there before lunch, there was a continuous roar of fighter jets as they were apparently doing a military exercise in response to North Korea’s latest ICBM test. They all came back to base though and we had an excellent view of them landing as they flew over our coastal path into the AFB beside it. Some $$ in jet fuel used there… The white buildings to the north on the point in this picture are the AFB hangar buildings.
After lunch we rolled out for a short stretch to a shipping museum in Kaga, where some elected to go in and pay the huge entrance fee of 350 yen (about $3.50). It was fascinating to see the difference in the building of this shipping merchant vs. the samurai house; apparently there was a lot of money to be made in that trade. They did one trip a year along the west coast, picking up goods in the south and selling them as they went up, then loading up in the north and doing the same on return. The house was huge, with a huge garden. Filled with interesting artifacts, and an interesting tree out front with a pine tree growing out of a camelia tree – likely bird droppings with a seed that took root. Someone also found a persimmon growing, which we’d had for breakfast.
We had some roads and detours around construction on the coastal path, but the traffic wasn’t bad and there’s safety in numbers. Lots of lovely little fishing villages and lagoons, with rice paddies on the inland side. A few cranes were spotted; they are a feature of Japanese art. Only one section of solar panels, and one lone windmill.
We had a few undulations to deal with at this point, but none were very strenuous and we rolled into our lovely hotel with sea views about 3 p.m. We were told we were one of the fastest groups ever as they had planned to have us arrive at 4:30 and had to adjust the lunch spot. Must have been that tailwind…
Happily not feeling too tired, especially after the lovely onsen (hot baths). A great tradition…
Dinner was amazing, a buffet with an excellent choice of Japanese food, ending with mochi, and 4 different flavours of ice cream including yuzu!!! and chestnut. Yummm.
Today’s mileage: 78 km, 260 m elev gain
Highlight of the day: scapes of the sandy beaches in the warm sunshine and the blue and green ocean beyond.