After a welcome rest in Iwaki it was time to get going, I was now pretty close to Narita airport but with time on my hands I had decided to ride south along the coast of Chiba prefecture before crossing Tokyo bay by ferry to go catch up with Koichi and my friends in that part of Japan.
The ride out of Iwaki started with a small climb before levelling out on the coast road. I had picked two possible campsites for the evening, one was a wild camp in a coastal park with the advantage of no climbing to it but meaning that I would have to wait until dark to setup the tent, the second option was a genuinely free campsite which was up in the hills with around five miles of climbing, but I could setup and leave whenever I felt like it. With rain forecast from 5 pm and sunset due at 6:30 pm my decision was made for me and I turned the bike skyward for the five mile climb.
Now at the start of my trip I hated climbing, I just didn’t have the stamina and after short steep climbs my legs would have nothing left. After two months riding I have started to ACTUALLY ENJOY CLIMBING! It’s scary, I’m still suffering but I know that as long as I keep my legs turning and ignore the pain that I will make it over the hill and the satisfaction from achieving that is immense.
That said with a light drizzle falling I wasn’t particularly thrilled to have a long haul ahead but thankfully the scenery was beautiful as I followed the river up the valley before reaching a dam and running along the lake it formed. After another few miles climbing away from the lake I was at my campsite by the river, I setup my tent just in time for the downpour to start so settled into my sleeping bag for the night.
I was up early, well, I was still wide awake when dawn arrived at around 5 am the next day. The rain had turned into a storm the previous night and my little tent was tested to its limits, making it through to the morning just barely still waterproof. Thankfully I bought a very good sleeping bag before leaving the UK so I was toasty warm at least.
I packed my bags and threw the sopping wet tent into its pack on the back of the bike and made my way gingerly downhill, drizzle still falling. I grabbed my breakfast at the nearest conbini and headed to the coast.
In contrast to the previous night and day it was a lovely sunny morning and the temperature climbed up the thermometer, drying out my bags and my tent in the process. I headed down the coast to a campsite I had found on google maps, I was in need of a shower and was glad of the shade of the pine trees when I finally arrived at my spot for the night.
I grabbed a quick shower and let my tent dry in the sun while the local cat population came and introduced themselves, I had been missing my own cat since I left home and the cats in Japan had been doing there best to avoid me until this point so I was glad of the feline company.
After relaxing with the cats I was sitting in the sun when one of my neighbours came over to introduce himself, his name was Kosuke and he was there camping with his wife Rieko and their dog Mob and I spent a lovely evening chatting away with them. I headed to bed early to make up for the long night in the rain the day before.
I woke up early and was greeted by my new friends with a lovely cup of fresh coffee before the cats joined me to sit in the sun a while. Kosuke and Rieko had invited me to come and visit them in a few nights, so I had revised my plans to head inland and would be going to Tsukuba for a couple of days to visit JAXA (the Japanese space program) before heading down to Inzai for one night with my new friends before riding to Chiba the day after that with Kosuke.
It was a simple 35 mile ride to Tsukuba and Chiba is a relatively flat prefecture so in no time I was at the hotel and relaxing while waiting for my laundry to finish before heading to bed for the night.
I headed to JAXA the following morning not sure what to expect (the reviews on Google maps were polarising, either very positive or very negative), it was a short walk from the hotel and after ac quick chat to the security guard on the gate I headed over to the visitor centre after stopping to admire the rocket on display outside.
I spoke to the staff at the visitor centre and while there was no English tour available that day (book ahead people!) I jumped onto the Japanese tour after looking around the excellent free display area.
The tour only cost ¥500 but we would be guided around through the astronaut Isolation training area and then finally we would be shown the control room for the Kibo section of the international space station, it was a real thrill to see all of this and the small boy in me who loved all things space was very happy. I left JAXA at mid day and headed to a nearby restaurant for dinner to complete a very good day.
It was a short 20 or so mile ride to Inzai and I took my time with a strong headwind pushing against me all the way. I had a lovely evening with my new friends enjoying good food and conversation, both Kosuke and Reiko are from near Osaka so we ate Osaka style Okonomiyaki which I had never tried before. It was a real treat to spend the night like this and I hope I can return the favour one day if they come to the UK.
I had booked a cheap capsule hotel for the following night so Kosuke and I had been looking at maps trying to figure out the best route to take to get to the city. There was a straight path along route 16 but we decided eventually to head to a local lake and then follow the cycle path along the river that would take us to the sea and Chiba city.
Kosuke is a pretty experienced rider and lead the way on his lovely Colnago road bike, the pace was a little faster than I am used to but it was fun to push myself a little even if I did struggle to keep up once the road hit an incline. With neither of us speaking much of the others language conversation was basic but very enjoyable, each of us getting our point across with a mix of words and gestures making the miles sail by all too quickly, it was good to have company on a ride and I would miss it in the next few days.
We arrived at Chiba by mid day and sadly it was time to part ways, with me heading into the city to my little tube for the night.
I woke the next day pleased with only banging my head once on the stupidly low hung TV in my capsule, I know that the reputation is that westerners are taller than Japanese people but I refuse to believe that TV hadn’t claimed hundreds of scalps in its life.
The roads out of Chiba city were nice and quiet for a Saturday morning so I had a good ride for the first five or so miles before traffic became very busy and I headed pack onto the paths, slowing my pace in the process. I was heading south to a campsite around 15 miles north of the ferry terminal where I would cross Tokyo bay, the plan was to head there and stay a few nights before meeting up with Koichi and making the most of my final full week in Japan, the trip was nearly over.
Three months in japan 