Cycling in Kyushu, from Kagoshima to Nagasaki (Apr 29-May 7, 2022)
Up to this point, we had already completed touring around Kagoshima, visited the southernmost tip of Kagoshima (Cape Sata). We continued to take ferries across the sea, island-hopping to Kumamoto and Nagasaki, continued to camp along the way~
Actually, we fishing town that we had stayed, Akune, was still a good 10km or more from the bridge towards “Nagashima” (“long island” in Japanese). It is actually still part of Kagoshima, but it is an island, connected to the mainland by a bridge. Inside the island, there were actually not much other than nature & farmlands, very few shops or restaurants. However, it seems to be a producer of oranges, so we saw orange on all the fences, signs, even manhole covers.
In Japan, wherever we go, farmers often build some wooden shelves/huts at the roadside, showcasing their self-grown vegetables or fruits, price tags and a money can. People can just drop in the money and pick up the vegetables/fruits. It is so refreshing to enjoy local fruits on the way.
We must ride across Nagashima to take Tenchou Ferry to a campsite in another island that day. We worried that we might miss the earlier ferry, so we kept riding. There were these unknown purple/white flowers at the roadside, which smelled so good. Only on a bike that you would notice flowers at the roadside. Motorcycles and cars would pass in a heartbeat.
Nagashima really was long, and quite many uphills. However, magically, after some uphills, it was continuous long steep downhill that we didn’t even have chance to check where we were. At the end of road, we found that we had already arrived the ferry port. Because of the long downhill, we were just in time to take a ferry at 12:15pm that we thought we would definitely miss. It was just magical!!
After the ferry ride to Amakusa, we were beyond hungry. We googled a nearby local restaurant for lunch. To our surprise, it was cheap but rich lunchset (about 700yen)again. The sashima (raw fish) and tempura (fried fish) were in fact fresher than many good restaurants that we had been to. Also, we had local strawberries from Kagoshima for after lunch desert. The strawberries were big and sweet, but cheaper than usual!
After lunch, we passed by some wheat fields, with perfect golden color. I didn’t know that Kagoshima produces wheat too!!
Now, we had to ride to the free campsite, so we were in no hurry. We even stopped by a bakery for coffee and cake, visited a little luxury hot spring at seaside.
The free campsite, Wakamiya Park Campsite, was also next to the sea, at beachside. Although it was not the kind of beach that you could swim, the view was impressive, unbelievably peaceful and quiet (even though it was next to road and bridge). Sitting in front of the beach, watching the seabirds to enjoy our dinner was better than any restaurants. We took a walk along the bridge at sunset. I think I’ll miss this place.
Next morning, we had to take another Shimatetsu Ferry to Nagasaki. Since our campsite was only 2-3km from the port. We woke up at 5am, already able to take the earliest ferry at 6:30am. The ferry was so empty, we relaxed and enjoyed our prepared breakfast inside the ferry.
After arriving Nagasaki, we continued to ride along the coastline, but soon we noticed that we had to go across numerous mountains to our destination. It means that many uphills and downhills, on busy car roads. As we got closer to Nagasaki, the traffic became more or more busy. Cars and big trucks passed us by non-stop. We tried to look for alternative routes, but still we ended up had to push our bike up the steep slope back to the car roads. Oh, it was so hot & humid.
We passed by a town called “Obama”, which is popular for hot springs. It was particularly interesting that there were streams coming out from every building that you can see from the streets. They also claimed that they had the No.1 footbath in Japan, hot spring which is 105degreeC. We took a break eating “Onsen Tamago” (egg boiled by hot spring) and free footbath by the seaside. They also had a well of hot spring on the street that you can boil anything for free!
There were many non-repeated drawings on the concrete fence next to the footbath. I think they looked rather interesting, so I took pictures of all of them to the end of fence.
After footbath, we must ride on. I think we went across 3 mountains in one day. It was a very tired 70km. Other than busy car roads, there were mostly farmlands. We had lunch at a local restaurant which had a view of the farmlands. When we got closer to town, there were railways running right next to us.
We finally reached Omura city, which is where Nagasaki Airport located. Since it was still early afternoon, we quickily visited the popular Omura Park.
The last night of this trip, we decided to stay in a hostel instead of free campsite. We found a really cheap hostel in Omura city, but it was several km away from town, and the only restaurant nearby was closed that day, so we bought our dinner from supermarket and had a quiet night under a roof in front of a TV.
We did found a knife shop nearby, bought a Japanese knife and even a “natural” whetstone from “Amakusa” there we had just passed, but hubby was so excited.
We had a 8AM flight from Nagasaki airport, so we had to wake up early, but unlike the day before, there were zero traffic on the road, so we went smoothly. There was a long bridge across the sea to the airport, so it was quite interesting. At the other end of the bridge, there was Nagasaki Airport, and our way home.
Distance we rode: 460km
Where we rode:
(by Google map, which does not show our route in cycling mode, so it is shown by walking mode)
Where we stayed:
Day 1: Kirishima City, under a bridge — Original Plan: Kokubu Camp Beach
Day 2: Kamikawa Campsite
Day 3: Sata Misaki Campsite
Day 4: Ibusuki Michioeki (rest area) — Original Plan: Ibusuki Eco Campsite
Day 5: Kushikino Dam Auto Campsite
Day 6: Iwashi Building Hostel
Day 7: Wakamiya Park Campsite
Day 8: Village BFH
Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoy~