Ashizuri "Sunny" Road

There is a certain, unique beauty to a misty mountain rain, or a storm rolling in off the ocean that holds a rather majestic quality, and one that one from the Midwest doesn't have the opportunity to see.

At least that's what i kept telling myself as we slogged through the rain and wind for two straight days.

It all started out innocuous enough. We were up relatively early to take advantage of the breakfast at our hotel (not a wise choice) and the baths there (a very wise choice). The breakfast was kind of like what one would expect from a Japanese school lunch. The options were Salisbury Steak (great choice for 7AM) or, of course, grilled fish. Not bad, but certainly not good. But, hey, it was free and worth a shot. The baths, however, were quite nice, Located on the top floor of the hotel and overlooking the city, they were large, community-style baths. Both of us had them to ourselves.

Large, open area for changing, grooming and looking out the windows that are perfectly clear and offer a nice view of the mountains and the rest of the city

The bath, which also had nice clear windows. You can, of course, see in just as well as out, but on the 7th floor, there aren't many places one is at the same level as the bath.

So, after a quick stop at a konbini to stock up for the ride, we started pedaling towards Cape Ashizuri, the furthest southeastern tip of this part of the island, where there is a temple overlooking the ocean and many hotels that specialize in Tosa cuisine. Tosa is not only where Sumi and I live (WauwaTosa), but the old name of this area of Shikoku. Tosa cuisine consists of many varieties of fish, of course. When we are in Japan, due to my inability to eat fish, we rarely go to nice restaurants or sample specialty cuisine, but we had to give this a try. Plus, I don't know that it was possible to stay at one of these places and NOT be served dinner and breakfast.

It started raining a little as we left Nakamura, but it was supposed to stop by noon, according to the weather forecast, which is done, I believe, by either the Three Stooges or the Marx Brothers. We have been here almost two weeks and it has been correct exactly once. Leaving the city, we saw the name of the path that we were going to be cycling down for the next 70km

We did not see the sun even once on the Sunny Road

Leaving town, we were on a pretty busy road, and with the rain, it wasn't all that pleasant, so we took a shortcut through a golf course where, in typical golf idiot fashion, there were people trying to play nine in rain and gusty wind, while typical cycling idiots passed by. There were exactly two ways in and out of the course: the way we came in and a bridge to the pakring lot. A car passed us as we headed towards the bridge, so we assumed it would be a normal-sized bridge

How a car drove down this I have no idea. It's less than two meters wide.

Well noon came and went, and the rain did not. It continued to come down steadily the entire ride. We stopped at a bus stop to eat lunch and get out of the rain for a little bit, and it wasn't until about 5km later that I realized I had left our rental cell phone in the bus stop. D'oh! Sumi found a tree to stay under while I unhooked my trailer and headed back to get the phone, hoping it would still be there and someone hadn't found it and turned it in to the police. What took us about 45 minutes with the trailers took me 11 without, reminding me just how much more effort those things take. The phone was right where I left it, thankfully, and after just a 25 minute delay, we were back on the road. It was not turning out to be a good day.

The path was absolutely beautiful, even in the rain. We could only take a few pictures, when it wasn't pouring on us.

Yeah, I'm having a great #^%$# time, doesn't it look like it?

Sumi is better at acting than I am

There were a large number of people standing at the rest area, in the wind and rain, here watching the surfers down below.  I don't know who is crazier.

So, after about nine hours of biking through pretty crappy conditions, we arrived at The Ocean View Sea Side Fukuyama. We were soaking and filthy from the road and not looking forward to presenting ourselves at a small, fancy ryoukan like two hobos. As we parked our bikes, we saw a water faucet on the side of the building. Thank goodness! We washed off all the road dirt, took off our cycling vests that were more black than green at this point, and changed into our sandals before heading in, wet, but presentable.

The Ocean View Sea Side Fukuyama was gorgeous. A small, eight-room ryokan overlooking the ocean with spacious rooms and everything just immaculate. An old woman was in the kitchen and a younger man (her son?) greeted us, gave us towels and got the bath ready as we took our bags out of our trailers and brought them to our room.

The picture is a little foggy because Sumi's iPhone had gotten a bit wet and hadn't dried out yet

The view out the window was wonderful. After a nice bath and changing into dry clothes we were summoned down to dinner. We were the only guests this evening. Apparently no one else was dumb enough to come visit the cape in the pouring rain. The dinner was amazing. I could eat a bit of it. Sumi did her best to help eat some of my fish.

Blurry, but beautiful

Afterwards, all we could do was collapse in our futons and hope tomorrow wasn't as rainy.

We should be so lucky.