Just in case you wanted to know, all of our blog posts have been typed/dictated into an iPhone using the WordPress app. You can see Helen composing her latest masterpiece below.
Photos are taken using our iPhone or Camera and uploaded to Flickr.
Well our weather luck has run out. As you probably are not able to see from the photo it’s raining. It’s not your typical rain which only goes for a short time – this is the it’s going to be raining like this all day, kind of rain.
While we were prepared for this weather when cycling around Noto Peninsula, given where we are we don’t have to spend 60+km in the rain as we can catch the train. Previously we couldn’t of done so. I’m only slightly disappointed, but at least we cycled over 300km! It’s been great fun – despite the hills..!
There is nothing like a short 30km day to get you motivated. After sleeping in,
.. and breakfast we left around 9:30
We were very pleased to see the last tunnel we had to go through was one which did not involve other traffic!
Along the road we stopped for a coffee, and the person working there had spent the past year in Australia working. You can cook clams & oysters over hot coals. If only we were here for lunch!
The road we are following is along the shoreline and we go through many fishing villages.
To get to our final destination of Wakura Onsen we cycled over Nakujimamachi (Twin bridge Noto). As it was a Sunday, there were a number of groups of motorcyclists of all different types who passed us in both directions along the route.
From the rest spot before going over the bridge, we could see our final destination. We were saying “oh this will be easy.. it’s just following the road around the island.. “. This turned out not to be the case. There were more hills – including the last bridge into the town, where the wind was also pretty strong. Thank goodness for the footpath, otherwise we would of slowed down the traffic had we cycled on the road.
When we arrived we celebrated by having a cake… yummo! Here’s to short cycling days!
There are some amongst you who would like to know how well our equipment is performing.
Thus far, we have completed 255.4 km on our Bromptons. We are carrying our worldly possessions in four bags. Two Brompton S bags and two Ortlieb panniers. Just enough room!
The Bromptons have proven themselves to be competent touring bikes. There is no doubt in their stability especially going downhill at speed loaded with luggage. They have only been minor maintenance issues fixed by the application of lubricant and occasional tightening of a screw. Although, I suspect my right pedal will need replacing soon. Not bad given the torture we’ve put them through including riding 8 kilometres on sand.
Fortunately, unlike our last trip we’ve had no punctures. Our new Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres are going well.
For route guidance, we are using a combination of Strava and Beeline. We use Strava to map the routes (they are all available if you’d like to ride the Noto Peninsula too). We also used the Beeline in Europe – back then it was terrible. But this new Beta software that we are using makes something that was a useless pain into the perfect tool for route guidance. The battery would last three days – but it does need your phone to be on. No complaints here. But note, the purpose of the Beeline is not to give turn by turn navigation, but rather waypoint to waypoint “beeline” directions. It does record your ride and connects with Strava.
Over these last few days we’ve seen a lot of food being dried. Here are a couple to tempt you –
…any ideas what they are?
The area is also popular for salt!
We received an impromptu tour in part Japanese and English – they were very kind!
Another long day on the bike – 80.3km (my battery ran out 2km before the end!) it would have to be the longest ride we’ve ever done on our Brompton’s. The weather for today was just perfect – 27 degrees in some sections! As we were in for a long day we left early – after a hearty breakfast:
We stocked up on supplies for the day- using appropriate parks available.
Cycling through a variety of fishing towns… and the petals falling from the trees ….ah
We nearly missed Mitsukejima – thankfully I looked at the map! It’s rather impressive front on…
Side view taken as Kym decided to walk on sand with the bikes
For the majority of the day we cycled through little fishing villages… next to the sea
We stopped for the odd snack – a bread shop out here… not what we expected!
There were a number of hills.. and just when we thought we were done… there was one final one, to our accommodation for the night.
Breakfast at the morning market in Wajima
While waiting for coffee we had this view..
Curry udon and tempura udon
Pancakes with adzuki bean and matcha powder
Today was long, not because we cycled 64km, but the hills were challenging.
Whenever there is an up – there is always a down. Anyone who rides a bike accepts this fact. Probably what I’m not keen on are hills where it is 11% incline….
Being overtaken by a local bus even!
At this stage we thought we had the last hill. Sometimes too much information can be useful…
… thankfully we got there in the end – but we knew we would.
Once we got to Wajima… and started to explore the town, we found a onsen for dogs – the dog is so cute!
Along the foreshore were a few people fishing… I quite liked this persons approach to carry equipment
There are a number of new buildings along the foreshore. One of them was a bakery called “Rapport du pain”. Naturally We found it was open (10 mins till closing)… and we bought a couple of rolls – which were really good. If you are ever in Wajima – go here!
Camembert was inside this roll
Fruit pieces!
And for dinner we went to JIN – which was Teppanyaki. We managed to order. It was hard to know what items are when Japanese refers to cuts of meat. Also had a conversation partly in Japanese of where we were from.. what we were doing in Wajima… and how long for! Oh I need more practice!
