SOAKED TO THE BONES

I left the hotel a bit early knowing that it was going to be raining most of the day. However, I had no choice but to head out. If I waited out every rainy day, it would set me back big time. I tried to outrun the rain, riding at a faster pace than normal and not stopping for my usual breaks. After leaving town, the route headed up over a mountain and the road narrowed to a point where I was riding within millimeters from imminent doom with cars and trucks on one side and a guard rail on the other side. This is cycling in Japan folks, millimeters from imminent doom, then suddenly a meter wide cycling road.

The cherry blossoms were a nice sight along the way, but I could see the dark clouds coming closer and closer. Eventually the rain caught up and started pouring on me. After an hour, I was completely soaked. The plastic bags I put over my shoes saved my feet from getting wet, but my jacket and gloves were completely soaked. The ride wasn't too bad other than the rain, there were a lot of factories along the coast though to Yanai so it didn't look pretty at all. Behind all that ugly stuff, I could see Shikoku island.

I arrived to the ferry terminal in Yanai just in time to catch it to Matsuyama, Shikoku island. This will now be my third major island I’ve visited with Hokkaido being the last one I need to get to…that will have to wait. For now, I’m riding day to day and changing my mind constantly about where to go.The ferry takes two and a half hours so I spent the time napping and enjoying the scenic view of the Seto-nai-kai (Seto Inland Sea). The sea is pretty wide and there are a lot of cargo ships, fishing boats, and other sorts of traffic. There are many small islands and rocks protruding from the sea, it is very zen like.

By the time the ferry arrived into Matsuyama, the rain had stopped a little bit so I gathered up what strength I had left and rode off towards my cousin’s house where I was staying for the night. My pannier bags were soaked but they kept all my belongings dry, Ortleib sure does make great panniers. Thanks to Google I was able to find the neighborhood where my cousin lived, but I couldn't find the house. The houses aren't lined up in a straight line like the U.S. Especially in towns, the neighborhood area has a name, then a sub-section, and then a house number. So once you find the sub-section you have to circle the whole block to find the right house number. There are alleys and houses behind houses, it's confusing.

After knocking on the door of a few wrong houses, the third was a success. My cousin’s daughter was a bit apprehensive of this weird stranger that suddenly appeared at her door step. I recovered with a nice hot bath and hearty dinner my cousin cooked me, I felt alive again…ready to fight another day. After dinner, my cousin's husband came home and we talked for a bit. He is a hardcore soccer fan, nice guy...it was my first time meeting him.