21 March 2008

Tour de Kyushu [Day 4] : Nagasaki - Kumamoto

The rain finally had stopped and was replaced by strong winds ... which overshadowed an otherwise very nice ride ! after i gave my farewell to the owners of the hostel (Akari International Hostel in Nagasaki), whom i had known from my early days in Tokyo, I was headed towards Unzen. The road I took led along the coastline, the course being an constant up- and downhill. I was very surprised when I bumped into another cyclist on my way. We stayed together from then on, him making adjustments to his orginal plans to go the same course as me. I had decided to take a side road up to Unzen mountain, which he declared to be a very tough climb. Nevertheless, I didnt mind and we both enjoyed each other company, which we both got to appreciate when we had to climb for 8 km straight up.






After we arrived at the top of the mountain I was pretty exhausted, but not exhausted enough to explore Unzen. But all I saw was steam from the boiling sulfuric water, that seemed to be everywhere. It stank, but one can get used to it. Afterwards, we parted way, him returning to Nagasaki, while i continued on to Shimabara. There I visited the castle, and then got on the ferry to Kumamoto, where I arrived at around 5pm. I just had enough time to get a good view at the castle and to explore the central part (Shimotori).

Tomorrow I will go to Aso-san, another active volcano about 40 km away from Kumamoto.

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