An early start … down to see the morning markets … it was 7.30am and they officially open at 8am. A few people milling around and some stalls were set up – a wooden frame, table and a tarp attached with rope; umbrellas.

A mixture of fresh and dried seafood, lacquerware … John was quietly hoping for a bakery. We had a banana, orange juice and coffee (I had some yoghurt) for breakfast.

“We’ll get a top up at a convenience store”

We strolled back past the foot bath … amazing – a room with a small thermal pool to rest your feet … free of charge and closes at 10pm.

Meanwhile checking out of the guesthouse and on the road a clear fresh day with a strong headwind . Of course a small hill to start with only 11km and the Senmaida Rice Terraces

It’s 9am on a Sunday and the tourist buses are rolling in. It’s a very attractive site and a great focal point, there is an option to walk amongst the paddies which a lot of tourist are taking. There are trays if rice seedlings being carried – they must be the volunteers ready for a day’s work of planting by hand.

We push on and the beauty of the coast is somewhat in the back of my mind as we struggle with the headwinds … I can see a long day out here. As we go hillward the wind calms … weird – it’s actually nice climbing hills. This behaviour continues with some very steep climbs 10 and 11% roadsigns. The coast is very rocky and it’s lovely to see the small rock pools … I’d love to be down there. Every bend has it’s own fishing village.

We are now bemused at the small flat square areas … it turns out they are salt farms … we follow them for quite a while.

More hills and two mega climbs as we head to the northern point of the penninsula – Sanctuary Cape 54km.

The downhill was like a breath of fresh air through pine forests … oh that aroma … and a tailwind. Back to the coast and open beaches and seaside/fishing villages. Just feeling like a holiday seaside feeling when a hotel arose, traffic lights and civilisation.

Best of all was the sight of a Family Mart … it was 2.30pm we hadn’t seen a convenience store for 70km a late morning tea/lunch … that sushi and cream pastry went down well.

We ended up at a Soba noodle bar for dinner – we were the only customers … no English so Google Translate offline and a bit of charades. Japanese dim sims … prawn tempura and soba noodles. Lovely lady … shame there was a language barrier.