BEE Japan

We left Muroran under cover of darkness and as the good ship Venus rolled out under the Muroran Hisgashi Bridge we said goodbye to Hokkaido from the stern and turned our heads to face a new island; Honshu. For those of you who can`t remember you school geograph; there are 4 main islands on Japan (from north to south), Hokkaido , Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. The northern part of Honshu is called Tohoku and despite my assurance to everyone that Tohoku would be rediculously hot we docked in Aomori city to gray skies and a persistant drizzle.

We kidded ourselves that the rain would go off and most people just rode on in their jerseys and shorts but after 30 min we realiased that this rain wasn`t going anywhere. We battled on along main route 7 as juggernauts thundered past inches from our bikes, and with a week of dry weather the road was slick with the residue of car crap. It was an effort just to stay on the bike and at one point as I tried to come up onto the pavement the bike slipped beneath me and dumped me on the tarmac with enough momentum to carry me a few feet through the spray.

Luckily I wasn`t injured and when I caught up with the others I saw that i wasn`t the only one who had sustained damage. Amiena`s front type had sustained a puncture and so we stopped in a combini car park to fix it. We were riding in 2`s so Emi and Cat had gone on ahead but the called to say they had gone far too far ahead; a symptom of rain, poor road signs and only one map which I had.

We quicly adjusted our route and once the puncture was fized the remaining 4 of us cut through apple orchards and rice fields to catch up with Emi and Cat. On doing so we all headed into the foothills of Mt. Iwaki and zigzagged our way towards our homestay; Shiratori Farm. Despite a hand drawn map and all the wonders of modern mapping we only mamnaged to get within 3 km before we asked Shiratori san to escout us from the local nursery school.

After a very short ride thorugh battering rain we arrived at the farm worn out, soaked and cold. However, we couldn`t have had a warmer welcome. Lunch was ready for us and we sat down with the Shiratori family and 4 volunteers for lunch and shared stories of our travels.

In sitting in the farm house now as breakfast is prepared to fuel us on our way to Odate City, 80 km away. Luckily the rain has cleared and we should have a good day of riding.

Emi will be reporting to all of you in the coming days about our fantasitc time on this organic farm in Aomori but for now please check out the flickr page for farm photos.