Bikes, a bakery and animals at the Castle

May 20, 2023

Today is an exciting day. The final piece of the puzzle in getting Barry’s trike and motor to be fully functional will be complete. The longer cable for his cycle computer will be installed. We plan to have a leisurely ride around Osaka and perhaps visit the Castle. It is such a great place to ride as we always see or experience something new.

And of course, this called for a celebration. Barry found this treat which is like a crème brûlée and as odd as it may look, they got the flavours just right. It was delicious. How do they do it here? Shops have inexpensive sweet treats in packages, and we have yet to try one we don’t like.

Yoshi is hard at work installing the cable. Over our time in Osaka we have gotten to know Yoshi quite well and we feel very fortunate to have found him. As well as being a nice person, he is a very capable mechanic who understands trikes and recumbents. A rare breed indeed.

A Performer trike is awaiting assembly by Yoshi for a customer in Hokkaido. His website presence ensures that customers (like us and the fellow in Hokkaido) find Yoshi and his shop HC Works.

His beloved family pets, the two wee dogs, are guarding the shop.

We have discovered an awesome bakery very close to Yoshi’s shop. We will celebrate Barry ‘s good fortune with the trike by having lunch here.

..and finish with tartes…poppy seed base with pear, and lemon with pistachio on top.

This man was very intrigued by us and our trikes. We enjoyed a long conversation, and he spoke English quite well.

We may be predictable, but we indeed did ride back through the Castle grounds. As usual, the unexpected happened.

There were many fellows together in this area with their birds or, in this case, this fellow with his lizard. He clearly loved it and you could see the pleasure it got from being pet and particularly under its chin. It is very young and will grow to be quite large.

While we were cycling on Kyushu near Kagoshima, we saw many of these birds.

This fellow clearly cares about and takes good care of his bird and lizard. Cooling the bird down with some water.

What a moment it is to have such a close encounter with an owl’s penetrating gaze.

I was thrilled to have this opportunity with the owl.

And then we became the curiosity. These fellows were as intrigued by us as we were with their birds…what are these things, how do they work, and what are we doing in Japan.The fellow in the denim shirt had been on his knees studying my trike and eventually figured it all out.

We shared a lot of laughs and conversed with somehow achieving an understanding of each other.

Boat tours along the moat around the castle.

It is a very hot day and a good day to be on the water.

Uh oh, these guys are experiencing some tough love from their coach. Somebody screwed up. Poor guys.

Today's ride: 42 km (26 miles)
Total: 847 km (526 miles)

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Rich FrasierI just love how you engage with people, despite the language barrier. It’s clear you’re having a great time. Kudos to you both!
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10 months ago