Gatsugi - The fifth step ... The length of Japan. - CycleBlaze

September 12, 2018

Gatsugi

The weather forecast suggested a south eaterkly wind of about twenty kilometers an hour so we were keen toi get going early to miss as much of the wind as we could.  In the end, the headwind was only a problem early in the morning becaue it swung around to northerly as the day wore on.

We followed route 7 out of Fukura towards Sakata.  It was pretty busy and rather boring but once we had managed to navigate out of Sakata (a few twists and turns along the way) we turned onto route 112, passing underneath the runway of the airport south of the town!

Route 112 passes under the runway !
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At Tsuruoka we turned onto route 50 which hugged the coast, mainly skirting the steep headlands along the seaward side.  As we skipped from bay to bay and fishing village to fishing village, we were afforded lovely views, graced with a tailwind and were really enjoying our day.

Tsuruoka is a quaint tourist town.
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Apart from a few headlands over which we had to pass, the route was pretty flat was an absolute pleasure to ride. 

Google has indicated a campsite at Goishi, about a kilometer north of the village of Gatsugi but when we got there we found little evidence of it - a few toilets that had been boarded up and a washing up area with dry taps.  So we headed into Gatsugi, had a great scrub and soak at one of the two onsens in town and headed back to where Google had indicated the campsite to be.  The only place to pitch our tent would be on the top of the tsunami protection wall but the view made it all worthwhile.

Views from what used to be the campsite at Goishi.
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Views from what used to be the campsite at Goishi.
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Today's ride: 87 km (54 miles)
Total: 1,863 km (1,157 miles)

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