Our summer holiday in pictures

Day 1

The reward for successfully taking a tandem on the Shinkansen was a succulent steak in ugly rainy Sendai.

View from our hotel room in famously beautiful Matsushima Bay.

 

Day 2

Zuigan-ji temple, Matsushima.

 

Then into the countryside, where the shrines are a little more rudimentary. It was still raining. Hard.

At Naruko Onsen there was no shortage of food, baths and towels for hungry wet cyclists.

 

Day 3 

On the road in the rain to somewhere... Convenience stores appeared as shining havens. The normally inedible hot tinned coffee and snacks became delicious. And they had pristine dry toilets.

 

That night we stayed in the temple on top of Haguro-san

 

We had 2 rooms. A bedroom and a tearoom. The building rattled in the wind but the tired tandemmers  slept soundly through the typhoon.

 

Day 4 

Touring the temple (Actually the first shot below was taken on the way out on Day 5). 

Main shrine

Pond

 

Bell

 

Stairs. 

Pilgrims should climb the 2446 stairs to the shrine on the top of Haguro-san, but this was hardly practical with a loaded tandem so we had innocently headed up the toll road. Thus we climbed down and back up.

 

There were lots of trees and things, and it didn't rain all the time.

 
 

 To prove we did it, here's a five-storied pagoda sits near the bottom of the stairs.

 

Day 5
As we headed home the sun came out briefly, and the rice fields started to glow.

 

The local railway station at Kiyokawa was unmanned and unmachined. We didn't pay a penny until we got off the Shinkansen in Tokyo.