GW2026 D5 onto Shimonoseki in the rain

Route: Ichinomata onsen to Shimonoseki

Bicycle: 57 km
Total ascent: 596 m
Average speed:15,4 km/h
Riding time: 3:42 h
Weather: mostly rain, 15 C 

Today more rain. It didn’t rain all the time , but enough to not allow for any real sightseeing. I think the biggest “discovery“ of the day was , how much traffic there is around Shimokoseki. After the last few days where even some national roads were small tracks, this came as a bad surprise. Cycling out of Yamaguchi was much better, not a lot of traffic and quickly outside of town. While Shimonoseki is a very long town, that O needed to cross completely. 

I started the day with a quick visit to the onsen before ryokan breakfast. By the time I was ready to depart the rain had stopped since a few minutes  but it wouldn’t stay so. 

My first goal was a wisteria tree I found on Google Maps, but not in reality and on the rain I wasn't motivated to search for it, shortly after I had my first conbini stop. While getting something hot to drink the rain had stopped. Shortly after the conbini stop was the highlight of the day: 

According to an app on my phone it’s a tung oil tree and apparently poisonous. But those flowers were magnificent. I don’t remember ever seeing this tree before  , at least not with flowers. 

Shortly after was a stop in a gorge. It was however too slippery with the rain and fallen leaves to walk alongside the stream. I got “on the road” (aka “very small path theoretically passable for a car”) and walked a bit up until I came to a small waterfall. 

It’s probably nice in autumn with some colors on the trees.

After lunch it started raining again just to cease once much closer to Shimonoseki. The town seems to be famous for this tower and for fugu!

Fugu simply everywhere. As a lamp in the onsen of the hotel, on the manholes, on an other lamp in the onsen and there is the statue to the fugu in front of the main station.