A Weekend at Shirahama

We covered two widely different aspects of Japan this weekend. On Friday evening, we jetted off to Tokyo to catch a specially-sponsored Jazz concert performed by Anat Cohen. We (I) thoroughly enjoyed the performance, and picked up the recent CD which I had autographed before leaving to catch the last bullet train home. We got in at about midnight on Friday night, and got to bed sometime after 1 a.m. (Yes, these days, that's quite late for me!).

Though we typically opt to spend the night when we go to Tokyo, we had already made other plans to head to Shimoda and the white sandy beach of Shirahama on Saturday, hence the late trip home.

On Saturday morning we woke up early(-ish), packed up our saddlebags and got on the road for a scenic ride to Shimoda in Izu. My bike, which had been in the shop and which I got back on Friday afternoon, was in much better shape. My mechanic had done a lot work on it, and it seems that the main problem was that the ignition coil had burnt out. So the bike ran great for the trip to Izu, though it did stall when idling at higher altitudes...a problem for a different day! In any event, the ride to Izu was delightful, with sunny skies and warm weather.

The goal was not the destination as much as the journey, so we wended our way comfortably on skyline roads and the coastline. Nevertheless, we were happy to arrive at the beach at about 12:30 p.m., in time to soak up a couple of hours of sun and surf before checking into our minshuku.

This time, Brian found a cute little minshuku about a 10 minute walk from Shirahama. The Izumi, a cute, traditional home, uphill from the beach, is run by a very friendly family. Sitting in a very quiet neighborhood and rather a ways uphill from the beach, the Izumi also has a great view of the ocean in daylight and the stars on a clear night. We were lucky to enjoy both views, as well as an excellent dinner and breakfast served at the minshuku.

View from our Minshuku

The website for the Izumi is here

http://www.izu.co.jp/~izumi/

We were exhausted from the 'late night-early morning', and fell asleep fairly soon after dinner. We woke up to enjoy some middle-of-the-night stars in a perfectly clear sky, before dozing again before breakfast.

We then packed up, said our farewells to the minshuku family, and headed for the beach once again.

And that was when we realized that a typhoon was coming our way! The waves at the beach were too big and strong to allow swimming, and the sand was blowing a bit too hard for comfortable beach-drinking, but we still enjoyed a couple of hours in the sun before getting back on the road home.

And that was when we realized we were going to be riding in typhoon winds and rain just about all the way home!

Because we started out on the peninsula where the typhoon was headed, and because we then took the multiple sky-line roads up along the mountain ridges, we stayed wet and freezing cold for most of the ride (note to self: buy raingear!). We finally got warmed up when we descended out of the fog on route 1, about twenty kilometres from home! And we did really get warmed up until a long, hot bath was had!

Still, it was a great weekend and some great riding.