December 18, 2025: Motobu to Kunigami - 48 kms - Okuma Beach Resort December 19, 2025: Kunigami to Ada - 55 kms - Ada Garden Hotel - December 20, 2025 - near Ada - Rain day, no riding - Ada Garden Hotel - Island count: 5, with the addition of Sesoko and Yagaji - total distance cycled: 383 kms Gordon: If you look at a ...
Ruth: We are spending three nights at Uncle's House near the end of the Motobu peninsula. It is located on a hill just above a small fishing village, overlooking the sea. From the outside it resembles many modern houses in Japan: unattractive and utilitarian. However, when you step inside you enter the Zen calm of what we all imagine a Japanese home should look like. ...
December 13, 2025 - Kumejima to Onna, Okinawa - 41 kms - Best Western Okinawa Onna Beach December 14, 2025 - Onna to Kouki Beach - 30 kms - Best Western Okinawa Kouki Beach December 15, 2025 - Kouki Beach to Motobu - 35 kms - "Uncles House" house rental December 16, 2025 - Motobu - 8 km day ride - Uncles House December 17, ...
December 11, 2025: Kumejima - 12 km day ride - EN Resort December 12, 2025: Kumejima - 29 km day ride - EN Resort - Total distance cycled: 144 kms Ruth: It's hard to leave. Today we once again let the morning ferry depart without us and booked another night. We think we will leave tomorrow, but it's such a lovely place to be. Just ...
December 8, 2025 - Kume Island - 24 km day ride - EN Resort December 9, 2025 - Kume Island - 26 km day ride - EN Resort December 10, 2025 - Kume Island - 35 km day ride - EN Resort - cycling total: 103 kms - Island count: 3 (Okinawa, Kumejima and Oujima) Gordon: We have now spent a few days poking around ...
December 4, 2025 - Hotel at Haneda Airport, Tokyo December 5, 2025 - Chura Gahna House Tsubogawa Naha December 6, 2025 - 8 kms city ride - Chura Gahna House Tsubogawa Naha December 7, 2025 - Naha to Kumejima by ferry - EN Resort - 10 kms (trip total: 18 kms) Gord and I are in Japan. We are here for a 7 week island ...
Ruth: Until today we had one incomplete page in our henro stamp book, the one reserved for Koyasan. This morning we took two trains, a cable car and a bus and arrived at the final resting place of Kobo Daishi: Koyasan. I say resting place, because to his followers he is not dead but has been in a state of deep meditation since the 9th ...
Gordon: Today was our 55th and final day of walking or cycling. We have covered a little over 1300 kms, as measured by the English language guide book, though our actual mileage was probably about 1500 kms. We also visited all 88 temples on our first circuit, and 23 temples on our second. The total of 111 temples sounds quite auspicious. The storm yesterday was ...
Ruth: Thank goodness for these henro huts that are sprinkled along the route. As I write this I am sitting in one watching the first of the colossal monsoon rains sweep through. The news this morning said that Shikoku would receive up to 200 mm of rain today and I am beginning to believe it. When I spotted this lovely shelter I was filled with ...
Ruth: I would like to think that the reason I feel calmer and more serene is that my efforts on this pilgrimage are having an effect, that the hours of slowly pedalling around this beautiful island have helped me to stay present in the moment and let other concerns wash away. This is definitely part of the answer, but I have another theory as well. ...