After a "western" b'fast at 7:30 I set off on what must be one of Japan's worst trunk roads, Route 3. Narrow. Verges made impassable to bicycles for the weeds. Narrow, gutter-covering, cracked-pavement sidepaths where they existed at all. Forced to contend with fairly heavy traffic including heavy trucks. There were a few bright spots, especially after Satsuma-sendai for a few kms, but generally awful most of the way into Kagoshima-shi.
Saw one interesting safety notice on the coast. It showed photos of dangerous locations which included old, WW2 era coastal gun emplacements. Got me to thinking for the next hour what it would have been like to face those guns in a landing craft in the autumn of 1945, the date for the planned American invasion of Kyushu. No one wants to go on record as saying the atomic bombings were a good thing, but... Would the Imperial Army suddenly have thrown down their weapons after the ferocious defense of Okinawa?
Finally arrived at Kagoshima-chuo Station at 5:00. Tourist Information told me that the ferry I wanted to take at Ibusuki to Minami-osumi on the east coast of the bay was no longer running. For a bicyclist THAT is important information! Plenty of business hotels near the station. Checked in at a Toyoko-Inn then changed the tube that I'd pumped up three times already that day. Shower. Italian dinner at the station mall. And, for the first time on the trip, I watched a movie: "Sherlock Holmes". Man does not live by pedaling a bicycle alone.
Rumors on the TV news about a typhoon near Nagasaki heading NE. Lucky for me.
A more detailed time line:
7:30 a.m.: left Rocks Inn hotel in Akune
9:42 a.m.: stopped at Sunkus shop on Rte. 3 about 16 km so. of Akune, 1.3 km south of Satsumataki Station
10:26 a.m.: stopped at Lawson shop on Rte. 3 in Satsumasendai Koguramachi, 2.8 km east of Kusamichi Station
11:49 a.m.: stopped at Gusto restaurant in Satsumasendai on Rte. 3 about 25 km so. of Akune, near Kamisendai Station
1:06 p.m.: stopped at A-Coop shop on Rte. 3 near Kushikino Station in Ichikikushikino
1:19 p.m.: photo of public housing on Rte. 3 in Ichikikushikino
2:10 p.m.: stopped at Family Mart shop on Rte. 3 in Higashi-Ichikicho about 8 km east of Ichikikushikino, near Yunomoto Station
3:30 p.m.: stopped at Lawson shop near Ijuinkita PO 20 km east of Ichikikushikino
5:00 p.m.: arrived at Kagoshima Chuo Station
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