Day 10 - Niigata to Senami Onsen
I have no words. Literally no words. I took no notes for this day. The only photo that isn't at the departure or destination is of a kiwi fruit fizzy drink we bought at a Seven-Eleven . So clearly today was just about getting from point A to point B. Even the Tour de France has those...
Route
There's nothing particularly scenic about the Northern end of the Niigata plain. The agricultural flavour of the Southern part of the plain we rode in on, is replaced with the commercial vibes of port infrstructure - both sea and air, industry and the blight of big box retailers.
We had originally planned to hug the coast as much as possible, but the coast road was really busy with lots of trucks coming away from the port. When the road narrowed we didn't fancy mixing it with the heavy traffic so headed further inland as soon as we were able. The streets were still pretty busy, but with cars and through residential areas the speed was slower.
Stay and Eat
Yorimichi was our lunch stop for the day. When the car park was crowded with work vehicles and the place was jammed with travelling technicians and sales people, we knew we'd made a good choice. One of said travelling sales folk kindly moved to the counter to free up a table for our use. Recommended.
We're back in the luxury onsen scene tonight. Fortunately we managed to find an annex or smaller building of one of the big hotels on the waterfront. Taikanso Senaminoyu is one of the big multi story onsen hotels looming over the beach. Their Bansyu property is a small establishment a little way up the road and suited us perfectly. The onsen is up the hill, accessed by a covered stairway with the reward for the climb, the outside bath (rotenburo) with a view out to the ocean. The only downside was breakfast being served in the massive dining room of the main establishment.
Finding nutrition to keep body and soul together overnight was a bit of a conundrum. The big hotels all had restaurants but tended to the big celebration style kaiseki with the corresponding price tag. There's no convenience store in the waterfront strip. You need to venture further inland into the town proper. Eventually we landed on Sushi Sen, about 800m walk. We had a delicious meal and a delightful evening here. The only other customer was a high school teacher in town with students on a trip exploring university options. Chef was the 4th generation owner and the 5th generation was in training to take over. I notice while we were there 'junior' wasn't allowed near a knife or a fish. ;-) Beloved, whose Japanese is still good enough to hold down a conversation, participated in the conversation while I smiled and struggled to pick up the gist of the conversation.
See and Do
The waterfront and beach in front of Senami Onsen is a nice place to explore, particularly around sunset. It's about as white a white sand beach gets in Japan (without importing sand). There's a short promenade on the foreshore with pavilions and seats where you can sit and watch the sunset over the ocean which is a novelty for East Coast dwellers like us.
