Day 8 - Ichihino to Minamisatsuma
The valley climbing up and away from Satsumanosato ryokan is a picture of bucolic tranquillity. Misty mountains provide the backdrop to rice drying on traditional racks. The climb is a little bit steeper than ideal but plenty manageable. A second small climb is the last barrier to the West coast of the Ibusuki Peninsula.
The last part of this ride follows the Fukiagehama Cycling Road. The northern part of this road clearly follows the route of a defunct rail line. Further south the road meanders through the trees. This isn't a dead flat seaside bike path, but it is 24kms of car free, navigation not required cycling into Minamisatsuma.
Route
Stay and Eat
Matsuya Ryokan was one of our favourite stays on this trip. This is a small family run ryokan and the welcome could not be warmer. The evening meal was in the top 5 meals I've ever been served and certainly the best on this trip. Each course was presented individually and our host was deeply knowledgeable and interested in the food being served.
See and Do
We had planned to visit Kinzangura shochu distillery early in the day. We were concerned it was a bit early when we were going past, but a 'helpful' local assured us they would already be open. We made our way up a short steep climb to discover they would have been open... if they weren't closed Tuesdays.
Just as we neared the coast at Ichikushikino, I sped a toilet so we sailed in to make a comfort stop. As it turned out the establishment offering toilet facilities is a purveyor of local specialities. We went in for a browse and came out laden with candied bontan (citrus fruit), bontan ame, yuzu miso senbei (rice crackers), sesame bites, melon pan (bread that contains no melon) and coffee.
Our hosts at Matsuya Ryokan organised for us to visit Uto Shuzo, a local shochu distillery, on our way out of town. It was really interesting to see a small scale shochu distillery and a much better outcome than the corporate marketing experience we'd likely have got at Kinzangura.
