Hubbard Motorcycle Adventures

                                             “ It was the worst of days and the best of days “ Well this is a slight exaggeration but who is to let a good quote go to waste.  It was perhaps the worst of days because it rained for half of the six hour ride to Kyoto. And it was the best of days because it didn’t rain for half  of the six hour ride to Kyoto!  It was the first bit of serious rain riding on our trip. As per the sign I find it immensely helpful  to be told it is raining. The ride into  Kyoto was a long slog in the rain with lots of slippery white paint on the roads as lane markings etc. The roads were quite confusing as to direction and matter were not helped with these choice instruction from Ms Elizabeth of GPS fame -  If you think that is bad wait until you hear Elizabeth trying to pronounce it as a direction !  And thus in reasonably wet conditions we arrive in Kyoto. Did you know that Tokyo is an anagram of Kyoto?   I wonder if it is in Japanese  as well?  And it is sig

We are now heading south towards Sakaiminato where we have to be on Saturday to catch the boat to Vladivostok  So yesterday it was a long hot slog from Aomori to Niigata - a total of about 480 km but an 11 hour day for us from 7.00 am to 6.00pm with reasonably minimal stops. We are a bit tired on arrival at Niigata but I am quite pleased with myself to know I am capable of doing an 11 hour day ( in the heat ) reasonably comfortably. Not bad I think for an old bugger of 72 riding an 11 hour day, two up, in 30 dec C plus temperatures   As we travel we see rural life and we pass a rice planting machine - I guess these machines have made a huge drop in income to the chiropractic, phsiotheraphy and orthopaedic industries of Japan as the hand planting of rice gets overtaken by this. !  As we ride I have to tussle a lot with Elizabeth who lives in the GPS who wants us to avoid the much faster expressways. I reflect that with Elizabeth of the GPS you have to do your homework fairly thoroughly

We leave fairly early in the morning for a reasonably long day heading south. An early start is not a problem as sunrise is currently a bit before 4.30 am and helpfully the hotel breakfast starts from 5.30 am. A 7.00 am breakfast will be fine for us thanks  We stop at a roadside stopping place. I find a iced coffee from the vending machine that is labelled just for me  Leaves a nice taste on the mouth you might say  Meanwhile Diana dose her cultural ambassador thing which always goes down well. I think here she is asking them if they like boys ! And thus we head down thru Sapporo ( for a city of nigh on 2 million people is is a dream to ride through )  We track up into the mountains again on a scenic road and end up in a nice hotel on the shores of LakeToyo which is an old volcanic caldera with an island in the middle And as for the so so view from the hotel in the morning -  We are now getting used to ourJapanese meals  Then this morning is is a short 159km tootle back down to the In

We will get to the title of this blog later -  But first we leave Sapporo. And we head to the Takino Suzuran Park about 30 mins out of Sapporo. Rumour has it there are one or two tulip plants to see there. There were -   And- And-  And - And last but not least -  Get the picture?   Some good gardening ideas for when I get home.  Then it is “on ya bike “ and north again. A nice easy  ride right up north to a small town  called Nayora. The hotel has a nice Onsen - very soothing for the bones and joints ( and butt!) after a day in the saddle I might say.  And now to today. Today is the day we go to the very northern tip of Hokkaido and therefore Japan. It is Cape Soya. Just 40 km across the water from this point is Sakhalin which is part of Russia. There has been a recent proposal to build a bridge or tunnel across this strait thus linking Japan by road or rail to Europe. If you look closely you can see Russia - just like Sarah Palin was able to do from her house in Alaska!  We take  tim

I look at the weather forecast. Rain it says most of the day. The hotel is superbly comfortable and is right in downtown Sapporo. The decion is simple. We stay in Sapporo for a day  We wander around the city. Diana  likes  a big bear hug from a local - W wander around the fish market. Ginormous Russian crabs everywhere  Nice flowers  I find an opticians and get my glasses fixed. It is going to be strange seeing the corners again as I ride the motorcycle !  And some advice on Sapporo noodles  Tomorrow we head north towards Wakkanai. Sounds like Waikanae ! But it is the same latitude as Queenstown. However they get the.very cold Siberian winter blasts up here so it is many times colder. 

Firstly whilst I remember , let me say I only got one job application for the job I advertised.  I hired her on the spot. Excellent choice !  So somewhat reluctantly we head north again to Aomori which is at the top of Honshu and the ferry port to go north to Hokkaido ( to pronounce put a plum in your mouth and say “ Hock a dough “ We wind up the pretty coast and whiz past a town called Honcho. I wonder to myself if the local mayor is called the Head Honcho?  Then I finally work out why the GPS keeps me off the expressway system. It is nothing to do with fastest time / shortest distance argument  . The official speed on the expressway is 70kph or sometimes 80kph. On the ordinary roads it is 50kph. But often the expressways bypass towns and takes  a longer route so on the time algorithms in the GPS the  expressways miss out on both a shortest time and shortest distance basis. But they are by far the quickest as they tend not to have traffic lights  I got up courage today and firmly ove

After 5 days rolling, rolling, rolling it is time for a rest. Thus today went like a haiku                                                                                Sleep in                                                                          Late breakfast                                                                         Check bike over                                                                           Visit museum                                                                            Nice dinner  And so another day in Japan. In a very nice  hotel          And thus that is that.

At breakfast time this morning on the 10 th floor of the hotel Diana pointed out a big box next to the window. In the front of the box was a sign and instructions  Diana said it was a rescue  apparatus you use to lower yourself from the 10 th floor of the hotel where we were down to the ground in the case of an emergency. Would have to be some emergency I thought to myself!  I still did not quite understood how the device worked and asked Diana to interpret the instructions and to both explain and show how the device worked  I am going to really miss Diana!  Anyway life has to move on sometimes so I composed in my head a  Situations Vacant advertisement for a new replacement pillion passenger. It went like this                                                                                              HELP  WANTED  A vacancy exists for an age compatible female pillion rider  Applicants must be prepared   to sit on the back of a motorbike for up to 10 hours a day, day after day. Must

At breakfast time this morning on the 10 th floor of the hotel Diana pointed out a big box next to the window. In the front of the box was a sign and some instructions in Japanese.  Diana said it was a rescue  apparatus you use to lower yourself from the 10 th floor of the hotel (where we were) down to the ground in the case of an emergency. Would have to be some emergency I thought to myself!  I still did not quite understood how the device worked and asked Diana to interpret the instructions and to both explain and show me  how the device worked.  I am going to really miss Diana!  Anyway life has to move on sometimes so I composed in my head a  Situations Vacant advertisement for a new replacement pillion passenger. It went like this                                                                                              HELP  WANTED                                     A vacancy exists for an age compatible female pillion rider Applicants must be prepared