Day 15: Hirado – Karatsu

[post of Wednesday 22^nd of August 2012]

We wake up fully refreshed. Our body has finally accepted the fact that, regardless of its complaints, we’re not gonna stop. So it gives us a break; today we feel less discomfort to knees and elbows, the injuries caused by the short are curing, and the skin is not that affected by the textile of our clothes. At least! Because today we have to cycle through more than 80 km to get to Joe’s house, a friend of Shane, who offered us free accommodation in Karatsu.

The day goes quite well and, by midday, we’ve done already 40 km. The road is plain and the sky cloudy. The sun gets through only when we’re going through our very last up-hill in the whole day. It’s not easy to get through it, and we stop half way, right in front of a pottery workshop.

The master potter comes out to greet Gabriel. He sees we are exhausted, and invites us to his house for an iced tea and some Japanese cakes homemade by his wife. He’s enthusiastic about our project; he’s travelled all across Europe himself, some years ago, and can speak some English which, together with our poor Japanese, allows us to communicate and understand each other. Then we move to his workshop, where he shows us an impressive collection of pottery pieces, from Japan, China, and Korea. We see also pages of magazines with his name on them; he must be famous. His family and he have been travelling quite a lot teaching the traditional Japanese techniques to make pottery. He offers us a cup of “matcha”, the green tea that is not filtered but beat up until it gets a delicious cream. It’s getting late and we have to leave, but we do so with a smile… and we keep with the good mood and the smile on our faces, until dark.

After 10 km passed the workshop, and while we go through a tunnel, Gabriel looks at the sky. The mountains are gone, covered by some newly arrived clouds, and they are very dark, menacing, and scary. Thunder comes shortly after. The clouds are coming down-hill, heading toward us. We realise we have less than two minutes to find a shelter and avoid the fury of the sky. When the first drop falls, it immediately followed by thousands more. Luckily, we’re under cover by then. We contemplate the storm from a Seven Eleven, and wait until it’s over. An hour and half later we realise it’s not gonna stop; we know the shop by heart by now, we had a look at all the magazines in there (those about recipes, which are just beside the ones about children, etc.).

Thinking we’ll be late to Joe’s, we call him to let him know we’re stuck by the rain… and he volunteers to come and pick us up, bikes and everything. His house is 20 km away from where we are. We’re so lucky! Joe’s car is huge and everything fits nicely in… and we’re getting a shortcut worth 20 km!

Our host today is just wonderful. He lives in a lovely house, where we feel instantly at home. He cooks for us spectacular mashed potatoes, and much more. Wine starts flowing (even over the “tatami,” the “floor”) and, again, we’re so happy about the journey and the many fantastic people we’re meeting along the way.