Well, I’m afraid that riding in the rain wasn’t such a great adventure after all. It rained constantly all the way from Sasebo to Karatsu and to make matters worse, we took a few wrong turns along the way. Under any other circumstances it would have been easy to pull over and check the map and the GPS, but it just would not stop raining. The nearer we got to Karatsu, the more trucks there were on the road so it was quite an uncomfortable and tiring ride.
Unfortunately, the bad weather prevented us from taking many photos today, but we did see this sign on a window when we found a shelter to check the maps.
It says "A breast it exciting whenever it comes here"
We finally arrived at our hotel – I was soaked through to the bone but John wasn’t quite so bad as he wore his waterproof trousers and had the liner in his jacket. We stood and dripped outside the hotel for a few minutes and then I went in to see if we could get into our room early. The man at the desk said that we couldn’t check in until 4.00pm as the rooms were being cleaned. I just gave him my best ‘desperate’ look and went back outside to drip a bit more outside. The man must have taken pity on us as he came out and said that it was OK, we could check in straight away. Bless him!!
We squelched up to our room and peeled off our wet clothes and changed into dry ones. Fortunately, it wasn’t at all cold (about 19 degrees) so it was much more bearable than riding in the rain in 5 degrees last year.
We have 2 wonderful views from our somewhat dirty window. The first is of the Karatsu Castle, which is actually a reconstruction built in 1966, the original having been dismantled in the 1870s. Our kind hotel manager changed our room to give us one with a view of the castle. Shame he didn’t also throw in a bit of window cleaning!
Karatsu Castle - taken from just outside the hotel
The other wonderful view is of the Lawsons Convenience Store which is a hop, skip and jump from the front door of the hotel. So far it has served us well, both for a late lunch and for dinner.
After getting in to dry clothes and adorning the room and the bathroom with dripping coats, jeans etc., we had a bit of a nap. Riding in the rain is quite draining as every painted white line and man hole cover becomes a slippery hazard requiring an enormous level of concentration.
John’s scooter is still rattling along. It sounds a bit dodgy, but we have a Plan B if it proves to be too much of a problem.
We whiled away the evening in our room. Neither of us has the energy or the inclination to go out in the rain. Well, not quite true. John just had the inclination to go and buy an ice cream at Lawsons.
We’re warm, dry, relaxed, full of ice cream and watching some amazing men's gymnastics on TV, which is a nice way to end a rainy day.
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