.. but damn, that could've been smoother. My plan had been to set up my tent at the park right next to the ferry port. As it turns out, this park is not really a park but just a tiny patch of grass in a wide open area where everyone can see you. So much for inconspicuous camping. Not that I would have done it anyway, because by the time I arrived at Sado it was already dark and pouring down with rain. I had asked at the ferry terminal for cheap places to stay, so I knew where the youth hostel was, and when I departed the ferry a nice guy on a scooter offered to show me to the nearest supermarket and phoned ahead to the hostel to let them know I was coming. Nice people, Japan! Thank you!
This is from before the weather turned to shit
And, as always, the bloody youth hostel is on top of a hill. Just like during the last trip, many many times. It's quite an amazing place though, in the middle of nowhere on an already quiet island and surrounded by farmland, which is full of frogs. The noise the frogs make is astounding, so loud. The hostel is run by an old lady who is so bent over that she can hardly look up to see me. There's only 3 rooms, all upstairs via a very steep and narrow staircase. The old lady admitted she can't climb it, so I wonder how she keeps it clean up here. Maybe she doesn't, because the first thing I saw when I entered my room was a giant millipede.
Despite all of its quirks it's really quite a nice place. It actually has wifi, which is more than any of the business hotels I stayed in offer. That, a roof and a warm shower is all I need.
Bike maintenance note: didn't have time in the previous post to mention that I actually had a misaligned front wheel! It was slightly off, which made the front right brake hit the wheel just that bit sooner than the left one. It still needed adjusting after I re-centered the wheel, but the wheel was a large part of the problem. I did notice a bit of wobbliness while going fast downhill, but I attributed it to the front panniers bouncing up and down, and the road being not flat. Hopefully I'll notice some improvement tomorrow.
