It’s been a while since I’ve been camping – a couple of years perhaps, but I was ready, and it was time to not just take a short camp, but a short camp off the Hunter Cub! Short is the correct word – one night. Still, one is better than none.
I decided not to go too crazy, and so I booked a night at the Baird Brewery camp site – yes, it’s a real brewery – in the middle of the Izu peninsula, near the small tourist town of Shuzenji.
Day One
I didn’t leave too early since I’d decided that since I was going to be on local roads as a by-product of being on the 125, so traffic was going to be traffic. As it was, I shuffled off with a song in my heart around 6.30am. I planned to have breakfast in Yugawara, though as it was it was a slightly late breakfast. I was taking it easy by any stretch of the definition – up the old Route 732 past Odawara, which is twisty, and steep in places, before coming out at the lake Ashinoko. From there I rode over to the Anest Skylounge, but it was overcast, so no view of Fujisan, and then it was down my beloved Tsubaki line, and finally some breakfast.
From there I was planning to take some farm roads to the west and link up with the 135. It was a beautiful area with farms, some Summer houses and relaxed roads. However, it also had roads which were now private due to a golf course, and my old favourite, roads on a map which are not roads in real life.
However, we’re on a bike, have fuel and the weather is good, so there’s nothing to be concerned about. Even when real roads are closed. Honestly, this is quite normal for rural Japan riding, so it was just a case of circling back and trying a different route.
Eventually I did hook up with the 135 and could then twist to the west, through Izunokuni to the north west coast of the Izu pensinsula. That’s always a beautiful ride – forest and cliffs on one side and an elevated view of the Pacific Ocean as Suruga Bay and Shizuoka Prefecture.
Eventually the coast drops south and I followed that for a while into the early afternoon before turning East and heading towards Shuzenji and the camp site. More twisties. I haven’t stated that enough. This is pretty much all twisties.
Shuzenji
Shuzenji is a small tourist trap focused town, though I went slightly out of season – summer foreign tourists were scant, and the local tourists drawn by changing leaf colours of Autumn had not yet arrived.
There’s a kind of track to follow around the town, crossing the small river which cuts through it across via some nice red bridges. There’s a bamboo street, which is really a fairly small grove of tall bamboo trees which is short but picturesque and there is a place to sit. There’s some nice shops, temples, a washi paper shop, and quite a few cafes to eat at and in front of.
I decided to sit in one cafe and have a peanut butter milk bobo tea, which was actually very nice, despite it’s rather lengthy name. It was also quite relaxing just watching the few dedicated tourists milling around, and whilst there is a huge debate in Japan about the impact of tourists, most here seemed quite decent, and the trust is, if they weren’t here then I’m not sure Shuzenji would be clinging on as it is.
Also, I did manage to find a gap to park the Hunter Cub at the odd shaped corner of a car park, so the gentleman who owned the car park did me a deal on the space. Shuzenji does not have a lot of parking space near these tourist areas.
However, I couldn’t loaf around all day, partly because there were roads to ride, but also because I wanted to get to the camp site, check in, check out the facilities and still have time to get the tent up.
Baird Brewery Camp Site
The Baird campsite (aka “Camp Baird“) is literally next to its brewery building. There is a bar on site, but is closes early, around 7pm and doesn’t do meals. However, with your booking you should get a free beer.
The site itself was clear, with cars having their own car parks, and I could park my bike next to the building. That’s wasn’t a requirement for me, but if it was raining it’s a small amount of shelter, and if you have a heavy bike, it means there’s less likelihood of it being unstable. Horses for courses.
The pitch ground was flat, save for some stones, and though the ground was quite compacted, it was easy to get the pegs in, even using a rock, because I’d forgotten the tent hammer. But that’s why rocks were invented.
I was using my relatively new 1-2 person DOD riders tent, and whilst it’s not a small tent in its sack, it fits fine on the bike, and it’s one of those single cord pull to put-up tents, so it only took a few minutes to be ready to relax on the Thermarest with my ancient Snugpak sleeping bag. I brought the top box inside, though it would have been fine in the vestibule to be honest.
It was great, its well designed and did a good job of not being stuffy inside, and yet keeping warmth in.
As you can see, I travel a little light. For this trip I only needed to cook a couple of meals, so why make it complicated?
The site does have some clean showers, toilets and washing areas which is always nice, and since it was out of the heat, there weren’t many insects, though I did see a couple of snakes around dusk as I was walking around with my head lamp.
Day Two
I was up fairly early to make some breakfast, and a have a couple of cups of tea, watching the rest of the world wake up on the other side of the river. Definitely one of the best parts of camping.
Breaking camp was easy given my minimal approach, but I did become very aware of how dusty the area was. Oddly, even though I saw a few people in the bar the previous evening, and there was another, more sizeable, tent, I neither saw nor heard anyone before I headed out the next day.
Offroad Time
It was back on the road, with a little action on Route 59 before heading south again on Route 414 which runs down the spine of southern Izu. I’d come this way for two reasons. The first one was to try the old Amagi Tunnel road. I’d been told it was a bit rough, so better for the Hunter Cub than the Tracer and oh, was that the truth! After about a hundred metres the asphalt ended and it was almost all gravel, with rocks, branches and potholes to contend with. Sure, I could have gotten the Tracer down it, but believe me, it was a lot more fun on the ‘Cub. Anyone on that road would’ve heard me laughing in my helmet. Fun times.
At the entrance to the north end of the tunnel it opens up into a wider space, where there’s some toilets and a kind of small rest area.
When I arrived there was an older gent (yes, older than me) on his Honda Africa Twin with all the add-ons of an experienced rider. It turned out he hailed from Okayama prefecture, which is all the way on the west of the main island of Honshu. We spoke for a bit and oddly he said he wasn’t going through the tunnel but was heading back the way I’d come and would take the regular road.
That was a little concerning.
Anyway, I bid him farewell, fired up my fog lights I’d added after the coast to coast, and headed into the tunnel. It’s a classic old Japanese tunnel – classic shape, narrow and for one old vehicle, a lot of water dropping, and were we not all enlightened adults, we’d suspect the tunnel could easily be haunted.
The south end was a welcome sight, and if anything the road (trail) was even rougher, which of course means even more fun!
After riding and laughing along for a while I was actually a little disappointed to see asphalt again, and rejoined the 414 going south.
This portion of the road is known for the architectural genius (and not complete eye-sore) of the Kawazu Nanadaru Loop Bridge, which is a helter-skelter of a bridge more designed to lower altitude rather than actually going anywhere. It’s fun listening to the navigation system repeating “turn right” for a couple of minutes.
After hitting the south coast at Shimoda (famous for where Perry landed) it was another right turn and lunch at the excellent South Cafe.
From there it was over to the west coast briefly, and then north again, hooking up with the Route 1 just east of Mishima, and some more familiar roads to the east, although these roads are frequented by a lot of commercial vehicles, which is when you’re very aware of going uphill on a laden 125cc bike!
It was a solid couple of days just riding around, stopping in at Michi no Eki, taking random photos of torii (the Pi symbol looking gates), temples and just beautiful scenery.
As a bike, the Hunter Cub had no problems with this brief tour, and even with the camping gear and my well-fed frame, it still hit 45 km/l. On the subject of fuel, the place where I stopped to top up was staffed by a really friendly chap who recounted his 80s Suzuki Katana which he still has, and is simply waiting for the green light from his wife to bring out again.
This is why I like being out on the bikes, you get to really feel and see the environment and have chats with people you might not ordinarily have and probably not in a car either.
Ride on!
