After a long and sun-plagued ride of about 53 km, we reached Takeo. Located at the foot of Mount Horai-san near the border between the prefectures of Saga and Nagasaki, Takeo is a hot spring town. Its history goes back more than 1,300 years and the silky, creamy water of its onsen (hot spring baths) is famous for smoothening the skin. At the entrance to the public bath in the center of town stands a red tower gate, recalling the underwater coral castle Ryūgū-jō, where Ryūjin, the dragon god of the sea, resided in Japanese mythology. In the evening, we took a bath at the famous Onsen baths in the city.

Making our way towards Fukuoka, we passed by the town of Arita, which is famous for its unique ceramic pottery, loved by tea ceremony masters. Saga prefecture has become a center of anti-nuclear protest in Japan with the four reactors of the Genkai nuclear power plant as the main focus of activity. Leaks in the plant's cooling system, fuel assembly and condenser had raised concerns about the safety. A scandal involving the large-scale manipulation of a public hearing intended to reassure the population of the plant's safety has led to more than 3,000 people joining a law-suit against the plant's scheduled restart.

Heading north from Saga, we reached Ōnojō in the evening. Located just south of Fukuoka, it is surrounded by beautiful hills who are embedded in a wide expanse of deciduous and bamboo forest. The Mikasa river flows through Ōnojō on its way to Hakata bay. Ducks, turtles, egrets and Japanese Wagtails can be seen in or around the river, depending on the season.The name Ōnojō is made up of the kanji symbols for 'big', 'field' and 'castle'. Our campsite was on top of a hill, overlooking the forest, so there was a bit of pushing near the end, especially after we covered a whopping 79 km that day. 

After passing along the northern coastline of Kyūshū, we reached the narrow Kanmon strait that separates Kyūshū from Honshū island. We cycled in a tunnel underneath the channel to Shimonoseki, famous in Japanese history for a decisive 12th-century clash between rival samurai clans. The town has a number of points of interest and some excellent, if potentially deadly, cuisine: the famous Japanese pufferfish fugu. Shimonoseki is mainly a busy international port on one of the world's busiest lanes of maritime shipping.

Located within a national park, Akiyoshi-dai is the largest karst plateau in Japan. The typical "karst" topography was created by coral reefs being pushed to the surface, turned into a mountain and eroded by wind and rain. The rolling tablelands of Akiyoshi-dai are dotted with curious rock spires, beneath which are hundreds of limestone caverns. After cycling 74 km from Kanmon strait into the island's interior to reach this plateau at about 200 m above sea-level, we explorde the naturally beautiful countryside and delved into Asia's largest limestone cave, Akiyoshi-do, located about 100 meters underneath the plateau. Here, we stayed a day in order to get a well-deserved rest after going uphill all day and relax before the final stretch of the road to Hiroshima.