Cycling Japan – day 10 – rest day in Usuki

Day 10 – rest day
Accommodation – Usukiya guesthouse, Usuki, ¥2,500

Mori-san was up early to ride to a viewpoint to watch the sunrise and he came back with a hot coffee for me which was a lovely way to start the day, thanks Mori-san! We chatted some more and I decided I would take a rest day today, a whole day of giving my bum a rest from the bike and hopefully I would find somewhere for a massage – my neck has been sending shooting pains up into my head. I said goodbye to Mori-san and walked to the tourist office to enquire about a massage. As luck would have it, there was a physio nearby and the staff member from the tourist office walked me there (she really didn’t have to!)

Physiotherapist in Usuki

The physio was great and he did shiatsu on my upper back, shoulders and neck. I think I’ve just strained my neck from turning around on my bike to see if traffic’s coming (before I got my new bike mirror). It hurt like crazy but at the end of the session my neck could move more than before. A whole hour of shiatsu for less than ¥4,000 (£27 / US$36 / AU$51). We arranged another appointment for 6pm the same day and he told me to try and move my neck around as much as possible as I could during the day.

I didn’t do much else other than eat Indian for lunch, then booked the ferry to leave Kyushu tomorrow morning for Shikoku (¥2,310 for me and ¥720 for the bike) and then I went back for another painful physio session and chilled for the rest of the evening.