Why this ride
A 237 km round trip from Hagi - roughly 3 h 25 in the saddle. It goes by way of The Imperial Steel Works and back through The Imperial Steel Works. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Hagi Proto-industrial Heritage/ Hagi Castl and Mikadobashira
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 237 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 25
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Hagi Proto-industrial Heritage/ Hagi Castl
Hagi is a castle town on the Sea of Japan coast, in the far west of Honshu, and a place where a small, quiet town changed the country. It was the capital of the Choshu domain, and in the nineteenth century young samurai from here played a leading part in bringing down the Tokugawa shogunate and starting the Meiji era. Several of the figures who later led modern Japan, including Ito Hirobumi, the first prime minister, came out of this town's circle.
Read the complete Hagi Proto-industrial Heritage/ Hagi Castl write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hagi Proto-industrial Heritage/ Hagi Castl is where the day begins. Next is The Imperial Steel Works.
2. The Imperial Steel Works
Japan's modern industry has a birthday, and in Kitakyushu they celebrate it with a rusting blast furnace. The Imperial Steel Works at Yawata began producing iron in 1901, a state-run enterprise financed with money from the war indemnity that China paid after the First Sino-Japanese War, and it was built to give a country that had just opened to the world its own supply of steel. German engineers advised on the early design. The works grew into the heart of the northern Kyushu industrial belt, and Yawata became a city that smelled of coke and smoke for most of a century.
Read the complete The Imperial Steel Works write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Imperial Steel Works comes up about 120 km into the recorded legs. Next is Mikadobashira.
3. back through The Imperial Steel Works
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Imperial Steel Works write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through The Imperial Steel Works, late in the day. Next is Hagi Proto-industrial Heritage/ Hagi Castl.
4. Hagi Proto-industrial Heritage/ Hagi Castl
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hagi Proto-industrial Heritage/ Hagi Castl write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Hagi Proto-industrial Heritage/ Hagi Castl. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Hagi Proto-industrial Heritage/ Hagi Castl to The Imperial Steel Works
Hagi Proto-industrial Heritage/ Hagi Castl → The Imperial Steel Works is 120 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
The Imperial Steel Works to back through The Imperial Steel Works
The Imperial Steel Works → back through The Imperial Steel Works is 1 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through The Imperial Steel Works to Hagi Proto-industrial Heritage/ Hagi Castl
back through The Imperial Steel Works → Hagi Proto-industrial Heritage/ Hagi Castl is 117 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.