Why this ride
A 496 km round trip from Ōmuta - roughly 7 h 51 in the saddle. On the way it passes Oura Cathedral, Sakitsu Village in Amakusa and back through Oura Cathedral. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Miike Coal Mine and Miike Port and Sakitsu Village in Amakusa
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 496 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 7 h 51
- 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.
Scenic road chapters
Miike Coal Mine and Miike Port → Oura Cathedral
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 80 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 128 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Miike Coal Mine and Miike Port
On the flat shore of the Ariake Sea in Kyushu, in the city of Omuta, a set of brick buildings, steel headframes and tidal docks tells the story of how Japan became an industrial power. The Miike coal mine and the port that served it were inscribed by UNESCO in 2015 among the sites of Japan's Meiji industrial revolution, and the centre of Omuta is a few kilometres away, with a city of about a hundred and thirty thousand people spread around it.
Read the complete Miike Coal Mine and Miike Port write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Miike Coal Mine and Miike Port is where the day begins. Next is Oura Cathedral.
2. Oura Cathedral
Nagasaki is a city of steep hills around a deep harbour, and on one of those slopes above the old foreign settlement stands a small white Gothic church that is, in its quiet way, one of the most important in Japan. Oura Cathedral was built in the early 1860s by French missionaries, who had been allowed to serve the foreign community in the treaty port after Japan's long seclusion, and it was dedicated to the twenty-six Christians who were executed on a hill in Nagasaki in 1597. The church faces the site of that martyrdom, and it is the oldest surviving Gothic-style church in the country.
Read the complete Oura Cathedral write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Oura Cathedral comes up about 128 km into the recorded legs. Next is Sakitsu Village in Amakusa.
3. Sakitsu Village in Amakusa
A small Gothic church with a spire stands right at the water's edge in Sakitsu, a fishing village tucked into an inlet on the southern coast of Amakusa's Shimoshima island. It looks almost Breton, a surprise in rural Kyushu, and the story behind it is one of the most moving in Japanese history. When Christianity was banned in the early seventeenth century, the people of Sakitsu kept their faith in secret for over two centuries, disguising prayers and objects as Buddhist or Shinto practice, and using things from their own fishing life, such as abalone shells whose inner patterns recalled holy images, as objects of devotion.
Read the complete Sakitsu Village in Amakusa write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 249 km into the recorded legs you reach Sakitsu Village in Amakusa. Next is back through Oura Cathedral.
4. back through Oura Cathedral
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Oura Cathedral write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Oura Cathedral, late in the day. Next is Miike Coal Mine and Miike Port.
5. Miike Coal Mine and Miike Port
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Miike Coal Mine and Miike Port write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Miike Coal Mine and Miike Port. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Miike Coal Mine and Miike Port to Oura Cathedral
Miike Coal Mine and Miike Port → Oura Cathedral is 128 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Oura Cathedral to Sakitsu Village in Amakusa
Oura Cathedral → Sakitsu Village in Amakusa is 121 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Sakitsu Village in Amakusa to back through Oura Cathedral
Sakitsu Village in Amakusa → back through Oura Cathedral is 120 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Oura Cathedral to Miike Coal Mine and Miike Port
back through Oura Cathedral → Miike Coal Mine and Miike Port is 127 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.