We have decided to go south in this break between matches and find ourselves in the lovely seaside town of Aoshima, a surfers paradise and home to Aoshima Island, a small, pretty island connected to the mainland by a bridge. It is tiny, only a 1.5km circumference (so we walked round it) and in the middle is the Aoshima Jinja, a colourful shrine which is meant to bring good luck to married couples. It might be a bit late to ask the gods to smile on us after 27 years of marriage, but we thought we’d pop in anyway .

The island is surrounded by an interesting geological phenomenon, called the Devil’s Washboard, where ridges of stone that have been pushed up and then eroded by the sea – take my word for it, it is so much more interesting to look at than it sounds.

After back to back nights in the Camper we cracked, and after looking at all the options available in Aoshima, we ended up in the ANA/Holiday Inn, a beach front hotel with (joy of joys) a king-sized bed and 2 soft pillows each. I slept for 8 hours straight through, if Robert snored I knew nothing of it and I woke to a cup of tea (yes we are sad enough to travel with a supply of Yorkshire teabags), a view of the sea and my voice back. All is well in my world.

It was funny though, we are clearly down here out of season and by 8pm the whole town was shut, literally not a soul on the streets. We had eaten a very heavy lunch (see below) and so didn’t fancy the ‘all you can eat’ Chinese buffet in the hotel, so we ventured forth to find a bar, not a hope. We ended up an hour later, after a circuit of the town, back in our room, armed with the emergency bottle of wine from the camper fridge. I suppose there are worse ways to spend an evening – blogging and boozing.

When in Miyazaki apparently you have to try the award winning beef. Everyone has heard of Wagyu beef, but those in the know think that Miyazaki beef is as good, if not better. After a diet of predominantly fish for the past week, Robert was determined to up his quota of red meat. I consulted Lonely Planet (other guide books are available) and they suggested Miyachiku, a teppanyaki restaurant in Miyazaki. We found it relatively easily (thank you God) and watched transfixed, as the chef prepared our food on the grill in front of us. Amazing precision and great food though very, very rich.