Bicycle: 76 km
Total ascent: 87 m
I was in Osaka for work and took the opportunity to stay for the weekend. The Japanese government has still a program in place to entice people to travel domestically with huge discounts on hotel rates plus vouchers to be used in local shops and restaurants. I had used that program already when traveling to Fuji-5-lakes and in November in Nagano. This time in Osaka it was specially cheap as I choose a cheap hotel, did get the full hotel price reimbursed by my company and had all the discounts. So essentially staying the weekend on was for free.
I hadn't brought my own bicycle as on a business trip that is too much of a hassle, but I knew that there is a good bicycle rental shop in Maibara station. I reserved a bike a few days before by phone. According to the shop only my height was needed... however the bicycle they had ready for me was several sizes too small.
Initially they tried to just up the saddle... but I could hardly fit on the bike. Luckily it is mid December and not many people think this is a good season for riding bikes (why?) so there were a lot of other bikes still available and they decided to give me instead this carbon Merida bicycle which was a joy to ride. (Very similar to my own road bike).
I had made a few plans where to ride, but after consulting with the shop I decided to go with Yogo lake. I had never before ridden into this direction of Biwa lake. So far the farest (from Kyoto/Osaka direction) was Maibara... so off into the unknowns of Nagahama. Nagahama has a replica (as so many places) of a castle very close to the shore...
... of lake Biwa, which was flat and quiet on this rather windstill day with only a few decorative clouds.
Along nearly the entire lake Biwa there is a bicycle path. It can be a bit bad in some places, but here around Nagahama it was wide, sometimes separated from the street by some small trees and good to ride.
Lake Yogo itself is a small, very round lake with a quiet street running once around it and as that street doesn't really go anywhere, practically no traffic.
I did the same ride a few months later with a colleague, this time however with a strong headwind riding towards Yogo lake... which made that on the way back we hardly needed to pedal. Today however back from the lake I had to pedal. But through nice landscape dotted with small villages before returning my bike at the station and catching a train back to Osaka.
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