Around Tsuchiura

Day 1

Route: a part of Kasumigaura 
Bicycle: 81 km
Train: 85 km
Total ascent: 51 m
Average speed: 21.4 km/h
Riding time: 3:46 h
Weather: very sunny, weak wind, 7C

For this weekend I had reserved a hotel in Tsuchiura , Thinking that cycling in the mountains around Hashimoto was maybe not a good idea if there was some snow. There probably isn’t, But now I’m here anyway. I’ve been here in this region last year in February and March several times, and in one of the visits I did ride around the entire Kasumigaura lake with a group of very fast cyclists, at least for my standards. Today I took things more relaxed. Enjoying the very sunny and windstill day. Sunny enough to ride with short sleeves, thanks to the Castelli ROS jacket with removable arms. 

The view of the lake with the sun is really nice, But I think now I do prefer riding in a more hilly environment. 

The day concluded in a typical super sento in Tsuchiura with a special treat: nearly naked men in one of the rotenburo. On tv screens though and fighting for the sumo winter title. What a Japanese experience! 

Day 2

Route: Tsuchiura - Sawara - Abiko
Bicycle: 129 km
Train: 56 km
Total ascent: 131 m
Average speed: 19.8 km/h
Riding time: 6:31h
Weather: cloudy, no wind, colder than yesterday , 6C

On this second day I did a ride that reminded me a lot of my rides in the Netherlands. Nearly always cycling lanes, very flat and a lot of water alongside. Either the lake of Kasumigaura or the Tone river. 

The destination of the day was Sawara. One of my first rides with my old Garmin was to Sawara. Back then I had stumbled across Sawara, not knowing that it is known as a nice small traditional town. This time I knew. 

There was a moderate amount of tourists, mainly Japanese. Sawara although close to Narita is pretty complicated to reach from Tokyo. But much nicer in my eyes than Kawagoe, which is the other famous traditional town close to Tokyo (and gets many more visitors).

After lunch in Sawara (soba) I took the cycling road on Tone river toward Abiko a station on the line back home  at least when you manage to get a JR train that transforms into a Chiyoda line subway and an Odakyu line train, like I did. It’s a slow train stopping everywhere but direct back home. 

Also today concluded in a super sento. This time in Abiko.

NY2024 - D8 Tanzan and Hasedera

Route: Yamato Yagi - Tanzan - Hasedera and back
Bicycle: 40 km
Train: 122 km
Average Speed: 14.2 km/h
Total ascent: 626 m
Riding Time: 2:46 h
Weather: Sunny and cloudy, and cooooooooold, (Wahoo says 5C... but bones say much less)

I had left my bicycle yesterday at the bike parking house at Yamatoyagi so returned there today by train and the "fun" started. "Fun" in inverted commas, because it wasn't that much fun due to the temperature. Or maybe more due to wrong planning. As long as I was riding uphill I was nice and warm, I even stripped some of my layers riding up to Tanzan, but sightseeing in cycling cloths in this cold isn't a good idea. And riding downhill after sightseeing through the cold wind wasn't a good idea. 

However I made it finally to Tanzan shrine above Asuka. I had cycled up painstackingly a few years ago, just to find it already closed. Not so today. 

This time I cycled up from the Asuka (not Sakurai) side, up a road I remember thinking back then, I do NOT want to cycle up, because so steep... but actually it wasn't THAT steep. Yes... it's a mountain but with a few rests and a bit of weaving (not many cars), totally doable. 

Down on the other side, over to a lake in the total country side and then a little bit up to Hasedera, where I had also already been a few years ago in decidedly better weather. Warmer weather. 

I visited the temple but then instead of continuing with the original plan, which had me ride through the mountains behind the temple over to Nara (and then take a train back from there), I made it down to Yamato Yagi the quickest way and back to a train and my hotel in Kyoto. I didn't even stop at a super sento that is on the way, fearful of needing to leave the super sento and ride the last few (5 or so) km to the train station later in the day. Coooooold. 

But I did decide to come back. Probably in Golden Week. This area is just too nice. And is definitely nicer with a bit more of green. 

Now back in the hotel I took a relaxing and hot bath (in the hotel's sento), packed my suitcase and will now go to the conbini and ship it back home, before returning myself tomorrow (by Shinkansen).

NY2024 - D7 Kyoto to Imaicho

Route: Kyoto - KeiNaWa cycling route - Imaicho
Bicycle: 78 km
Train: 62 km
Average Speed: 18.8 km/h
Total ascent: 214 m
Riding Time: 4:09 h
Weather: Cloudy, 8C

I didn't have a specific plan layed out for today, so in absence of that I decided yesterday evening to do the "easy thing" and just ride along the KeiNaWa cycling route to inner Nara prefecture (somewhere), leave the bicycle there to pick up tomorrow for a ride from there. I have riden already multiple times on this cycling route. From Kyoto to Kizu it is very straightforward, always along the river on a separate cycling route. Later on it get's a bit more "complicated" and although in general it is very well indicated, every now and then the route seems to disappear. But I had found a GPX file online that retraced the route quite well. I didn't actually take any pictures before coming to Nara, where I simply passed by the Heijo palace, a vast archeological site (that I visited before). It is probably a sacrilege to not visit again... but I didn't. 

During the ride I decided I decided to get to Yamato-Yagi, which seemed to be a very convenient transport point back to Kyoto. I have stayed already several times in that area, and like it. Plus Imaicho (which is an old city center within Yamato Yagi) is always nice. It is one of the view villages that are still mainly intact with old houses and seems still to be in normal use. There is a little bit of tourism ongoing here, but very low key. Which is crazy. There are so many tourists flocking to Takayama or to Magome/Tsumago (which are out of the way to reach for most of them), to see a bit of "traditional Japan"... but most of those same tourists stay in Kyoto (or Osaka) and totally ignore Imaicho, and the villages around, such as Asuka, which are an extremly easy day trip.

After a spin through the old part, I went to a super sento in the area. And what an area, your typical grotesque super sento area, somewhere sandwiched between a major road, a construction site and a chemical plant... but once you are inside you don't see or hear any of this and can find total relax. They had one of those "pool" where to lie on the ground on stones heated by hot water running slowing down. You are not actually lying in the water, but kind of on top of it on the hot stones. My favorite! 

NY2024 - D6 Exploring around Oku Biwako

Route: Hikone - along Biwako - Makino
Bicycle: 74 km
Train:160 km
Total Ascent: 306 m
Average Speed: 19.2 km/h
Riding Time: 3:52 h
Weather: cloudy and cold, 4 C

After the sunny day yesterday, today it was grey, cloudy and cold. Considerably colder than any other day this week... but still above 0. Yesterday I left the bike at Hikone station, so I picked it up there again and then set out for the Oku Biwako area. I had only been once last year in GW in a Biwaichi-ride, when it was relatively warm and a very long ride, so I hadn't really had time to enjoy that area too much. 

In Hikone I tried (and failed) to take a picture with the castle, one of the few surviving original castles...

... while in Nagahama, where there is a reconstructed castle on the lake shore, I concentrated my photographic exploits on the trees in the park, that had already been prepped for the winter: branches secured to a stick so that heavy snow doesn't break them and the stem tightly bound with straw mats. This isn't against cold, but against insects. Aparently there are some insects that start clinbing trees in the autumn and then will infect the tree. But with this system, they are getting entangled in the strawmat and cannot continue their ascent and in srping when the mat is taken off, they are being burned together with the mat. Or at least that is the explanation I remember from a park where I saw that system. 

Before truely entering the Oku Biwako area, I had conbini lunch in the parking lot of a conbini. Luckily at that point the sun was shining just a little bit so it was actually not too cold to sit on the floor. There weren't really a lot of other options, most places in the small villages back there were closed. Even the road side station was closed. Then over a small lump of a hill, which officially was closed to traffic for the winter... but totally ridable. However there were some rests of snow on the side of the road. 

I did attempt a ride out onto one of the hills perking into the lake. When I hit on the first road block... I wasn't detered, passed below the bar and through the tunnel...

But the road on the other side was even more closed... Luckily only the road going up. The road going down, while tecnically also closed to traffic, wasn't closed off... so I made it back to the village from where this part of the adventure had started. 

There was a little bit of a view though... but all very grey today, the weather but also the flora. (or lack there of). However aparently the fauna was very active. On some parts of the lake there were crowds (well, small... but still crowds) of bird watchers with enormous cameras waiting for birds... that never semeed to arrive. Similar to the fishermen standing in the water for hours and hours apparently without catching ever anything. 

I now new that this street was closed, but I still did ride a little bit on that street from the other side just to see it... but after a while decided to turn and head to the station, which was a good decision, as about 5 min before getting to Makino station it started to rain (as was forecasted), and getting wet in this cold isn't a good idea. I got to the station about 15 minutes before train departure which was enough to pack up the bike and get a hot drink from the vending machine and still needing to wait for the train for a few minutes. 

I think I need to come back again to enjoy this area with some better, warmer (but not too warm) weather and some more lush vegetation, And to explore more those coastal street. 

74 km and not that much climbing, but I am pretty tired. Maybe the cold? Or accumulated fatigue? But I think the cold is more likely to blame. Off to a good night rest and then 2 days in Osaka office. 

NY2024 - D5 Two rides in one

Route: Kyoto - hills between Uji and Otsu - Biwako - Hikone
Bicycle: 106 km
Train: 85 km
Total Ascent: 928 m
Average speed: 16.1 km/h
Riding time: 6:37 h
Weather: sunny and perfectly blue sky but cold, 4 C, (including a bit of ice on one of the hilly roads)

Today was really two rides in one. The first part on ridiculously steep but also remote roads between Uji and Otsu and the second part in the sun and on the flat cycling road along Biwako. 

The original plan had even more hills in the early part including a visit to a mountain temple (Kami Daigo) but after struggling up two steep hills and the equally steep downhills, I decided against that and descended to the valley of Kamogawa continued there a bit in direction Otsu but then took yet another turn into the hills (not so steep though) and when I was on top of that hill took another detour around a hill through again very remote parts. Nothing of this is far away from Kyoto or Otsu, but it feels like a very remote place. 

Then a final steep downhill and down to the lake. I had conbini lunch at the lake as I wanted to get moving and continued towards Hikone, where I had identified a super sento yesterday. 

Around Omi Hachiman I took a detour that is closer to the lake and is really nice. I have cycled around/along Biwako now many times, but never did this road. Really nice. Initially along the shore and then up into the hills but still along the shore. Nothing too steep though and very little traffic. At the end a small harbor with a cat who “employs” several fishermen to catch her fish.

Apart from that “new” section, the ride was very traditional, with the obligatory photo of “Biwako” …

… and of the “idyllic” tree on the shore, very beloved by drivers of bicycles, motorbikes and cars for a romantic picture of their ride. Today many were awaiting sunset.

Not me though, I took a quick picture of bike and tree (traditions need to be respected) …

… and continued away from the sunset that I caught in Hikone just before turning inland and towards the onsen

For tomorrow I left the bicycle parked at Hikone station and will likely ride from Hikone to Takashima or at least to the Oku Biwalake area and then get a train back to Kyoto. Today it was so sunny but apparently tomorrow it will be cloudy with some rain in the afternoon. But around Lake Biwa there are many train stations so should be okay to go while checking the clouds. 

My original plan for today also had an other lake, Kisenyama Dam, but when I was at the entrance to a small road leading to it, there was an automatic announcement that sounded like continuing wasn’t a good idea. If I understood correctly the hunting season was on. 

NY2024 - D4 exploring around Fushimi and on to Uji

Route: Kyoto - Fushimi - Uji and back
Bicycle: 58 km
Total ascent: 532 m
Average Speed: 14.7 km/h
Riding time: 3:56 h
Weather: sun, clouds, rain all mixed, 6 C

In theory the weather forecast for today was no rain from the morning... but that wasn't really true. It was rainy in the morning, so I had a slow and late start. When I finally got going around 10:30 it kind of had stopped raining, but the roads were wet after a night of rain. My plan was to ride to the tea fields behind Uji, a ride a tried (from Nara) about a year ago, and was also stopped by rain. This time it wasn't only the rain that did put a stop to this plan, but also an intriguing roof ridge I saw on a hill, and decided to investigate:

The (rebuilt) castle of Fushimi. Very quiet place.

From there it wasn't far to a shrine on the same hill and the mausoleum of the Meiji emperor.

Weather today was very changing, sunny in one minute, grey in the next and a few rain drops soon after, just to return to sun or clouds again. Anyway, the rain was never strong enough to really get wet. Luckily as it's cold. 

After exploring the sights on this hill I continued my preplanned route towards Uji, and before I knew it was at Uji station. By then it was a bit after 12:00 so I decided to have lunch in Uji, in a family restaurant, considering that Uji is too touristy for normal restaurants plus it is 1st of January, so most normal restaurants are closed. While eating it rained again, and I also realized that my full plan was not achievable. So I replanned the route and shortened it a bit. It still went a bit uphill, and still contained one tea plantation.

Back through built up area, until I was down on the bicycle road along Kizugawa. Not the best ride through built up area, specially after the enjoyment of nature the first 2 days in Northern Kyoto. Not really bad... but just not really enjoyable either. Once on the river, there is the typical river cycling lane linking to the cycling lane on a few other rivers and back to my hotel. While I was cycling I heard my phone beeping. The typical beep of the alert system. After a while it beeped again and again. So I checked what had happened. I already suspected that it was an earthquake, and I was right. A rather major earthquake (shindo 7) in Ishikawa prefecture, with tsunami warnings for practically the entire Japan sea coast. Back in the hotel I watched a bit of television, where they were saying continuously "evacute now... don't leave it to later, evacuate now to higher places ... a tsunami is coming ... evacuate now..." Luckily there is some time between an earthquake and the inbound tsunami, so hopefully most people will have had enough time to evacuate to somewhere a bit higher. Now, about 6 hours later, and a multitude of strong aftershocks in the area, they continue to ask people to evacuate for the tsunami. So far however it seems that there haven't been a lot of injured people. But we will see in the next days. The announcer on the television at least seems to be well prepared. Assuming that he is sitting in Tokyo, the helmet is really only show.