D3 - Three lakes in one ride

Route: Mito - Hinuma lake - Kitaura lake - Kasumigaura lake - Tsuchiura

Bicycle: 107 km

Train: 85 km
Total ascent: 252 m
Average speed: 18,9 km/h
Riding time: 5:40 h
Weather: sunny but cold , 8 C

For the last day of this 3 day weekend I cycled my way back from Mito to Tsuchiura but touching on all 3 lakes that are in the area. 

Lake #1: Hinuma

The smallest of the 3 lakes but also this one with at least for some part a bicycle lane. From there through this countryside which is very much dedicated to vegetables and probably also some fruits.  For sure strawberries, but I think generally vegetables. Now it was still too early for most of them but the plastic greenhouses were already ready as were the fields.

The strawberries however were already on sale. There was a strawberry farm that made heavy publicity along the road so I decided to stop and join the queue of people buying strawberries in all sizes. Well , generally quite big sizes. I got for 700 Yen a small box of strawberries to eat on the spot. And while they looked nice , the taste was quite thin. For me strawberries are a fruit of early summer. Maybe May or so, but here it is typical of Xmas and winter in general. Obviously they grow in greenhouses but still I think the European strawberries in May are much more tasty. 

Lake #2: Kitaura

This is a very long but not very wide lake running practically parallel to the sea but separated from it by some hills. Quite a layer back atmosphere. I wonder how long a ride around it would be… and got the answer from Komoot: 70 km. 

There were practically no other cyclists along the lake. The road around it is small just for the local fishermen and farmers and their small cars. Also the villages are quite small but passing over a bridge in the upper middle of the lake there was the one and only restaurant in the area. An old style village restaurant that served a very well fried Hirekatsu. Tasty! 

Lake # 3: (the good old) Kasumigaura

Through more layers back and very slightly ondulating terrain I came over to Kasumigaura. If I remember correctly the second largest lake in Japan, just surpassed by Lake Biwa. 

I had a crepe at the roadside station by the big bridge and decided to go from there back to Tsuchiura instead of adding the northern part of the lake to the itinerary as it was getting late. I made it back to Tsuchiura well before dark and went to an onsen I had visited a few weeks ago, to wash,  relax and eat before now taking the train back to Tokyo. 

D2 - Into the rolling hills around Mito

Route: Into the hills between Mito and Motegi

Bicycle: 98 km
Total ascent: 800 m
Average speed: 16,7 km/h
Riding time: 5:51 h
Weather: sunny but cold , 8C

For this second day, I went to explore the rolling Hills between Mito and Motegi. Even more remote than the area between Kasumigaura and Mito that I came through yesterday. Some small villages, some of them still with a lot of traditional houses, rolling hills, Some fields, forests, small, rivers, and surprisingly a few, I think two to be precise, groups of cyclists.When I looked up yesterday, if there any recommended roots here in the area, I couldn’t find anything on the various websites I know that recommend rides around Japan.It isn’t actually that far from Tokyo, but the area is probably not interesting enough for someone to come from Tokyo all the way here. There are better mountains much closer to Tokyo and while the rolling hills are nice, it’s also not spectacular and the area is relatively hard to reach.

While being out there shortly before 12 I got really hungry and realized that I was in the middle of nowhere. Actually close to Village, but there was nothing in that village. Luckily Google maps showed me a soba restaurant a few kilometers further on that was so popular that I even needed to wait. During lunch, I decided to make the right a little bit easier, which was a good decision as it was already 2 o’clock when I restarted the ride and I wanted to get to the onsen prior to it getting dark.

A few of the plum trees already are in full bloom, and some of them have a really strong, sweet scent. 

But mostly it is still too early. It is still winter, spring is still an idea of the future.

When planning this weekend yesterday while coming here by train, I saw a super sento close to Mito which had a very nice picture and it seemed that you can look outside into the countryside while soaking in the hot water. And yes, that is really what is happening. You don’t have an actual view of the landscape, But you can look into some bamboo trees, and some other shrubs, instead of just looking at a wall.

D1 - Long weekend around Mito

Route: Tsuchiura - Kasumigaura - Mito
Bicycle: 62 km
Train:
Total ascent: 184 m
Average speed: 20,6 km/h
Riding time: 2:59 h
Weather: sunny and cold, 8C

An other long weekend in the winter. I won’t be working a lot in February. Last weekend was a long weekend as I went on Monday and Tuesday with friends to Odawara (only that midway through it started to snow and we “evacuated” to the train). This weekend is an official long weekend with Monday being the National Foundation Day. It commemorates the foundation of Japan (or better to say the ascension to the throne of the first emperor in 660 BC). Actually in looking it up , I just noticed that the holiday is on Sunday, but Japan has a system that if a holiday is on a Sunday (not Saturday) it gets moved to the next Monday. 

Next weekend won’t be long, but the last weekend of February will be long again. Current emperor’s birthday on the 23rd. 

Seeing a few days ago that weather was going to be good albeit cold, I reserved on Thursday a hotel in Mito for 2 nights. 

Today I hadn’t an early start, so only was on the bike a bit before 13:00. Starting from Tsuchiura. Initially the same ride as a few weekends ago. Along the Kasumigaura lake…

… then over the bridge, some hot noodles at the roadside station, and then into the countryside between the lake and Mito. This countryside is really very remote, or so it feels.There isn’t anything special about this countryside it’s just countryside. So unremarkable that I did not take any pictures, until I came to a second much smaller lake.

The hotel had a small communal bath which I had completely to myself where I washed and warmed up before, having dinner at the restaurant close by.