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.