GW2026 D1 Yamaguchi , Akiyoshidai and Hagi

Route: Yamaguchi - Akiyoshidai - Hagi
Bicycle: 72 km
Average speed: 14,5 km/h
Total elevation: 834 m

Riding time: 4:22 h
Weather: Sunny, 23C

I had made four different plans for this year’s Golden Week:

1. Yamaguchi and Northern Kyushu
2. Toogatta onsen, Urabandai and Nikko
3. Kusatsu onsen, Shiga kogen and Nozawa onsen
4. Eastern Shikoku and Awaijima

The original plan was the Yamaguchi plan, but I also planed the other ones in case the weather wasn’t good. I really liked the idea about the Nagano prefecture ride because it would have allowed me to only take local trains from Tokyo to Takasaki instead of taking a Shinkansen. But that ride would have been a lot more challenging due to much more elevation than in Yamaguchi/Kyushu.

When I checked the weather forecast a few days ago, on the last day, I could still cancel all the hotels for free, the Yamaguchi area seemed to be quite good from a weather perspective plus there’s a lot less elevation going on here, which is a good thing with the added weight from the baggage and my lingering cold which I contracted in early April. 

My mother had come to Hagi back in 1995 when she visited me as a student and then travelled for a week through Japan with a JR pass. To this day she is raving about Hagi, what a nice, traditional city it is. I had wanted to come to Hagi ever since, but it is pretty out of the way. In order to get to Hagi one has to cross from the pacific site to the sea of Japan site. Yesterday I took the Shinkansen around noon from Tokyo to Shin Yamaguchi. There were much less crowds at Tokyo Station compared to last year’s Golden Week when I started a few days later.

While sitting in the train, I looked at tourist guide sites to see if there was something to do between Yamaguchi and Hagi. And there was: Akiyoshidai! 

A landscape with a unique feature with those big limestones and no rivers , because the water just seeps through the ground directly into the ground water.

All this water flowing into the earth created some huge caves. One can visit one of them for a few kilometers.:

While I was in the cave there were several bus tours with foreigners as well. But not too many. One could definitely enjoy the cave with this number of visitors. Afterwards, I had a very light lunch in the old style shopping street that leads to the entrance of the cave. Then it was uphill, very steep, to an observation point over the undulating terrain with the limestones.

The way from Yamaguchi to the cave had  a dedicated bicycle lane which was a very pleasant surprise. It was mainly along the road either on a side walk or and old street. 

After Akiyoshidai I was pleasantly surprised by an other road: State road #490. In my planning, I normally always exclude state roads assuming that they will be the most busy roads in the area. Today, thanks to a sign to a pond with Japanese lilies, which did not bloom, I found that this state road has hardly any traffic at all. In fact it has some advisory boards telling drivers to turn back and take the prefectural road instead. So for the next 10 km or so I had this entire road to myself. Just a few workers that were expanding the road but only for a few hundred meters before it turned back into its small rindo (forestry road) style. 

I was down in Hagi probably around 4 o’clock and  as I had time before the onsen of today would open, I went to the remains of the castle and had some onigiri that I had brought along all the way from the Pacific side. 

My guest house in Hagi is above a motorcycle repair shop, quite basic, but also quite new. I had seen on google map and on pictures in tourism brochures about the city, an onsen with quite nice views into nature and quite close to my guest house. So there I went for a restorative and cleaning bath. Obviously no pictures inside the onsen were allowed so this is a picture of the approach. 

The onsen itself had 4 rotenburos all with relaxing views and one large inner pool. The rotenburos seemed to be all at the same temperature except one that was much colder (for cooling down after the sauna) .

Three Views of Mt. Fuji - Sunset from close to home

Route: Just between my old apartment and new house
Bicycle: 11 km
Average Speed: 12.3 km/h
Total Ascent:  60 m
Riding time:  54 min
Weather: Actually sunny

Today the weather forecast did trick me. I saw a hint of rain and was convinced that it would come true. So instead of getting up early and out and about to the mountains I had a lie in. Frankly I needed it. I have been so busy this year with work, house building, organizing and then on the weekends again getting up early to get into the mountains... that a lazy day was what the doctor prescribed... But looking at the brilliant sun that was shining all day I had remorseful thoughts. 

When I finally did make it out I took my brompton and pottered around a bit. To the new house, to a home center looking at bricks and possibility how to paint them, and finally to Bic Camera for a A/C unit. (Finally - I am writing this post several months later already sitting in my new house -  I did not need the paint but instead decided with the exterior construction company on some nice bricks for the garden wall. And even the A/C I didn't buy at Bic Camera but ordered last minute with the home builder. Which was definitely a good idea. It was probably cheaper and so much less hassle. Already installed when I moved in in early December). So really the only "useful" thing I did today was looking at a perfect sunset behind Mt. Fuji from outside of Setagaya-Daita station:  

Including afterglow with a shadow projected over the horizon: 

Three View of Mt. Fuji - View from Wada pass

Day 2 - Fuji from Wada pass

Route: Takao - Uenohara - Miyagase Dam - Hashimoto
Bicycle: 62 km
Train: 80 km
Average Speed: km/h
Total Ascent: 1368 m
Riding time: 4:15 h
Weather: Sun and clouds

Today an iconic climb in the Kanto area: Wada pass! 

Known for being steep... and that it is. But I like it. Very little traffic, steep uphill. I don't manage to ride it up all in one, but with 3 - 4 stops (I have my specific points where I stop to regain energy), I manage to ride it up completely. I have phases when I ride in some parts more often, and Wada pass every now and then ends up a weekly ride. 

From the pass itself one can walk up to the peak of Mt. Jimba, from where with good weather one has a 360 view over Mt. Fuji, Minami Alps, the mountains around Chichibu and even as far as Nikko. Today I did not walk up, as I wanted to continue cycling. 

On the downhill towards Uenohara one of the famous views of Mt. Fuji awaits, equipped with some benches to have a snack. Weather wasn't perfect, so one has to kind of know where Mt. Fuji is, but I promise once you found it, you can see it on this picture! 

From here downhill to Uenohara loosing all the elevation I had struggled up, and then up again on the other side. However the good thing about starting a ride with Wada pass is that any climb that comes after it, is much easier. 

From Miyagase dam theoretically one could even go up Yabitsu pass, which I think is slightly higher than Wada pass, but much less steep, at least from the Miyagase side. But today I did not have enough time for that, so it was only over to Miyagase Dam and then down from there to Hashimoto. With an obligatory stop at Onigo pan to get one of their fried donuts. 

Three views of Fuji - Autumn view of Mt. Fuji from Nagao pass

Route: Shin Matsuda - Kentaro-Hakone Line - Nagao pass and back
Train: 170 km
Average Speed: 13.7 km/h
Total Ascent: 1271 m
Riding time: 4:09 h
Weather: Sunny

Bicycle: 57 km

In the spirit of Hokusai, I had a long weekend with 3, instead of 36, 46 or 100, famous views of Mt. Fuji. 

Normally for a long weekend I would have probably gone somewhere, but this year with all the house building I was busy most weekends in Tokyo, so instead of going far, I did day trips from Tokyo. Normally I don't write about them in the blog. Afterall, when the weather is good enough and I am not busy with the house I am going riding every weekend. And while the nature around Tokyo is nice, I do tend to go to the same places a lot. I do enjoy it... but it's "just riding" the bike, not an adventure or sightseeing about which to write a blog. But this weekend it kind of came together under one topic: Views of Mt. Fuji.

For the first day I took Odakyu line out to Shin Matsuda. An area from where one can cycle up either to

• Ashigara pass, the first time I did it I thought it was very hard... but once you know how it is and know where it finishes the next time it gets easier and a nice view of Mt. Fuji awaits at the top (but this wasn't where I went today)
• Kentaro - Hakone line over to Hakone, which is a road going actually higher than Ashigara pass but less steep then a short downhill to the Hakone area. From there one could either cross Hakone along the lake and then the hairpins down to Odawara (I think I have done that only twice so far) or, like I did today, up again to Nagao pass. 
• Tanzawa Lake and further up, an area I first explored in March 2026 - I am writing this blog post many months later while recovering from a very persistent cold

But today it was Kentaro-Hakone line and then up to Nagao pass. Nagao pass is probably one of my preferred passes in the Tokyo area. It is a very agreeable inclination. From the Hakone side also quite short and with spectacular views first of the Hakone bassin and the volcano and then once through a small tunnel at the top great views of Mt. Fuji. Today even with some autumn colours:

This is the road up to Nagao pass. Such a bliss and with very few cars, because there is a main road through a new tunnel to which most traffic defaults. However recently I am seeing that there are tourist tours with JDM cars, mostly sporty cars, for hire to go on a group ride. There is a toll road closed to bicycles (why??? I would even pay...) which seems to be one of the destinations. 

At the top of the pass is a very short, old tunnel. Before crossing it one last view into the valley of Hakone with Ashi lake:

And out on the other side of the tunnel ... and an ugly view of Mt. Fuji. One needs to get a bit closer to have a more direct view of the mountain without the abandoned old restaurant. 

There I turned back and went back the same way I had come. Alternatively one could go down to Gotemba, but it is more complicated to get back from there by train and for going down and then up again over Ashigara pass back to Shin Matsuda I did not have enough time. Plus I dont really like the outskirts of Gotemba. Too much traffic. 

The Kintaro-Hakone line in itself is relatively uneventful and doesn't have too much traffic either, but gets some images of Kintaro and the Hakone mascot. 

D3 over Tsuchiyu pass into the fog

Route: Urabandai - Tsuchiyu - Fukushima
Bicycle: 80 km
Train: 300 km
Average speed: 15.6 km/h 
Total ascent: 1143 m
Riding time: 5:09 h
Weather: cloudy and very dense fog on the descent, 16C

I had so many options how to return. One easy one would have been to just ride down to Aizu Wakamatsu, spend a few hours in an onsen right besides the station (I was there in a previous visit to the city) and then take the train back to Tokyo. But the weather seemed good enough to instead attempt to go to Fukushima. Even to Fukushima there were different options available. The maximum option would have been to ride over the Asama Bandai skyline, which probably had starting of koyo. But there were intermediate options, and I finally took one of those. 

I didn't start very early, which would have been needed for the full option due to the long climbing. After stocking up on food and drinks at the local conbini (and only conbini in the area), I took a left turn and was out in the mountains with small lakes below. 

These lakes formed after the eruption of Mt. Bandai volcano about a century ago and now in this region there are a few big lakes and a lot of small ones. 

This is what I got as a view of the inner crater of Mt. Bandai... not much: 

This is how it should look like ... but not today. I will need to come back, which I plan to do anyway. The region seemed very nice, and there are a lot of accomodation options in Urabandai. In winter it is a ski region, but fishing seems to be also very well loved activity as well as hiking. Cycling also was relatively popular. Specially on the first day I met a bunch of cyclists (all coming downhill) in the awful rain. 

I continued on my small road, which however did have some traffic, so I never felt totally alone and cam across a small food stall that sold local vegetables and other produce, but also offered some nice warm udon soups. Which took care of the lunch. 

While eating lunch I studied my options. From here I had still the option to go mainly downhill to Koriyama or to go uphill towards Fukushima. After a lot of thinking I decided to take the shorter of the two uphill versions, just riding to the entrance of the Asama Bandai skyline but not riding it itself, as time would not have been sufficient. 

It was a little bit too early for koyo. Probably the following week would have been good. Probably actually up on the Asama skyline it was already good for koyo... but not enough time for me. 

However when I started the descent towards Fukushima on the other side very quickly the fog moved in. 

And what a fog! It was so dense that one had to ride very carefully. It also doesn't help to wear glasses, which just seemed to attract every single water droplet. On the upper slopes I was still mixing with cars, not a lot but some. Farther down, the road separated: A road only for cars (I think it was illegal to cross the tunnels by bike/foot) and the old road, now essentially only for bicycles. Maybe on a day with nice weather some cars and probably a lot of motorcycles would use it as well to do some sightseeing... but not so today. In the fog this road didn't feel very safe. Not because of the road itself, which was good quality, but because there was just absolutely no one. No other cyclist was crazy enough to ride there and the cars and motorbikes were all on the main road. So it felt like if something would happen, it could take a day or two before someone would even find me. 

But nothing happened. No bear, no deer, no other kind of incident. 

Getting further down the fog lifted and I came to Tsuchiyu onsen. A small onsen village that was recommended by the owner of the pension I stayed. I took the very first onsen at the entrance of the village. They had a nice big outdoor pool. Not really with a view, but somehow one could see that all around there were trees. After this refreshing and cleaning bath (I was rather dirty due to the wet roads), it was downhill from there all the way to the station.

I had a ticket reserved for around 19:00, but I was at the station about 2 hours earlier. I packed the bike and there was a Shinkansen just a few minutes after I managed to pack everything which had some unreserved seats. I couldnt change to reserved seats as everything was taken, but there were enough unreserved seats that I even found a place in the last row to store the bike behind. 

D2 Around Lake Hibara

Route: Goshikinuma and Lake Hibara
Bicycle: 34 km
Hiking: 5,5 km
Total ascent: 452 
Average speed: 13.1 km/h
Riding time: 3 h
Weather: cloudy but no rain, 16 C

The day started with more rain, but by the time I was ready to leave around 10 o’clock it had finally stopped raining. Originally, I wanted to ride up to Bandai skyline, but with the threat of rain, a day out with a long descent on wet roads didn’t sound like an intelligent thing to do. Instead I decided to do just a round around the lake here by my pension. Before that, however I went to the local famous spot of several small ponds, that were created by the eruption of Mount Bandai in the Meiji period. These ponds are famous for their color variation.

The hike took about an hour and a half and then I started my ride around the lake with my sight on an onsen at the lakeshore already closed back to where I’m staying. That onsen is in a big hotel complex and on this long weekend, only open publicly until 15:00. But I planned it apparently to perfection and arrived there a bit before 2 in the afternoon so could enjoy a good soak in the hot water while looking into the forest over the lake.

My pension also allows stocks to stay. Which is very rare in Japan. Originally, I thought that was the owner would have probably several dogs, but apparently they don’t have any. Today in the morning I saw One guest was a dog who was very well behaved. The dog. This evening, a family of three adult adults and one dog checked in and this dog is extremely badly behaved and their owners don’t seem to have any idea how to control it. During dinner he was walking around in the dinner area and the pension owner needed to ask them to put the dock on a leash. But even then they put him on a leash, but didn’t attach the leash to anything so still the dog was still running around. Now I’m sitting in my room writing the notes of today and in the neighboring room, they are trying to manage the dog shouting at him that he shall not do this or that, and in all this, the dog already pissed into the common area. I think the pension owners are now trying to negotiate that the dog must sleep in the car. 

The other guests in my pension are two men who came here to fish. Which seems to be a very well loved pass-time in this area. There are a lot of small boats on the lake and really a lot of cars who had brought their boats with them.

D1 - up to Urabandai

Route: Koriyama - Inawashiro - Urabandai
Bicycle: 64 km
Train: 250 km
Total ascent: 862 m
Average speed: 16,4 km/h
Riding time: 3:56 h
Weather: rain all day, cold 11C 

For this weekend originally I had two reservations. One in the Hakuba area and the other one in Fukushima Prefecture. A few days ago, I looked at the weather forecast and it seemed that the weather in Fukushima was going to be reasonable while in Hakuba it seemed to rain. I have no idea what actually happened in Hakuba, but in Fukushima, it was definitely raining.

But now I was committed to this three day weekend in the Urabandai region. In Tokyo, I managed to get to the Shinkansen just before the rain started. When I got off the train in Koriyama, the rain hadn’t started yet here, but it would start soon after setting off towards Inawashiro. 

I had come up the same road a few years ago when I stayed in Aizuwakamatsu on a still relatively hot September weekend. Back then, I had a lovely view of the lake. This time the lake was grey and the imposing mountains around shredded in rain clouds. 

I stopped along the lake for lunch and they even had a small fire going, but my shoes and socks were so soaked that even putting them right in front of the fire, it made no difference for getting them dry. I am actually writing this block post on the following day and the socks are still wet although they have been hanging to dry for over 24 hours. Luckily, I was able to dry my shoes though with a strategic use of newspapers. Actually, a very interesting newspaper. It seems that instead of getting the first female Prime Minister, Japan will be getting the third non-LDP Prime Minister in a few days. But I needed something to dry my shoes.

After lunch while riding uphill I made a quick stop at a fruit stand, selling local apples and peaches.

D3 Nozawa onsen back to Nagano

Route: Nozawa onsen - Kaesa - Tokyo
Bicycle: 35 km
Train: 250 km
Total ascent: 328 m
Average speed: 18.1 km/h
Riding time: 1:54 h
Weather: sunny and WAY TOO HOT!

After the rather cold day in the wet yesterday, today was my return to the valley and with that the heat.

Up in Nozawa onsen, there is skiing even in summer on plastic slopes. My mother always tells me that the one and only time she tried to learn skiing was on a plastic slope. And not even on a mountain, but in Frankfurt in a stadium where they had put a plastic slope on top of the tribune, some motor oil on top so that it would be nice a slippery and then it was time to learn skiing. Surprisingly she never got the hang of it nor enjoyed the experience. These snow(plastic)boarders in Nozawa onsen seemed to enjoy it more. 

There is a lake close to Nozawa onsen, but the direct road is closed since a long time (it was already closed all the previous times I came up here. As today I hadn't any special plans I tried if the closed road was passable for a cyclist... but it wasn't. So I went a long way downhill, just to cycle up again to get to the "famous" lake. And yes, it's a nice, serene, small lake on which people do some kayaking. 

On the shores was what looked like an old school house now transformed into a relaxed bar. Very relaxed indeed. Although there were hardly any guests, it took an eternity for them to scrape up two balls of ice cream. 

From this place it was downhill and then in the valley all the way to Nagano... or so was my plan. But with every loss of meter of elevation the temperature kept soaring and once down in the valley it was simply too hot for me in the middle of the day to continue riding. 

And instead of risking a heat stroke, I took a quick glance at google maps, found a nearby very small train station and was in luck that the next train would depart soon, but not too soon for me to reach the station and pack the bicycle up. I think I even had time for a quick visit to the loo and refueling the drinks. So a rather short day in the saddle... but after quite some time finally again a weekend away with my bike. 

I had planned a longer weekend away later in September, and while it turned out to be perfect weather, I also managed to catch a cold right in time to bind me to bed for the entire long weekend :-( 

D2 - above Nozawa onsen in a cloud

Route: Nozawa onsen - Uenodaira 

Bicycle: 32 km
Gondola: 3 km
Total ascent: 1139 m
Average speed:  10,6 km/h
Riding time: 3:05 h
Weather: cloudy and rainy, 20 C

The day started with a marathon and finished with some sumo. In between I went cycling. 

During the night and early in the morning it was raining but by the time I got on the bike it had stopped. However it only had stopped down here in the valley. Up in the mountain I was in one big cloud that left everything very wet. 

Initially there was a bit of a view of the valley. But later on there was nothing. Just gray rain. 

Anyway I made it up to Uenodaira where some valiant performers were trying to entertain a small crowd, probably of other people and their parents who where going to perform. 

I asked at the gondola if it would be possible to take it down to the village as riding down in the rain wasn’t really appealing. I already don’t like downhills. But cold, rainy, long downhills are definitely not my definition of fun. And yes, it was possible. Probably this doesn’t happen a lot, but they allow bicycles. Mainly the idea would be for Mountain (!?!) bikers to go up and the ride down. But they were happy to admit a road cyclist who wanted to go downhill. 

With that knowledge I road a bit more , probably up to the highest point. Which should be a bit below 1600 m of elevation. But then returned and took the gondola down back to Nozawa onsen, where it was not raining and comparably warm. 

Apparently this is the view from the gondola. Not today though. 

D1 - Maguse onsen and Nozawa onsen

Route: Iiyama - Maguse onsen - Nozawa onsen
Bicycle: 39 km
Train: 270 km
Total ascent: 899 m
Average speed: 11,9 km/h
Riding time: 2:55 h
Weather: finally not hot. Maybe around 26C and cloudy

Maguse onsen is one of the best onsen I have been to: An onsen with a great unobstructed (!) view of the landscape around. 

I have been to my fair share of onsen, including in the mountains, but more often than not even when theoretically they are in a beautiful landscape, you can’t actually see it while chilling in the bath as it is obstructed for privacy. Here they built the onsen on the hill in such a way that it is not visible from the street, so you get to enjoy this view while relaxing in the hot water. Paradise in onsen. 

Obviously taking pictures was prohibited, but I had a short time where I was the only guest and quickly took a few pictures. Before a group of Japanese elderly women and foreign young women arrived. They seemed to work in hotels in the area and used their day off for a trip to an onsen. 

I didn’t really have a specific plan for this weekend. I had reserved a room in “my” hotel in Nozawa onsen hoping for a bit of cool weather. And I wasn’t disappointed. First night sleeping with a duvet since several months. In Tokyo it was so hot this summer tgat I have given in to the temptation of air conditioning and even slept some nights with the a/c on. So sleeping under a duvet (even if only partially) was very refreshing. 

Due to lack of planning I didn’t have a reserved seat in the Shinkansen and even managed to somehow buy the wrong ticket and it took me an eternity to correct it. So while I should have been with 30 min + at Tokyo station to line up for the unreserved seat, I just made it in time to the platform and somehow squeezed into a full Shinkansen with bike and everything standing all my way to Iiyama. So when I arrived I assembled the bike calmly and then made a plan and saw nice pictures of an onsen at the station: Maguse onsen. So there I went. 

After the relaxing bath it was downhill, as that onsen is on a different mountain slope than Nozawa onsen , and then up again. 

I still remember the first time I came to this hotel in Nozawa onsen. I had booked it without checking the terrain. And it’s above the village at the bottom of the ski slopes. I remeber that the ride up to Nozawa onsen seemed endless. But not so today. It helps to have risen a certain route already and to know at which point one is nearly up.