Bicycle: 104 km
Train: 55 km
Average Speed: 19.3 km/h
Total Ascent: 913 m
Riding Time: 5:24 h
Weather: Mostly sunny, getting very windy in the afternoon and a few rain drops, 17 C
I nearly repeated a tour I had done in January this year, out of Kyoto, up to Ohara and then on through the mountains to Takashima. Back in January I was greeted by snow on the highest point of the ride… today, I was surrounded by fresh green and wild wisteria blooming in the mountains and along the streams.
Riding it now for the second time, the incline felt less steep and less long… and the descent down to Takashima is really nice, not too steep so really rolling down the hill without too much breaking. Ideal!
It is mostly on a main road, but every now and then there is still the old village road. All the time along a river. What I really liked is how different coloured the hills are. So many variations of green.
Last time I cycled from Takashima along Lake Biwa until it got dark (and until I had 100 km in the legs), but partially the road from Takashima on the lake is quite busy with traffic, so today I decided instead to prolong the ride by exploring a neighbouring valley. Turn left from Kutsukiichiba and along a gently sloping valley, that feels extremely remote. On a road with hardly any traffic, as the road doesn’t really go anywhere… except those small villages along that valley. This was a real discovery, and maybe next time with more time, I could do that entire road.
The landscape is really nice…
… however this is Japan… so even in nice landscape someone succeeded in constructing a really ugly building:
A few weeks ago I went with a friend of mine cycling to Miyagase dam in Tokyo and she had a cycling bag (rinko bag in Japanese) that seemed very convenient and much easier than the one I have, where I am always struggling to close it. So I bought that same bag, and today used it for the first time… and what a discovery. It took me barely 8 min (doing everything calmly) to get the bike into the bag. Only the strap is a bit too long… but it is adjustable. So just need to find the right length. With this bag I will definitely do much more rinko bag rides!
Returning to Kyoto by train and I left the bicycle already packed up, as tomorrow I will go to Maibara to meet a colleague from Osaka office and cycle together.
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