After the Yogoko-ichi yesterday with my colleague, today I did attempt the famous Biwa-ichi. The day was nearly perfect for this. No wind, no chance of rain, just a little bit too hot in the early afternoon for my liking. But just about tolerable.
 |
I got up at 5:30, which sounds worse than it is… seeing that at that time the sun is already out and about and took a train from Kyoto station that arrived shortly before 7:00 at Katata station. As suggested by the rental cycle shop in Maibara yesterday, I just planned on doing the Biwa-ichi from Biwa-o-Hashi instead of the full Biwa-ichi, both to safe a few kilometres and make this attempt actually doable for me and also to safe myself from the relentless and stop and go traffic close to Otsu.
I generally stayed on the cycle path for “slow cyclists”, simply because it is a separate cycle path rather than the need to cycle on the street and need to fight for space with cars and lorries. The surface isn’t totally ideal and some of the bumps do get into your hands and back, but I still prefer that over close passing lorries.
The first 50 km from Katata to around Maibara passed quickly. I had cycled that area already multiple times in previous rides, and it is a nice cycling area. I had my obligatory stop at the solitary tree on the shore:
Not really sure if one can call this tree SOLITARY… it hardly ever is alone, but always well accompanied by cyclists, motorists and car drivers eager to get a shot of it with their chosen mode of transportation.
The second 50 km were a lot more tiring and I needed a lot more stops, maybe every 15 km or so… But they were also in the most beautiful part of the Lake Biwa, with a lot of nature, a small street along the shore and small, traditional villages.
I did enjoy it, and definitely want to come back, maybe just for a ride from Maibara to Takashima, to really enjoy that area at a leisurely pace and maybe with a bit less heat.
The good thing about riding around Lake Biwa, is that there is a train line on both sides of the lake, so one is never too far away from salvation through JR, if that should become necessary. Very good for long, exhausting rides, to have the option to give up and find a train station in proximity. I think that allows me ultimately to ride further as the safety net is always there.
Someone wanted to have a golden temple to live in… so painted their garden wall in gold (or so it seemed to me)
I remembered from a ride I had done from Kyoto through Takashima to Ogoto onsen, that the road after Takashima was quite narrow, but either the road works had advanced, or the car traffic was simply much slower than when I was here back in January, today it felt okay. Even got the shot of the solitary (and this one really IS solitary) torii in the water:
But the best picture of the ride, I think I took here, somewhere between Shiga and Horai station:
This picture will definitely make it into this years family calendar.
All the time I was riding I had in the back of my mind, to eventually try the full Biwa-ichi (if I had enough energy), or to get in my second ever 100 mile (I.e. 160 km) ride completed. The full Biwa-ichi was out of discussion after the very tiring second 50 km… but I thought I could attempt the 160 km… which only were about 12 km more than the full circle from Katata. When I arrived back at Katata station, I made a quick plan of a ride that just added enough km to get up to the 160 km and to a station. And I was even rewarded with a last sightseeing spot along the shore, Karasaki ninja.
After this long ride I was very much exhausted and had quite a sunburn (not peeling though) on my arms and feet, but still it was a great ride. And specially the most Northern part of the lake warrants more rides.
On the next day, however I needed a rest day… and found the perfect gardens in/around Kyoto to do so.
No comments:
Post a Comment