Bicycle: 41 km
Total ascent: 1035 m
Average speed: 10,7 km/h
Riding time: 3:50 h
Weather: very, very windy, not too warm
On the first day around Mr Aso I immediately embarked on the mission to ride up to the crater of the most active volcano in Japan.
The crater just recently got reopened after it was closed off for years due to too much volcanic activity. I had been (by car) a few years ago, and could only get to an information center at the bottom of the crater from which however it was impossible to actually see the crater.
From my Minshuku the access road to the volcano is very close and the climbing starts. It was never really too steep but in some places , specially at a view point maybe 1/3 up the wind was fierce.
But I continued on. Midway through the climb one comes through what I would call an “Alm” with short grass and cows munching away.
Although I was afraid of the wind and possible cold of the descent I continued on and came to a plateau below the crater with a gift shop and a large parking lot. I had a grilled sweet potato and then tackled the last few kilometers up to the crater. For cars and motorcycles there is an entrance fee to pay, but not so for bicycles. I tried riding it up but somewhere midway through the wind became too strong (combined with the gradient that o pushed the bike for a good part of the last climb). On the top I found a parking spot …
… and then set off for a quick visit to the crater after donning my long sleeved layer, hat, neck warmer and rain jacket. Luckily that combination was warm enough for walking around.
Right around the crater are also these emergency shelters in case the volcano should decide to use exactly that moment to erupt. Well, I guess for full blown eruption these shelters wouldn’t help , but they could be useful for some flying ashes. They surely don’t look nice.
After seeing what there was to see I walked my bike down too much in fear of the fierce winds, had another short break at the souvenir shop and then decided to start the descent. There is actually an other sightseeing spot up there famous for its long grass landscape but I was quite afraid of the descent and didn’t know if with the wind I would be taking ages to make it down safely. Luckily it was much easier than I hoped and I was neither blown away nor frozen to death during the descent. At around the cows I stopped and turned right on a small and not well maintained road down to Tarutama onsen, an onsen that was highly recommended by the owner of the Minshuku. And rightly so. Coming from the top I first passed through the source area of all the onsen bonanza which duefully smelled of sulfur and bubbled in hit mud.
Before getting to the two onsen. I took the one that I was recommended also because the other one requires you to wear a dress as there is a mixed onsen and I can’t really fathom sitting in a soaked cloth in an onsen. Later on I learned that today it closed early anyway.
I went instead to Tarutama onsen, a probably historic onsen, but recently rebuild and done quite slickly. A bit like onsen in Karuizawa. In tge female section TGERE was one big internal pool and 3 different rotenburos one doesn’t have a real view of the valley but still it feels a lot like sitting directly in nature. The sulfur small surprisingly isn’t that strong.
Great Great Great "LikeBike"
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