GW2023 D5 Exploring gardens around Kyoto

Route: Kyoto to Uji and back
Bicycle: 54 km
Walking in parks and temples/shrines: 5.4 km
Total Riding time: 4:12 h
Average Speed: 12.9 km/h
Total Ascent: 339 m
Weather: surprisingly sunny and quite hot… but still just about bearable, 25 C

After the long ride around Lake Biwa yesterday, today I needed a much more relaxing day. So I looked in the internet for suggestions of gardens with hydrangea and/or azalea / rhododendron which are currently in flower (at least I saw already a bunch back at lake Biwa but also in the mountains between Kyoto and Takashima. And I found 4 potentially interesting places:

• Jonan-gu shrine

• Manpuku temple

• Mimuroto temple 

• Keihanna Commemorative Park

I only made it to the first 3 of these places, but each of them (!) was a real discovery. It was really amazing. I have been in Kyoto and around Kyoto quite frequently, or so I thought. So I wasn’t expecting to be able to discover in one ride 3 totally new places and each of them absolutely enchanting.

I started with Jonan-gu, quite close to my hotel and in what from even a few meters away seems to be a quite industrial, heavily traffic ridden neighbourhood you would not want to visit… but as so often in Japan the most beautiful places can be in the least beautiful neighbourhoods. 

Jonan-gu itself, i.e. the shrine is a pretty normal shrine… but it has a huge garden around. Actually it isn’t one garden, but a array of different gardens of different Japanese garden design from different centuries. Like a exhibition of garden design. Gardens focussed on cherry and plum blossoms, garden focused on water, a rock garden, … I forgot how many different Japanese gardens, but probably somewhere around 8 - 10! 

There wasn’t too much blooming right now, except the water lilies… which was a bit surprising as I had seen both wisteria as well as azaleas in full bloom back at Lake Biwa a few days ago. But even so the garden was exceptional. No idea why this place isn’t one of the “must visit places in Kyoto”… but no complaining here… was nice to have a garden with just a few other (mostly local) tourists. I even bought a tenugi for my wall in Tokyo. 

And as said… the surroundings themselves were rather dreadful:

After this first great visit, I got back into the saddle and started cycling towards Uji on a reasonably planned route. My next stop was Manpuku-ji. A temple with a distinctive Chinese influence. 

I took my time visiting this temple, as it was getting hotter and hotter… and the temple is rather large, with a lot of buildings. But in the temple one could find some respite. Once done visiting, I went to a temple nearby that was making publicity to have ‘temple noodles”… and yes, they had ramen with mountain vegetables, in a space where in the back room Buddha was worshipped, while in the front people where having their ramen. 

I probably spent the hottest ours of the day here… before continuing on to Mimuroto temple, famous for its hill covered in blooming azaleas. 

I had comfortably time here to visit everything before the garden was going to close. But clearly I had not enough time to cycle to the much further afield 4th sightseeing spot of the day. So I replanned my route (now very easy with Komoot and my wahoo, that allows for uploading a newly planned route on the go, something my garmin was not able to do), cycled through central Uji and on to the Kizugawa in the South with its cycling path. I made brief stop at this famous submersible bridge, walked halfway across and then continued along the river back to Kyoto and my hotel. 

The only disappointment of the day was the onsen at the end of it. I had searched for super sento’s in Kyoto and Fushimi Chikara-no-yu had come up… but it was a rather outdated supersento. And what killed it for me was the inability to choose the water temperature for the shower. But hey, one disappointment in a day of 3 major discoveries isn’t bad at all. 

GW2023 D4 Biwaichi (nearly)

Route: Around Biwalake from Katata to Karasaki

Bicycle: 161 km

Train: 50 km

Average Speed: 20.9 km/h

Riding Time: 7:42 h 

Total Ascent: 287 m

Weather: Sunny and getting warm, 17 C (on average… but definitely felt a lot warmer around the mid of the day)

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. 

GW2023 D3 Northern Biwako with Sayaka

Route: Maibara - Yogoko and back
Bicycle: 77 km
Train: 160 km
Average Speed: 17.1 km/h
Total Ascent: 305 m
Riding Time: 4:28 h
Weather: Sunny but not to warm, strong headwind on the way out… nice tailwind coming back, 17C

My company is organising every year a cycling event in Europe and this year I signed up for the first time. I found out through the Japan company newsletter that a colleague from Osaka office also signed up… so we decided to spend a day together cycling when I was going to be in Kansai. Although she lives here, she has just started cycling, so didn’t know any good routes. So I proposed a few routes around the area I knew… and she selected the one from Maibara to Yogoko and back. (A ride I had done on a rental road bike a few months ago). It was also her first time rinko-ing (i.e. putting the bicycle into a bag and on the train).

We met at Maibara station, reassembled our bikes and then set out to the lake against a quite fierce wind. But not as bad as wind in the Netherlands. 

Surprisingly it was her first time at Lake Biwa although she lives in Kobe. We cycled along the shore mostly on the cycle path which officially is labelled “slow cyclists”, but protects from the cars and lorries. 

Specially the landscape around Yogo lake was really nice, with wild wisteria blooming on the banks of a small river.

At the lake we had lunch in an old fashioned restaurant and then returned with the wind in our backs in slightly downhill. Riding back for long stretches we literally didn’t pedal at all… and for some other parts we pedalled a little bit… but really without any real effort. Specially the part reaching nearly 30 km/h on a very gentle downhill (so gentle that it was kind of invisible) was a lot of fun. 

On the way back we passed through the countryside instead of along the shore, essentially repeating the ride I had done in early December last year. Passed through Nagahama historical centre …

… and back to the station at Maibara. With my new rinko bag from Montbell I am now very quick rinko-ing, so had some time to speak with the staff at the cycle rental station and got good advise for a Biwa-ichi (i.e. a total round of Biwa Lake by bicycle). I had seen that the weather on the next day was going to be good and, crucially no wind. So I thought that this would be the ideal day to attempt a Biwa-ichi. But it is 184 km… which is a bit too much for me. My longest ride so far was a 160 km (I.e. 100 mile) ride a few years back in the Netherlands helped with a nice tailwind along. So 184 km with a bit of hills (more than in the Netherlands) and without a constant tailwind sounded too hard. But I got the good advise, to only do the bigger part of the lake from Biwa-O-hashi onwards, i.e. Katata to Katata. Also because the part between Katata and Otsu is quite heavy with traffic (as I experienced when cycling from Gifu Hashima to Kyoto earlier in the year) and thus neither fast nor enjoyable to ride. 

GW2023 D2 Kyoto - Takashima

Route: Kyoto - Ohara - Kutsukijishihara - Takashima
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.

GW2023 D1 - Kyoto and Yodogawa

Route: From Kyoto down Yodogawa and then up again
Bicycle: 64 km
Total Ascent: 68 m
Average Speed: 19.8 km/h
Riding Time: 3:12 h
Weather: Some sun, some clouds and some lakes on the cycling road, 17 C

My first Golden Week since moving back to Japan last year. Company is closed for a full 10 days! When I organised this years GW, I wasn’t specially inspired where to go, so instead of making some complicated plans, I just decided to come an entire week to Kyoto, bring the bike and do cycling trips from here. While it is nice to cycle from A to B, it also means that you have to bring all the luggage on the bike. And although I am now quite skilled in brining not that much luggage, it is still luggage. And riding a road bike without luggage is just more fun. Plus I kind of knew that I would need to bring my work computer with me… and I definitely do not want to log that thing around on a bike. So instead I booked some weeks ago a hotel in Kyoto, again South of the station in an area that is pretty non descript, but turned out to be very convenient for me as a cyclist. Not only is it very close to the entrance of a cycle path along the Kamogawa river, but it also has a sento (albeit no rotenburo). For the normal tourist the place might not be that convenient… but ain’t no normal tourist.

An other first was to reserve my Shinkansen ticket on the EX app and link it to my pasmo card… and while I did struggle a bit when doing the reservation, taking the train today was pretty easy. Just swipe over your pasmo card, and you are all set. 

For the recent trip to Tohoku I had bought a new rinko bag (bag to transport legally a bicycle on a train in Japan) where both the front and rear wheel needs to be removed so that the bike becomes even smaller… but even so, it is still pretty big. So when the third person arrived who had resevered the luggage space behind the seats in the last row, one other person (who admittedly only had a rather small luggage in the storage area, needed to put his trunk overhead. He wasn’t too pleased. But his luggage was definitely the smallest of the 3 and did perfectly fit overhead. 

I arrived at 12:00 at Kyoto station, then took a subway to my hotel (I didn’t dare to assemble the bike at the station), but instead assembled it calmly at the hotel. 

I hadn’t made any special plan for today, also because the weather was kind of unclear. In the morning both in Tokyo and Kyoto it had rained, but until I came here it had stopped raining and even the sun every now and then came out. So as I hadn’t decided any fancy route, I just did a bit of Yodogawa cycling (I.e. along the river between Kyoto and Osaka) in memory of the good old times, when I was at Linical Osaka office for extended business trips and took my Brompton on the weekend to cycle around. Quite often Osaka - Kyoto. Specially in 2020, when Corona had just started. So in memory of these old times, I just cycled along the two rivers with a goal to start the return after about 2 hours… which resulted to be here:

Apart from some enormous puddles on the cycling road, the ride was relatively eventless. 

For tomorrow I made more concrete plans… Let’s see if plan will become reality.

When I came back to Kyoto to my hotel, I noticed that some streets we’re closed for a shrnie festival. So I followed the lead, and quite close to Kyoto station I came up to one matsuri shrine being transported through the city. When I arrived I just saw it from behind being danced through the streets… but then around Kyoto station they only pushed it on its wheels. But still… nice. Not as nice as the typical matsuri in my neighbourhood. But okay and a good start into this GW. 

Weekend in Tohoku around Iwate-san

Day 1

Route: Morioka - Koiwai Farm - Hachimantai
Bicycle: 67 km
Train: 300 km
Average speed: 14,3 km/h
Total ascent: 1173 m
Riding time: 4:40h
Weather: Sunny, some clouds, 8C

For this weekend I signed up many months ago for a ride with a team of people from Osaka. They are doing regularly one day and weekend trips. Normally around Osaka… but sometimes also a bit further afield. The first time I joined them was in January this year, for a ride in Shizuoka prefecture. This month the ride was even further North. Around Morioka in Hachimantai area. 

We all met the evening before in Koriyama, had dinner... and some of us (not me though) did drink too much. But we had a lot of fun. The next morning was an early start to catch a Shinkansen further North to Morioka, a city where I had been years ago in my Tour of Japan. 

Riding out of Morioka first along a river and then through the countryside. Taking in the nice panorama and the occasional sakura tree still flowering. Actually not "still" flowering, but in their prime: the benefit of colder climate up in the mountains. 

We were really lucky with our hanami, as in most other parts in Northern Tohoku the flowers were already fading and on our train ride back to Tokyo there was a Japanese tour group of elderly tourists who went all the way to Hirosaki to see the famous cherry trees at the castle... just to see cherry blossoms well beyond their peak. 

We stopped at Koiwai farm, apparently a very well known farm for milk products, ...

... had lunch there (it was more like a snack and took an eternity, as the small restaurant outside of the farm wasn't equipped to handle that many orders at the same time) and then cycled to our second touristic highlight of the day. A solitary cherry tree with the backdrop of Mount Iwate: 

From there is was mainly downhillls... until it wasn't. Until a quite long and - looking now at the Strava file - apparently quite steep ascent up the slopes of the vulcano. However I made it up there, was even with the first people there and so had enough time to take in the volcanic landscape. 

We were rather late at this point, but from here onwards it was really downhill... but also really cold. I think my Wahoo showed -2C... But while moving it was okay. We arrived at our resort hotel, had time for a pre-lunch soak in the onsen and then off to buffet dinner, which included an entire mountain of crabs.

We had fun, again a few people did drink way too much... but miraculously the next day were still operational. 

Day 2

Route: Hachimantai - Shibutami 
Bicycle: 42 km
Train: 550 km
Average speed: 14,3 km/h
Total ascent: 571 m
Riding time: 2:31 h
Weather: Sunny, some clouds, quite windy, 9C

On day 2 we awoke to a cold but sunny morning, gazing out of our window on Mount Iwate and a cherry tree in full swing: 

The preannounced plan for the day was to ride up Aspite Line to see the snow wall along both sides of the street. I was quite worried about this part of the ride days earlier, after seeing this weather forecast that had the temperature at -20 C at the top! 

Officially the road was closed... but somehow at some point someone decided that it actually wasn't closed... and frankly, there were other cars going up and down. So it didn't really seem to be closed. 

However only a relatively small group (less than half of the group) attempted it... and it would have been a long ride up (and probably a very freezing and long ride down). So the ride leader decided after a few kilometers of cycling up hill (where it got actually quite warm... although it was cold) to take pictures and return down to join the others and go for lunch. In a certain way I was a bit disappointed because the initial "advertisement" for this ride was the snow wall... But it would have been a long ride up. We only made it up to an altitude shy of 800 m... and the highest point would have been around 1500 m. 

After lunch, we had an uneventful ride slowly downhills, made it to a first train station, where we decided to cycle to Morioka instead... but during the ride there (on a rather busy road) decided to call it a day and look for an other train station, right in time to avoid a major downpour. So all in all a good day. 

Before boarding the shinkansen back to Tokyo we had Morioka cold noodles, which seem to originate from Korea. Aparatenly there were a lot of immigrants from Korea after the war in Morioka. It was nice... but not really appropriate for a rather cold April day. But in summer it most be lovely. 

Up to Miyagase Dam and down to an onsen

Route: Hashimoto - Miyagase Dam - Atsugi
Bicycle: 42 km
Train: 85 km

Average Speed: 17 km/h

Total Ascent: 496 m

Riding Time: 2:27 h

Weather: Sunny and 15C

Although it was already Sunday I was still kind of hungover from drinking way too much with an ex-colleague and friend on Friday evening. But today was an easy ride... wouldn't it have been for the new cycling bag. In preparation of the ride at end of April in Iwate, the leader of that event had asked me to buy a bicycle bag where both wheels are been taken out, so that the bike is a bit smaller... in light of the big group all being in the same Shinkansen. And well... taking out that extra wheel is a real pain. Not so much the taking out part... as the putting back in part. But well, I did pack up the bicycle at home already a few days ago... and had a try. While my friend instead had a Montbell bag where you only need to take out the front wheel that additionally is wide enough to just drop over and get going. Much easier than the one I had bought a few months ago, where I always struggle to get the zipper to close. Shortly after this ride I bought also the Montbell bag... now having a total of 3 bags for my one bicycle... and the Montbell bag did change my riding experience quite a lot. Taking a train now, is pretty straightforward. Pop out the front wheel, put in the metal spacer, tie the wheel to the frame, pop over the ample bag ... and get going. I timed it on my first attempt and it took 8 min! Without any hurry. 

We cycled up to Miyagase Dam, had lunch there on the shore... 

... enjoyed the scenery still with a lot of hanami, including cherry blossoms in the mountain ... 

... and then rolled down the hill to an onsen in Atsugi. Where we soaked for hours and chatted happily away. 

A string for a downtube?

Route: Tokyo - Kamifukuoka Silk Cycle and back
Bicycle: 77 km
Average Speed: 17.3 km/h
Total Ascent: 312 m
Riding Time: 4:28 h
Weather: Sunny and clouds but no rain, 14 C

This weekend friends wanted to go visit a very special bicycle shop... only that it looks like your totally normal neighbourhood bicycle shop... but it isn't. The owner of the shop previously worked at Giant in Japan in an important position designing bicycles. And now still designs his own bicycles. Bicycles with a cord for a downtube!

The string looks really thin and feeble, but we all tried riding the bikes and they feel surprisingly normal. Only that they were all way too small for me. 

The purpose of the rope as a downtube is obviously to be able to fold the bicycle. And yes, it gets reasonably small very quick. Not as small as a brompton... but the bikes ride much more like a normal bicycle. 

One friend was so convinced that he finally did order one... which arrived in early September. The shop owner had the frames constructed in Taiwan and then assembled them here in Japan. These bikes are also surprisingly economical for a full blown bicycle. 

On the way to the bicycle shop we passed by Riken. By the entrance and exit gate where I always got into Riken now nearly 30 years ago ! (in 1995). I hadn't been here in such a long time. 

After the visit to the cycle shop we started returning back to Tokyo... but before that one of my friends told me that it was his wife's birthday today... so after a bit of thinking I proposed to ride back to Tokyo fast and bake a cake while they would cycle at a more leisurely pace and join me in Shimokitazawa where we went for dinner... and then back to my place... where the freshly prepared cake was waiting. A big surprise... to the friend whos birthday it was. As everyone had tole her that I needed to head home quickly to get some urgent work finished... while everyone else knew what I was up to. 

Hanami in Kumagaya

Route: Up Arakawa and down Arakawa and over back to home

Bicycle: 140 km

Train: 20 km

Average Speed: 21.3 km/h

Total Ascent: 278 m

Riding Time: 6:31 h

Weather: Perfectly sunny and getting nice and warm, 18 C

The same meetup group with whom I went to Kasumigaura a few weeks back, announced an other ride to Kumagaya along the Arakawa river for some hanami. I know that those guys are fast. Crazy fast... but they claimed for this ride that intermediate riders would be okay, and it was a flat ride plus, worst case, I could just drop. 

We met at a conbini close to Arakawa river and set off. As always with this group, only road cyclists, mainly young men, a crazy fast German lady and then there was me. But all nice. 

When entering Arakawa river we were greeted by Shibazakura (phlox moss in English... but Shibazakura, i.e. grass cherry blossoms just makes so much more sense):

And then we cycled up Arakawa river. This river probably has the best cycling road around Tokyo... broad, well paved, not too many pedestrians... but it is a heavily dammed river in an otherwise built up area, so not really nice. But you can get to nice places from there. Only that from my house cycling all the way to Arakawa is a long (20+ km ride) just to be on a cycling highway. But today there was the goal of sakura in Kumagaya. 

I had no idea that this spot in Kumagaya existed, and it turned out that the organizer only knew, because she had bought what she thought was a normal map of Japan, but turned out to be a map where you "need" to scratch open sightseeing spots that you have been to. And apparently there isn't that much to see in Saitama (really?) that this Hanami spot made it on the list. 

Along the way out and back again, we stopped at a farm with ice factory. This has become quite a thing in Japan (I don't remember seeing that a few years ago (between 2015 and 2017 when I last was living in Japan), but now it is quite a thing. Farms selling their own ice cream. 

But the main attraction of the day were the sakura and rape, skillfully planted together and blooming at the same time. 

On the way back the rest of the team road all the way to Tokyo on Arakawa, but I wanted to cycle home and not need to rinko, and cycling all the way back to Tokyo would have brought me to the wrong side of the city. I knew from a ride with my NPC cycling friends last year in December a good road from Akigase park to Shibuya area of Tokyo, so thanks to komoot and Strava I found the route, reprogrammed it and dropped off at Akigase to cycle back home all the way.

Curiously on the very next day (I am writing this blog post many months later, while lying in my hammock in my garden on a not too hot summer evening), I was again in this very same area, riding back the very same road from Akigase to Tokyo. This time riding at a good speed in order to get home in time to bake a cake for one of my friends who had her birthday on that day.