SW2023 D1 Koriyama - Aizuwakamatsu

Route: Koriyama - Lake Inawashiro - Aizuwakamatsu 
Bicycle: 82 km
Average speed: 15,4 km/h
Total ascent: 873 m
Riding time: 5:20 h
Weather: Sun, some clouds and still very hot and humid (Wahoo says 27C, but definitely was more)

I planned this trip a few weeks ago when I hoped that by mid September the temperature would be a bit cooler. And while it is definitely cooler than at the peak of the heat in August it is still very hot. But finally cyclable. 

My bike also was in repairs over the summer so it’s the first longer ride in a long time. 

I started yesterday after work and went already (by Shinkansen) to Koriyama, so that I could get an “early” start today. Finally it wasn’t that early, but still early enough to do everything I had planned for today. 

Koriyama is one of those very ugly Japanese cities with a lot of new (and not so new anymore) buildings that don’t create one city together but just a bunch of ugly buildings interrupted by a lot of car parks around the station. 

I cycled out of the city and up and up a relatively quiet road. Which at one point looked frighteningly steep, but actually wasn’t that steep and perfectly cyclable. 

Once up the rest was downhill / flat just with a little bit of up and down at some points along the lake. I went straight down to the lake in the expectation to find (a lot) of restaurants, but that wasn’t the case. It was mainly ample camping areas around the lake. Mostly fir people doing “day camping”. (Not sure if that’s a thing outside of Japan, but here it is quite widespread. People go to some nature location, build up a huge tent of just a shade, bring thousands of things with them: foldable chairs, tables, BBQ sets, has cookers, food, cutlery… the list seems endless and the cars full with stuff. Often it seems that even the cars are specific for transporting all this camping equipment. So while I didn’t find a restaurant by just going to the beach, google maps came to my rescue and found a place really close by. 

From there I continued my ride on the west side of the lake sometimes was really nice views over the lake and the mountains behind it. This lake is the fourth largest in Japan, I’ve already done the full circle off the first, second and third largest lake, but not of this one. I did a little bit under half of the lake, because my goal was a Aizuwakamatsu for today.

Along the way, I also saw these small white flowers, which kind of look like a white version of rape. However, I learned on the next day that they are soba, buckwheat. 

After a very nice and gentle descend from the lake, down to Aizuwakamatsu, yes, the lake is above the city. I made a stop at Sazae temple to see its special pagoda, which is constructed as a double helix. You can actually visit inside and go up and down in one sweep. 

I knew that the castle was going to close at 5:00 and last entrance was at 4:00, so I thought I was a little bit late, but actually, it was not very far and generally downhill from the temple to the castle, so I made it in absolutely good time, no hurry and could visit the castle as well today. As so many castles, also, this one was reconstructed only after the second world war. It got original destroyed sometime in the 19th century, but not during any war but apparently rather as a planned demolition of the castle. There were even pictures how it looked like before the demolition, and it didn’t look like it was ready for demolition, but that’s what they did. Only to rebuild it, this time in concrete, about 100 years later. But they did a reasonably nice job, and specially from the outside it is very scenic.

Inside is a museum, all in Japanese, about the history of the region, the samurais, the wars that were fought and lost around Aizu, and the helmets of the samurais, which must have inspired the designer of Darth Vader. 

From the castle it was a short ride to my guest house, where I will be staying for two nights. With all the heat, I was obviously drenched in sweat, but found very a nice onsen / sento close to Wakamatsu station, which had an incredible number of different pools, some of them outside some inside, with different waters and all this at the very cheap price of only ¥450. And I was early enough to finally get an Akasuri (Korean body exfoliation), which I had hoped to do a few months ago back when I was cycling around Fuji lake, but didn’t manage to get an appointment. 

Nippara Cave

Route: Ome - Nippara - Haijima
Bicycle: 69 km
Train: 105 km
Average Speed: 16.8 km/h
Total Ascent: 832 m
Riding Time: 4:05 h
Weather: Sun and clouds, warm, but an early start helped, 26 C

Probably my last ride before the summer heat does grip Tokyo and the rest of Japan (probably with the exception of Hokkaido... but no plans to go there anytime soon). Today I did manage to get up early take a train before 6:30 am and start already at 8:30 am in Ome. A few weeks ago I had cycled from home to Ome... but today, that was only an option for cycling back... not for cycling out, as it is going to become too hot. Thanks to the early start I was already in the shadows of the forest when it started to become hotter. I took it easy (as always), cycled up to Ome first, had a break there for some onigiri, and then onwards to Nippara. A dead end road along a mountain valley full of green, a wild flowing river ... 

... and at the end surprisingly a village.

Above the village is a lime stone cave which claimed to have some stalactites and stalagmites, well... it has some not very impressive stalactites but it is still a great cave and so coooooool (but just about okay).

All this without ever leaving Tokyo! 

On my way up I had noticed a small restaurant with fishing pond besides the street which seemed to have a nice terrace overlooking the river, so instead of having lunch at the cave I road down and had a surprisingly good (but small) pasta dish here while watching the paying fishermen not fishing any fish. 

On the way back I had considered riding all the way back to home along Tamagawa... and while it was getting cooler.. it was still pretty hot, so decided to give up on that idea, and take a train back from Haijima. But instead of going home, went to a famous bicycle shop, in principle only to get a new saddle (as my old one had broken a few weekends before when I feel while standing with the bike)... but turned out there were other things also to fix... so finally I handed in my bike for the next 4 weeks for a general overhaul. Was about time after about 25,000 km!

Too hot outside... so an onsen it was

Route: Hashimoto - half way up to Miyagase - Machida - home

Bicycle: 66 km

Train: 35 km

Average Speed: 14.5 km/h

Total Ascent: 748 m

Riding Time: 4:31 h

Weather: Sunny and too hot, 27 C

This weekend I tried a ride in the mountains  (original plan was to ride up to Miyagase dam and then maybe further up from there)... but we started quite late and it was already quite hot when we were still climbing up, so on a dragging climb we (I, to be precise) decided to turn back and take a different route again back to down the mountains, to lunch and a very relaxing onsen. Actually a very nice super sento in your typical built up ugly Tokyo suburbia... but this was a super sento with a twist: Very dark waters and one of the rotenburos at only 35 C, which was a perfectly coolish temperature to linger in the water for a long long time, getting out of it only occasionally to heat up again a little bit in the next pool over (which was probably at around 40 C). 

The region around Miyagase dam is probably the easiest place in the mountains accessible from my home. A short ride to Medaimae or Sasazuka station and then a direct train to Hashimoto and in less than an hour I am at the starting point and from Hashimoto up into the mountains it isn't too far either. 

After the long and relaxing soak in the onsen it had gotten a bit cooler and so it was possible to ride a bicycle again... and instead of just slowly riding to the next (and closeby) train station, I decided to ride back home. It didn't look too far on a map (about 30ish kilometers)... but it turned out that the landscape (you can't call it countryside because it is essentially all built up until Tokyo) around Machida is pretty lumpy. A lot of up and downs. Not the best ride I ever did... But hey, I made it back home. 

Ride out to Fuji & Rain around Kawaguchiko

Day 1

Route: Hashimoto - Doshi road - Yamanakako

Bicycle: 81 km

Train: 35 km

Average Speed: 14.7 km/h

Total Ascent: 1436 m

Riding Time: 5:31 h

Weather: Sun and clouds, no rain, 20 C

I had booked a simple hotel on the shores of Yamanakako about a week ago. Cancellable until 2 days before so I was checking the weather forecast on a daily basis. It was kind of unclear but seemed okay enough, so today in the morning with a relatively early train I went out to Hashimoto and from there into the mountains again. Along a road that featured in the Tokyo Olympic 2 years ago. 

It is a nice mountain road, with not too much traffic but enough vending machines and several small villages along the road to cycle up slowly but steadily. It is actually also a nice incline and would probably even make for a nice descent (which I did not try on Day 2 though). The descent down to Yamanakako on the other side was relatively short, as that lake is quite high. I arrived very early at my hotel, so I had more than enough time to do ride once around the lake and enjoying the views of Mt. Fuji floating above the clouds. 

Back at the lake some more Olympics inspired photos before heading to an onsen closeby, washing, relaxing and having dinner before checking into my room. The hotel owner was very nice and let my bicycle park inside. 

Day 2

Route: Yamanakako - Kawaguchiko loop

Bicycle: 47 km

Train: 100 km

Average Speed: 17.6 km

Total Ascent: 200 m

Riding Time: 2:33 h

Weather: Rain, rain and more rain, 14 C

My original plan for today was to attempt to ride up to the 5th station of Mt. Fuji... but there was no Fuji today:

It had been replaced by incessant rain for the entire day. Anyway from where I was staying there were only 2 ways back home and both involved riding a bicycle at least for some time. Method #1, back over the mountains and downhill to Hashimoto. Method #2 over to Kawaguchiko and a train back from there. Riding downhill for a long time in the rain, is not my definition of fun nor does it feel specially safe... plus it would probably have been freezing cold. So option #2 it was. And actually cycling in the flat (or at least not a lot of downhill) in the rain isn't that bad, as long as you don't stop. The rain jacket does keep the upper body dry to a certain extend, but the pants get completely soaked and obviously are seeping upwards into the jersey. But as long as you are riding and it is not too cold outside, it is not that unpleasant as this picture might make it seem. Stopping however for a lunch or any other longer break wasn't really a good plan. Sitting mostly wet in a restaurant is neither good for the restaurant nor for me. 

So I just cycled around Yamanakako, then over to Kawakuchiko and as I was in good enough spirits made a loop around the Kawaguchi Lake, but did not venture further to the other 3 lakes. 

At this likely famous photo spot I run into bus loads of foreign (freezingly cold and miserable looking) tourists who had booked a day trip "to see Mt. Fuji"... and all they saw was their money gone, their clothes wet and the inside of a gift shop. But not a single glimpse of Mt. Fuji. I guess those tourists were feeling even more for me, out there on a bicycle in the rain... but I can go back to Mt. Fuji nearly any weekend, and I have seen Mt. Fuji from all its 5 lakes in glorious weather last year. And know that I will have so many more opportunities to see it, that I didn't mind. And as said, as long as you don't stop too long, cycling in the flat in the rain, isn't that bad. 

However bad enough to really want to go to an onsen, wash, dry and hopefully find a dry spot in the afternoon to catch the train back. And so I did. I had found a super sento close to Fujikyu Highland amusement park and cycled there. In onsens normally you take of your shoes at the entrance and leave them in a locker. But my feet (still cycling in sandals) where so dirty that that didn't seem like a viable option. So the front staff gave me a small towel to whip down my feet ... which I handed back totally soiled... but now with reasonably clean feet to walk around. 

Washing in that onsen felt wonderful. All that road grime to get off, and then soak in the water. I spent several hours there between bathing and having lunch, before it seemed that there was a window of opportunity in the rain to head down to the closeby station and get on a train back to Tokyo. 

Narita with friends

Day 1

Route: Funabashi - Hanamigawa - Narita

Bicycle: 54 km

Train: 35 km

Average Speed: 15.6 km/h

Total Ascent: 200 m

Riding Time: 3:27 h

Weather: Surprisingly sunny and getting hot (although the measured temperature seems to say otherwise), 19 C

This weekend friends had organized a ride out to the Hilton Narita. The same friends with whom I went to the Odawara Hilton back in February and to the mountains of Tokyo last October. One of them works at the Hilton in Shinjuku so gets discounted rates for staying at other Hiltons and these two are the closest to Tokyo. 

This ride was organized as two of the group soon will relocate to Thailand and unbeknown to us before the ride had just got married the day before... so kind of this was their honeymoon ride. At least we were nice enough to give them a double room. 

The day before typhoon #2 had come bashing through Honshu, but it seemed that from the late morning the rain would have moved on and we could cycle. So we decided to meet for lunch at a famous Ramen place close to Funabashi station and only start the ride around 14:00. With our speed we made it to the hotel just in time for dinner. No washing before though. 

One of the team lives in Funabashi and did plan the ride. To a good part it was along Hanamigawa which I had ridden a few years back on suggestion of yet another Tokyo cycling friend. 

The intense rain from the previous 2 days, had inundated some parts of the cycling road, but still mostly rideable. Only one of the rest stops along the way was deeply inundated... 

... it is that little hut in the background. But the water was nicely cold in a warm day, so it was actually quite nice to wade out there. (Keep in mind the water height to compare how much the water receded already on Day 2 below). 

On one of the many rest stops we had, we took a picture of us as peanuts, famous local produce apparently. 

 And on we went... to our next photo opportunity.

Day 2

Route: Narita - Hanamigawa - Funabashi

Bicycle: 83 km

Train: 35 km

Average Speed: km/h

Total Ascent: 282 m

Riding Time: 5:38 h

Weather: Sunny, humid and warm tending to hot, but still okay, 23 C

On the second day we started early... well earliER... probably we only got started at around 10:00 am. Also today was a day full of rest stops and photo stops. For this group of friends the important thing when cycling together is the TOGETHER... not so much the cycling itself. And that is also fun. Sometimes to me it can seem a bit too slow... but then just enjoy the moment, the time out there, the time on the bike and the next rest stop. And obviously the time in the evening in the hotel. 

Japanese are quite used to travelling with friends and sharing rooms (which I don't mind either). And while this Hilton didn't have very big rooms, some other hotels and specially ryokans in Japan are geared towards groups sharing one big room. 

The first one was on a hill just outside of Narita airport plane spotting. A hill apparently buildt only for this purpose with many "professional" plane spotters that were listening in to the conversations of the tower on small radios plugged into their ears and who did seem to know every single plane where it came from, where it would fly. In a country of train spotters they must feel like an exotic breed. 

Through some quiet country lanes ...

... we went on to Narita-san, a big temple in Narita city. There were some big celebration that day for the founder of this specific buddhist sect. 

More country lanes did bring us back to Hanamigawa river and lunch closeby. By now it was quite hot... but still kind of bearable, but the lunch break was welcome. However 2 of the friends didn't feel well. One with sleep deprivation (it seems he sleeps only a few hours every day and has a hard time falling asleep at all) and the other with a bout of pollen allergy. But luckily we were in never too far from a train station, so dropped them of at a train station, helped them back up their bikes and after a while (and by now a bit cooler) continued back to the river and riding towards the Pacific. 

Also today still parts of the way were inundated... 

... but the water from the rest place had receded... and one could "sit" there again:

And on we continued versus the Pacific where we arrived shortly after sundown. And were still not in Funabashi, hadn't entered an onsen yet and hadn't had dinner yet either... 

So on it was to Funabashi, a supersento and dinner at the supersento before catching a late train back to Tokyo. It wasn't the last train... but I think I arrived home at around 1:00 am, after a good day out with friends. 

Okutama PLUS ride

Route: home - Ome - Okutama - Otsuki
Bicycle: 118 km
Train: 75 km
Average Speed: 17.7 km/h
Total Ascent: 1098 m
Riding Time: 6:32
Weather: Sunny and not yet too hot, 21 C

This ride was "advertised" on Meetup as "easy going"... but who says that one cannot make an easy going ride into something interesting. As the meeting time in Ome station was relatively late I decided to make an early start instead and head out to Ome by bike, adding about an other 50 km to the ride before the "easy going" part even started. At Ome station I met Daniel, the Meetup organizer who I know from a few previous rides, but apparently it was the first one where I came by road bike and he was rather surprised by the change of "scenery". 

Apart from the organizer there was one more participant, a Spaniard on a mountain bike. So we set of on the river side up to Okutama. Daniel know an underground fish ladder which we visited.

However no fish there... apparently not climbing season. Shortly after we went to a smug restaurant, that could have easily been in Meguro... but was on the shores of this small river serving their local speciality: (overpriced) meat loafs. But the setting was nice. 

There we consulted our maps and both I and the Spaniard knew that there was a small road up to Okutama lake instead of the slightly bigger one that has a lot of tunnels and convinced Daniel to try for that one. Which is a nice, albeit slow road up. Mostly in the shade. Sometimes with a few hikers and some gravel... but all manageable by road bike. It even has some nice small bridges. Only 2 people at any  time are allowed on it.

This is the same area, where I cycled many years ago (2016?) with a colleague of Matteo on the exact day they lost their satellite. 

We didn't lose our way and instead made it up to Lake Okutama. Which per the Meetup description was going to be our goal before heading down again to Ome station. But the day was nice and we just had made it up here, so Daniel suggested to instead cycle on and go to Otsuki over the mountains. The Spaniard couldn't join us because he had come by car and needed to go back to Ome station... but after some thinking I decided to join Daniel instead. 

Not too far from the peak (but unbeknown to me) I had a low point and clearly needed some carbs... but hey,  there was a small coffeeshop. Which turned out to mainly sell coffee... and little else, but they had a small cookie filled with An and  fresh cheese which  turned out to be everything I needed. A little rest, something sugary to drink and some small cookies. And off we went up and up, until the tunnel that would bring us through the top and then down a rather gentle slope to Otsuki. 

Up and up to Kazahari pass

Route: Musashi Itsukaichi - Kazahari pass - Okutama - home

Bicycle: 125 km

Train: 45 km

Average Speed: 18.2 km/h

Total Ascent: 1319 m

Riding Time: 6:51 h

Weather: Sunny and an agreeable temperature, 20 C

Last year October I had come to the lower slopes of this mountain with my friends, when we cycled from Tokyo to Hinohara. And now that I start to like cycling in the mountains I decided to come back again to attempt the full climb. As always before going, I planned my ride with Komoot and looked at the profile. A long, long climb, but it didn't seem to be too crazy steep... and I knew that if it was going to be too tiring I could turn any place and just roll back again the mountain, back to a train station. But finally that was not necessary and actually I enjoyed the ride up quite a lot. Slowly, and with breaks but essentially riding up all the way (just a very short part I pushed the bike, but that was away from the main street on a crazy steep climb on rugged roads in a village). 

This road is well travelled by cyclists, motorcyclists and also some cars, but not too many and no trucks. Which also means that there are enough vending machines along the road to replenish water resources and several restaurants as well. When I passed the onsen where last time we relaxed and then returned it was still too early for lunch, so went on, and some time later I passed through a small onsen village and had lunch at a ryokan. They had very nice looking wild vegetable tempura. 

I often order tempura... but actually often find that it is too fatty... and this was no exception. Plus it was way too much. But definitely looked very nice. 

After that, back on the bike and up, up it went. While cycling up and taking a rest in the shade along the road, I met a German cyclist with whom I have cycled twice. She is crazy fast and crazy long ranging rides. She was already on her way back, having cycled from Shibuya to Ome, Okutama, over the mountain and was now on her way back down to Musashi Itsukaichi and then back to Shibuya all by bike and still had plans for the afternoon. After a 200+ km ride. What energy!

The pass itself was actually a bit disappointing... no view.

But not that much later I got to this very nice view point. The crazy thing is that that lake down there, is mighty old Okutama lake! A lake to which you need to climb up and up... and there it was, down in the valley! Very satisfying view. I guess I am starting to get it why there are famous climbs with famous views. Probably this one isn't really famous, but for me this view was really rewarding. 

Then downhill, along the lake, further downhill to Okutama station, further downhill to Ome and I continued on. At that point I made a wrong decision giving to Komoot the decision how to ride back home, which resulted in a long stretch on a very busy road, which in hindsight I could have avoided in probably 2 different ways (Tamagawa cycling road or smaller but not too small roads in the same area). Anyway, I made it back down to Tokyo, linked up close to Lake Tama with the cycling road that goes all the way straight into Kichijoji and then from there back home. Long ride... but from that picture above all downhill!

GW2023 D7 Exploring around Biwako

Route: Kyoto - Biwako
Bicycle: 59 km
Train: 20 km
Average Speed: 14.5 km/h 
Total Ascent: 584 m
Riding Time: 4:04 h
Weather: Cloudy and at the end a few light rain drops, 23 C

Also this last day of this years Golden Week was a great day out. Actually this week was much better than anticipated. Originally it seemed that only Monday and Tuesday weather would be good and rain on all other days… but finally there were only a few rain drops on Monday and today (just a few, and only for maybe about 30 min). The first real rain day is going to be tomorrow (which actually is today, as I often do not manage to write all the posts in the evening of the ride… and am writing now on Sunday on the train back from Kyoto to Tokyo a lot of the posts). 

I started in Kyoto from my hotel, over to Yamashina and over to Otsu, passing through the same passes as yesterday. In principle my plan was to travel on from there through the mountains around Uji, see some tea planatations, down to Uji and back to Kyoto. But when I was up at Biwako I didn’t feel I had that much energy, and thus changed plan. 

I had a break along the lake, close to this restaurant from Wuerzburg. It was closed for renovations a few months ago… and today I was there simply too early for lunch… so I didn’t go this time either… but definitely on my “to do” list for the future.

While sitting here I saw on the other shore of the lake this strange, white, mountain shaped building. I had come across it years ago on my Tour of Japan ride, but hadn’t taken any pictures. So I decided to head there and explore. 

It’s a huge, modern building that integrates well into the landscape. Looking like a mountain from one perspective and from the other it is transparent. However the building itself houses some kind of new religious sect. Whatever they may believe, clearly their leader believes that the money of the followers are better spent by the cult rather than by the people who earned that money. It is also called “research institute” which for a sect obviously is totally misleading. But anyway, I passed, shot some pictures and still kind of like the building. It is not the only religiously funded building in the neighbourhood either. Miho Museum (where I had initially planned to go yesterday) is also funded by some strange sect, that also extracted a lot of money from their believers. Plus there are other religious buildings throughout Japan that are clearly funded by a lot of money extorted from believers. Not too surprised that someone got angry at these kind of churches and shot Abe-san, believing he had some connection with one of those sects. 

I still hadn’t a clear target for the day, but now thought to maybe just make a round along the smaller part of Lake Biwa. However a bit further along, I sat down looking onto Hiei-san on the other shore and explored on Google maps what is around there. I actually discovered that there are 2 ropeways going up to Hiei-san, which surprised me, as we went many years ago by bus. While browsing through google maps I also noticed some temples at the foot of the mountain, and decided to replan my ride towards there. And this was a great decision. 

I passed over Biwa-O-Hashi towards Katada, and passed through the fishing village of Katada. Which turned out to be a relatively intact, old village with a lot of temples and shrines. Definitely a place to visit again. I stumbled across a temple on the shore with a ticket booth and a parking lot, so I thought, well, I am here… so let’s see what this is about:

From there my way took me land inwards and up the lower slopes of Hiei-san through a rural area and up into a forest traversed by a very small and winding road. Very nice to ride indeed. Not to steep. Just nice. At the highest point of that road there was a remote temple with absolutely no one around. I took a quick look… but then went on, as there was an other temple on my list. 

Saikyo-ji. Again something found on google maps, and what a find! 

I arrived around 16:00 and thought that maybe it is already too late, but anyway went to ask at the ticket booth and it turned out I had a full hour left before they were going to close. 

This is a sprawling temple complex, which somehow seems to love colourful pinwheels. The only other place I remember seeing that many pinwheels was an other temple: Osorezan in Aomori. 

Even some of their zen gardens were full of these pinwheels. 

Definitely a nice spot and probably one to revisit in November with the red foliage, as the path up to the temple was lined with maple trees.

This put to a conclusion my Golden Week 2023. Tomorrow heading back by train to Tokyo and then off for a few days to Vietnam on a business trip. It was again a perfect Golden Week, with weather much better than expected. I was also happy with my hotel choice in Kyoto. Kyoto U-Bell hotel in Jujo. Not necessarily a place I would recommend to other travellers, but for me with the bike it was a good spot. In-house sento (which I used every day, except the one when I went to the super sento… which wasn’t the best), close to the subway station (I came back by train more often than not and did not reassemble the bike at Kyoto station to ride the last meters. It would have been doable… but with the hotel so close and often taking a train out the next morning again, it made more sense to leave the bike all packed up.), a relatively big room and I could even open the window a little bit. And all this for a good price. About 8,000 yen per night. I had booked it I think back in February… while in Kyoto for an other long weekend. I knew GW was coming up, but didn’t have any specific plan yet, so I thought that I could as well reserve a room in Kyoto and if I got some other idea later… could still cancel it at no cost. But I didn’t have any other idea (nor did I really think about it too much, once the hotel in Kyoto was booked), so that’s what I did. And it was good. Already a lot of time  in Kyoto recently. But there is still more to explore. It is a convenient location, relatively fast to ride out of the city, but if starting / ending by train, also a major train station with a lot of connections. 

While I have done trips from A to B to C with all the luggage on board, it is also very nice to ride a light bicycle without all the added weight. And have a stable base and be able every day to decide where to go, depending on weather, strength … So yes, definitely enjoyed it.

One thing a lot of people are always afraid about are the CROWDS of GW. Well, it all depends where you go, but frankly even today (I.e. Sunday, D8) taking the train back (on one of the most crowded days in the calendar) things were smooth. Yes, I had reserved my last row seat weeks ago… but I managed to change it on Friday to an earlier train, as the weather on Sunday was looking really, really rainy (and did deliver on this promise). And actually there were still available seats to be booked on most trains (just not with the luggage area). So all cool. No need to fuss about GW. 

GW2023 D6 O-Mikoshi in Nagara

Route: Kyoto - Nagara - Otsu and back
Bicycle: 33 km
Carrying o-Mikoshi: 6.8 km

Riding Time: 2:35 h

Carrying Time: 1:54 h
Average Speed: 12.6 km/h
Total Ascent: 500 m
Weather: some clouds, some sun, warm, but bearable,  23 C

Originally my plan was to cycle to Miho museum (a fabulous place where I went with the Brompton a few years ago), but I got a late start and wasn’t feeling full of energy, but still I got started. At the basis of the climb up over the hills from Yamashina to Otsu, I saw a road advise that the road would be closed between 13:00 and 14:00 o’clock due to a matsuri in the village below. So I decided to have a look. What I didn’t expect that I’d be enlisted to be a carrier of the smaller women o-mikoshi. But hey, I hadn’t any specific plan for the day, so carrying an o-mikoshi through the streets of Nagara was a good plan.  

… and was a lot of fun. I had wanted to participate in a matsuri a few years ago in Higashi Kitazawa (where I was living) after seeing it as a spectator, but the weekend it was scheduled we were away, so never got round doing it. But will look into it again, maybe this year! 

On the way we stopped a few times, got food and drinks from the neighbours, rested a bit and then went on our way with the o-mikoshi. 

After about 2.5 hours we were back at the shrine, had a last religious ceremony and then a group pictures with all participants and the mikoshi’s in the background.

There were 3 mikoshi’s in total: The main, big one; a smaller one for the women (we were only 7, 6 carrying it, and one carrying the feet to put the mikoshi to rest), and another small one for the children. 

Plus a wagon full of flowers, a young priest on a horse, a fable lion… and a lot of local people.