Jacco

So the bicycle bit of this vacation is mostly done. As I left Hikone this morning, most of the day led me along the coastline of lake Biwa. Apparently it is one of the oldest lakes of Japan and also one of its biggest. Around the lake are various small tourist towns but more importantly for me, there is a bicycle paths going around the lake. I met several other cyclists along the way and even saw a few people who had put up their tent at the shores close to public bathroom stalls with showers. A great way to have two affordable nights if you follow the lake for longer than I did. Heading into Kyoto I knew I wanted to visit CyclesGrandBois. Also known as I's Bicycle. It's a shop that's famous for building classic touring bikes and randonneurs but also restoring a lot of vintage French randonneurs and porteurs. As I entered, one of them was brazing a rack and I had a nice talk with the lady who runs the place. Bought some small parts and a really cool cycling cap with cats 🐈 on it. After that, I headed over to the hostel while riding through the rainy backstreets of Kyoto. The next day; If the countryside was practically devoid of foreigners, Kyoto is shockingly full of them. I don't think it's an overstatement to say about 30-40% of the people walking down the streets here are tourists. Kind of makes you understand why the local Japanese sometimes get a bit overwhelmed. And yeah, I know. Present company included 😇 As the former capital of Japan, Kyoto is filled with lots of interesting districts that flow into each other and tons and tons of temples. Famous is Gion, the geisha district and the #Yasaka shrine right next to it. On the other side of the river is a huge shopping area with lots of covered streets or sidewalks. Which was a good thing, because it was absolutely pouring the entire day. Luckily the hostel has um fellas we could borrow but by the evening you could feel the dampness in the air. Not as bad as sweat beading into my eyes 👀 on a hot sunny climb so I'm not complaining. 😋 I did a fair bit of shopping today. Mostly Japanese brands or the kind of thing you cannot find anywhere else. Luckily for my wallet I had to keep it in check because I have limited room for extras before i fly home in a couple of days... but there is always Tokyo. 🤑 Speaking of which, tomorrow I will be taking the bike on the train, rinko style. Meaning partially disassembled and inside a special kind of bag. 🛍️ Let's hope it stays dry as I heave all these bags over there. 😅 For me this was the end of my little tour through Japan but I will definitely come back again at some point. Maybe even head North into Hokkaido or further South into the tropical part of Japan.

As I am leaving the countryside behind me I ride down into the big city of Nagoya. My advice would be to spend a bit more time here if you can. It looks like a very nice place to visit for a day or two. And it turns out they even have bike paths! One of the first places where I've seen them in Japan. That is being offset by their atrocious traffic light 🚦 settings though. I think I actually had to stop at every single block. 😅 I went down to Nagoya to visit Circles_JP, another special bicycle shop Japan has. Bought some small parts and some goodies and went on my way again after having lunch nearby. As I leave the city again I enter a wide valley with gorgeous layers and layers of mountains in the distance. The classic different shades of blue. There is one final climb today, or so I thought, as I head into the final stretch to Hikone. It's a small town next to a big lake but for me it's right in the middle of my road to Kyoto. I refuel at a Family Mart and up the speed so the owner of the guesthouse can get home in time as well. After a quick shower and change of clothes I go eat some okonomiyaki, have a nice chat with the daughter of the owner of the restaurant who tells me about her husband from Michigan and I head to bed. Tomorrow is the final day of riding to Kyoto and hopefully I am early so I can see a bit of the city already.

Less adventure and more just covering the distance today. As I exited the Kiso valley the river widened, turning a deep greenish blue, and the businesses by the side of the road got bigger as well. I mostly followed road 19 West but was briefly blocked when it turned into Expressway 19, a place where I could not (nor did I want to) ride a bicycle. And there were no clear alternatives on the map that didn't mean a big detour. If you can, find another route, or this will mostly be a day riding sidewalks along a highway. Through a variety of stairs, bridges and small alleyways in the nearby towns I got back on a more direct route again and ended my day in Tajimi. Tomorrow I will be riding through the satellite cities of Nagoya with a small detour to Circles. A special bike shop. After that I'll head over a small mountain again to go to Hikone.

Today I finally entered the Nakasendo route, a hiking trail through a valley and several historic towns. Starting at Lake Suwa this morning I made my way down into the valley again, walked up an incredibly steep mountain and then made my way South into the valley of the Nakasendo route. It's also finally one of the first places where I see any foreigners. Though I'm mostly still chatting with the Japanese people around here. Like the first bicycle tourer I came across. He was maybe one of the more extreme ones. He started at Tokyo this morning at midnight and was planning to get to Nagoya by midnight again... For those that don't know, that's 300+ km and more than 3000m of climbing. And I ran into him when he had already done 250 km of that. Hats off to you sir. 🚲🧢 My route was a little more relaxed. Winding down the valley across rice fields and little villages I started seeing more traditional wooden houses and more signs explaining what was there. Eventually I made my way to Kiso where my hotel was. The place is jam packed with elderly Japanese and a lot of foreigners, myself included. Had some dinner, washed my clothes and carefully carried my bike into the room across the tatami mats to a little nook near the river. Beautiful and relaxing room. After an onsen tonight I will get some rest for an earlier start tomorrow. I'll be going down the rest of the Nakasendo route and start getting near Nagoya. Most of it will be downhil but there will still be a significant amount of climbing. But maybe I will try to push it and add some distance so I have more time in Nagoya the day after.

We're pretty much at the halfway point and I've got a few more days lined up in the lovely mountains over here. Today was a relatively easy day. Less climbing than the days before and generally nice and sunny weather being kept comfortable by a cool breeze coming in from the mountains. I finally got a good look at Mt. Fuji🗻 behind me and it certainly stands out compared to the rest of the mountains. Impressive. I am mostly riding through the farmlands and rice fields of the valleys right now, lined with cute houses and cute gardens. Oh, and there is a regional road that constantly has trucks thundering up and down. 🚛🚚🛻 But I've learned to stay away from those roads unless necessary. It was fine on the Izu peninsula but over here there's just too many trucks and not enough space sometimes. As is common around the world, BMW's and trucks are the dangerous drivers around cyclists. As I crested the tallest point of today I was greeted with the intense heat of a sun heating up the valley where Sawa is located and a view of the lake. I had picked another cheap hotel in the area since hostels are scarce here and... got another love hotel. 🏩🚲 This one a bit more extreme with garages on the outside where you can hide your car against prying eyes and... let's just say they thought of everything. A "handy massage wand" (including a hygienic condom), pachinko (gambling) machine in the room and a menu for ordering food and more toys. 🪀🧸 Great restaurants and shops nearby though. Tonight I gorged myself on curry. ❤️ Tomorrow I will ride North again and make my way through the start of the historical Nakasendo route. It used to be a rich industrial wood logging area with heavy protections but nowadays it's mostly used as a hike through the Kiso valley. After that I will make my way to Nagoya and later Kyoto. It's starting to look like I brought my camping gear for nothing. This part of Japan, people go camping as a way to get out on the weekends and while cheap campsites exist, many of them are even more expensive than hotel rooms. Let alone how incredibly hard it is to find them and make a reservation. Ah well. Looking forward to seeing the rest. 😎

-'A volcano hidden in plain sight'- After the peninsula (and some rest) I made my way into the mountains West of Tokyo. Also known as the Japanese Alps. It was a long day of riding up and around Mount Fuji, even though the cloud coverage was so low that I have no idea whether it was on my left hand side or my right hand side. At least I still have a map that tells me it was the right hand side. 😅 I was treated with some gorgeous downhills through the woods and along some small waterfalls. Eventually heading into a big valley where the towns Kofu, Fuefuki and Yamanashi are located. The hillsides are lined with grape vines and other fruit trees and I should really try some tomorrow. The hotel I booked turned out to be a love hotel 🏩. Including curtains that didn't really open and windows that were opaque. Still made for a good night's rest. Tomorrow I will be riding to the other side of the valley and up into the mountains again to get to the start of a narrow trail that travels through several old mining towns. Apparently it's very cute.

Today I wrapped up my tour around the Izu peninsula and headed back up north again. Turns out the entire area was formed by a volcano that deposited large amounts of ash up until 500,000 years ago, which explains why it was so green and fertile. The western part of Izu is quieter than the eastern part but I still saw plenty of motorcyclists and car enthusiasts ride up and down its winding roads. All the while with me sweating buckets toiling uphill of course. 😂 But the old farmers I found further I land are still the most talkative people I've come across here. After 5 big climbs I finally made my way to a city called Numazu. First impressions are that it was quite big in the 80's looking at the architecture. My cheap hotel room also has that distinct smell of 4 decades of cigarettes. 🚬💀 Tomorrow I will be staying here to rest up a bit and do some repairs and gather some supplies. It's expected to rain the entire day and I feel like my legs could use some rest. I've already climbed over 3500 meters these past 4 days. I'm slowly planning more of the remaining part of the trip (*spoilers, it's mostly unique bike shops*) and chatting with a few people online about suggestions for the road. I'll try to capture some of that old Japan tomorrow!

Today was the first dry day of riding and the landscape was beautiful. After a delicious breakfast at the guesthouse I went on my way and started riding. I wanted to stay away from the main highway surrounding the Izu peninsula and kept to the mountains at first. But I sucked at climbing last year and I still do. Basically, I tend to shift down to the lowest gear on long ascents and just crawl up. The downside of that is that it takes ages. 😅 I'm definitely getting better at it though. This is day 3 and I feel like I am starting to push my body a bit more each day without being dead tired or sore the day after. Just hungry. Turns out, Matsuzaki is a perfect place for that. It's a walkable little town that is littered with small mom and pop restaurants, connected by bridges everywhere. It's pretty quiet outside of the high season and the first restaurant I tried was already closing. At 18:30. I ended up at a small fish restaurant with a mix of tempura, sashimi and pickled vegetables. And loads of other things that just taste good without actually knowing what they are. 🤤 Tomorrow I intend to leave the peninsula again to head up towards the base of Mt. Fuji. It is however pretty far and with more climbing than I've done before. But there are no real options between where I am now and there so an early start is in order. Wish me luck 😆

-'Rain all day makes for a wet... everything'- Today I finally started leaving the cities behind and started heading into some of the beautiful countryside and nature of Japan. Today was also very, very, very... WET. It started out with the rain absolutely pouring down at the start and it basically never got really dry. Think the kind of big fat droplets that you'd get during a storm but with barely any wind. So less time spent fighting the wind. I headed west from Fujisawa and mostly rode the coastal road and the bicycle paths that all the surfers use. And there were a lot of people surfing. After that the road turned into the coastal road of the peninsula of the Shizuoka district. A mountainous stretch covered in trees, bamboo forests and loads of other greenery. The cliffs on the east side at least are very steep and very tall and there are several hot springs in the area. But today, was wet. While I am used to a little rain and packed the gear to ride comfortably, I still got soaked by the end of the day. My shoes were quickly filling with water and the sleeves of my thermal layer were getting wet from the rain being blown up my pit zips. And as a cherry on top, my phone managed to get some moisture inside and started freaking out. Right as I was climbing up the last mountain to get to my guesthouse. Which led to some awkward talks at other hotel, asking them for help with finding my final stop of the day. 😅 But I did enjoy it. The views were amazing, the roads nice and winding and I've had some amazing ramen and pastries along the way. Even while dripping wet. Having to swap brake pads somewhere because I wore down the first pair and couldn't stop anymore was a bit meh though. Luckily the guesthouse had great food and an onsen ♨️ Tomorrow morning I will probably adjust my route a little bit and cross the island earlier to see Kawazu Seven Waterfalls but we'll see. If the weather is nice it could be worth it to complete the loop and ride all the way to Cape Irozaki. The weather should be improving the next few days so the raingear can stay packed. Looking forward to it!

The land of endless suburbs. Today I rode from where I was in Tokyo near Akihabara down south to the coastal city of Fujisawa. For those using this as a guide for their own tour, consider going just a little bit further East on this leg of the trip and end it at Kamakura. It's a nice tourist town with lots of cute small shops and a giant Buddha. Me? I got treated to a full day of drizzle but luckily I brought the good jacket and pants. +1 for the former outdoor shop employee in me. Along the way I visited the "world famous in certain circles" bike shop called BlueLug. They've got some of the best and coolest gear around with many custom orders from awesome Japanese manufacturers like MKS, Panaracer and Nitto. I'll have to drop by again when I come back to Tokyo at the end of my vacation. The plan now is to continue going down and do a loop around the Izu peninsula before going back up again and zoom by the base of Mt. Fuji before heading into the mountains. Still lots of rain being predicted but I can dress for that. While I should have of course expected it with 14 million people in the main city and 41 million in the Tokyo area, I was not entirely prepared for a day riding though... Japanese suburbs. It was a fun (and slow) trip riding through endless rows of similar homes with gardens for the entire day. It wasn't necessarily boring though. While most of these houses looked similar or even had the same shapes, you can tell they put in the work to make each one look different on the outside. The extreme range of surface materials I saw today was impressive. From tiles in all colours, spre-shaped plastic cladding to wood. It was all there. Most of it would look gaudy elsewhere but here it looked cute. What definitely helped was the care people took of their gardens. No fields of grass but perfectly shaped trees, flowers and bushes everywhere. It almost made up for the complete lack of bike paths. 😆 Japan doesn't do bicycle paths like but essentially has blue arrows in some places with a bicycle on it... but those are all used for parking by cars. Another score for #paintisnotinfrastructure. Alternatively, you get to share the sidewalk. Which is slow. 🐢 That being said, expect a bit less buildings and more nature the coming days.