GW2024 D4 onsen in the rain and train

Route: Asoshirakawa - Tochinoki - Choyo - Asoshirakawa
Bicycle: 0 km
Walking: 5 km
Bus: 11 km
Train: 9 km
Weather: rain and more rain all day, 20 C

Today will hopefully be the only really rainy day for this week. It started raining during the night and hasn’t stopped yet. Luckily today isn’t a day where I need to get moving to my next accommodation, so I could do rain weather activities here in Minami Aso. There aren’t many but surprisingly I managed to do two:

Relax in a very nice onsen with views and take a theme train. 

I had asked the owner of my Minshuku yesterday what he would recommend for a rainy day and after excluding to go strawberry picking and a garden in a tunnel (it seems there were plans to build a railway to Takachiho and they started digging for a tunnel when they found too much water and gave up. Somehow that tunnel is now a garden!?) I settled on an onsen that was reachable by public transport, aka the neighborhood bus. This onsen got damaged by the earthquake but has since been restored and has a very nice rotenburo with a real view of the narrow valley. You don’t find too many of those. Before going to the onsen I had some fried chicken at this very retro place. Retro without wanting it to be retro. Still original including the two elderly who are running it and the television series they were watching in an old style “tailed” TV. 

It turned out that I didn’t have that much time in the onsen, if I wanted to catch the bus back. I hadn’t checked but there was actually a train, which I ended up taking, because I arrived 30 min too early to the bus stop. (Walking times were kind of hard to calculate and with only 4 busses a day you can’t miss the one you are aiming for. At the train station was a small coffee shop where I got 2 cupcakes for the price of one plus a free cup of tea while waiting for the train. Which turned out to be a special train. In front a torokko train (a kind of sightseeing train where you can’t close the windows) and in the back a OnePiece manga themed carriage, which I took. The train went very slowly explaining where you could see some OnePiece characters and even a green house with famous local “red” cows, which the train conductor introduced as very tasty. 

Now just remains to hope that the weather forecast for tomorrow is correct to state that it will not rain. 

GW2024 D3 Aso crater

Route: Asoshirakawa - Mt Aso - Tarutama onsen - Asoshirakawa
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. 

After relaxing I departed down around 16:00 and then had to search for a place where to have an early dinner. As the Minshuku owner said a lot of places around here close early. Maybe around 17:00, but I found this meat grill restaurant with a great view and very tasty pork meat. 

From there it was a last few kilometers into the head wind back to my minshuku. 

GW2024 D2 Kumamoto to Minami Aso

Route: Kumamoto - Jizo toge - Minami Aso 
Bicycle: 67 km
Total ascent: 1461 m
Average speed: 12.5 km/h
Riding time: 5:52 h
Weather: sunny and warm, but not too warm, 25 C

Today I crossed over from Kumamoto to the caldera (is it one?) around Mt Aso. I knew that the road with least elevation was going to be busy so I had planned for an alternative route, but surprisingly also that one was pretty busy. Luckily I got fed up of that traffic at the right moment, just when there was a turn to the right that lead to the starting point of yet another road over to minami Aso over a higher pass, but using a very scenic route that wasn’t so busy with cars, but beloved by motorcyclists. 

Midway through the climb I had seen on google maps a restaurant. It turned out that it was a huge attraction farm for which one needed to pay an entrance fee to get close to the cows, horses and sheep. And the food. I had no interest in the living animals and it seemed way too crowded to be able to eat in a restaurant in there, so I had on the parking lot an onigiri I had bought earlier at a conbini. 

But I did use the bathroom, water and vending machine to restock on fluids and cool myself down with abundant water. 

From there it continued uphill but never too steep with nice views. On the very top of the pass a cloud was lying in waiting. Same cloud that did engulf Mt. Aso. 

These grass lands seem to be typical of this region. 

In the distance some dark clouds but they never resulted in any real rain. Down , down and slightly up on the other side to my guest house for the next 4 days. With a very friendly host who has a Thai restaurant next door which seems to be one of the few places open after 17:00. 

Before dinner though I went to the closest onsen. A huge installation with (at least today) a lot of guests, but closed restaurant and closed rotenburo. 

GW2024 D1 to the start: Kumamoto

Route: Home - Tokyo station - Kumamoto station - hotel
Bicycle: 19 km
Train: 1200 km
Riding time:
Weather: very sunny and probably around 27C

Starting my week of spring vacation. This year not precisely Golden Week, but the week after as my colleague wanted to take GW. 

Today was dedicated to getting to the starting point: Kumamoto. I left home around 7:30 to be at Tokyo station around 8:30 and have enough time to pack up the bike, buy breakfast and lunch for a 6 h journey, and be the first in queue for my seat. I had a reserved seat, mandatory now for Nozomi Shinkansen during high peak travel season.  

Originally I wanted to pack up my bike with both wheels removed, but it turned out, that I was incapable of removing the rear wheel. I tried it at home, so no panic when I got to Tokyo station. Luckily there was one person in the baggage seat row who didn’t have baggage so we were only in 2 with oversized baggage which meant that there was more than enough space for my bike. 

Kumamoto is far from Tokyo and flying would seem the more reasonable way to get here, but flight tickets aren’t cancellable, while train tickets are.  I had reserved hotels in Kyushu but also reserved alternative hotels in Tohoku and Nara prefecture many months ago that could be cancelled until a few days prior to departure. On Wednesday this week I looked at the weather forecast: Weather for this week looks ok for most days, except Monday which will be very rainy. So likely a day for relaxing in an onsen. 

While today it was brilliant weather everywhere but I was sitting in the train for most of it. 

Once in Kumamoto it was actually to late to visit anything, but I still went to the castle, took a few pictures and relaxed in the park under a huge , old tree writing some delayed blog posts of recent rides. 

The castle was damaged 8 years ago by a massive earthquake and is now under reconstruction.

Lake Ashi and Fuji from a distance

Route: Shin Matsuda - Ashigara pass - Nagao pass -    Gotemba
Bicycle: 57 km
Train: 170 km
Total ascent: 1397 m
Average speed: 12,6 km/h
Riding Time: 4:32 h
Weather: Sun, clouds and quite warm 

Yesterday in my Strava feed I saw a Strava friend doing a Hakone loop, and decided to copy it. As you can see my copy didn’t become a loop, because I ran out of time but I did compete the two main climbs and avoided the steep descent from Hakone to Odawara. 

Conveniently the starting point is in Matsuda, direct train by Odakyu from home. Initially along a bicycle lane on a river and the up to Ashigara pass on a road that is mainly used by cyclists and motorcyclists, but hardly any cars. 

But steep. Cyclable for me, but with several rest stops along the road. Nearly all other cyclists were faster than me, except a guy on a vintage bike who similar to me struggled the hill up with rest stops as needed. 

On the top however one is greeted by a wonderful view over the valley of Gotemba and Mt Fuji. Today the weather was a bit cloudy so not the same brilliant pictures as I saw in the Strava feed yesterday, but still nice… and a reason to return on a blue skied day. 

On the downhill at a parking lot are these Fuji shaped parasols (and a matching public toilet) behind which a shy Fuji was hiding.

Down and some conbini lunch and then in towards the next climb to Hakone. On the way there I decided to just do the climb but to not cycle down in the Hakone side, because it was getting late (finally I was on top of the pass at about 15:30), from Hakone to a station it is farther and there is a quite steep descent to content with towards Odawara. 

The climb to Nagano pass initially was in a relatively busy road , which however has a cycle / walk path song it, which I used uphill. But midway through it turns away from this major road to a much less used but very well build road up to Nagao pass. That ride up was sooooooo nice. Really nice gradient, good surface, wide road, little traffic and stunning views of Fuji and more stunning views right after the pass of lake Ashi down in Hakone. One can even see the kitschy pirate ships.

The downhill was also nice … and those views! 

Down in Gotemba I took a very crowded train back to Matsuda and then back by Odakyu line home. 

Full bloom around Fuji

Day 1

Route: Hashimoto - Doshi - Yamanakako
Bicycle: 72 km
Train: 35 km
Total ascent: 1496 m
Average speed: 13,6 km/h
Riding time: 5:19 h
Weather: sunny and nicely warm during the day but cold once the sun had set

Originally I had planned to go with a group of cyclists from Osaka to Mt Fuji last weekend, but the weather forecast showed rain for most of the weekend, so the ride was cancelled… and finally it was a nice and sunny weekend where instead I went house hunting and enjoying time with friend on our bikes in Tokyo. 

I have now ridden already several times from Hashimoto to Yamanakako through Doshi village. A long but never too steep ride on a road with traffic but tolerable amounts.

 Today the flowers were out in force.

Mostly cherry blossoms as to be expected but also some peach flowers, recognizable with their full flowers in strong dark pink: 

I had decided to have lunch at the road side station but shortly before arriving there I saw a small restaurant with a lot of motorbikes parked outside. So , thinking that this must be very tasty I went there as well. And yes, tasty it was. It was a lot of small tapas like dishes plus a full dish of meat and rice. I will definitely be back.

Over the mountain and then a short way down to Yamanakako and a picture of the lake , swans and Fuji in the distance before heading to an onsen at the other side of the lake. 

 First time in this onsen and one with a really nice and unobstructed view of Mt. Fuji while soaking in one of the two rotenburos: 

After a good bath and a simple dinner at the onsen I road to my hotel for the night. A hotel from the bubble years, never renovated, but in a convenient location on the lake shore and with a good price. In the end it’s about sleeping. Nothing else. 

Day 2

Route: Yamanakako - Kawaguchiko - Otsuki
Bicycle: 72 km
Train: 80 km
Total ascent: 503 m
Average speed: 15 km/h
Riding time: 4:48 h
Weather: blue skies, sunny and not too warm

While at Yamanakako yesterday the cherry blossoms hadn’t even opened yet, in Kawaguchiko they were in their prime full bloom. I always knew that Yamanakako is higher, but never thought of it to be that much higher that it would make so much of a difference to the cherry flowers. 

The day started in a cool morning at Yamanakako with a clear blue sky and a Fuji still partially covered in snow.

From there I made my way over to the Kawaguchiko area and Chureito pagoda sure that I’d be able to get a famous photo with Fuji in the background, the pagoda in the forefront and sakura in full bloom. Well, I only managed to arrange 2 days f these things in any one picture. Either Fuji and sakura or sakura and pagoda. But all three were elusive due to a decision (by the local government?) to burn on this blue skied, full bloom Sunday with thousands of local and foreign tourists, the grass on the hills of Mt. Fuji. I don’t understand why these grasses need to be burned, but to burn them on a weekend with brilliant weather and full bloom seemed to be a specially stupid decision. 

Fuji with sakura alone however is already quite nice.

And I had waited for about an hour in this line observing how the sky little by little got clouded by the smoke. 

The pagoda towering over the sakura trees. 

From here I made it through a very small mountain road over to Kawaguchiko , taking more pictures and finally to a shrine on the foothills of Mt Fuji. Everywhere sakura in full bloom and many people around enjoying them. 

To return I went downhill all the way to Otsuki, put my bike in its back and back to Tokyo by train. 

Although the smoke was a shame it was a great weekend enjoying hanami around Mt Fuji.

D2 - Weekend around Bessho Onsen

Route: Bessho Onsen - into the mountains - Aoki - Ueda
Bicycle: 55 km
Train: 210 km
Average Speed: 13.8 km/h
Total elevation:
Riding time:
Weather: Quite sunny but not that warm as yesterday. Maybe 20C?

The day started with a very Japanese breakfast in my ryokan. I tried to eat as much as I could, knowing that it wouldn't be easy to find a restaurant in the mountains between Bessho Onsen and Matsumoto... but I am not born for breakfast. 

Being in Bessho onsen, I needed to do some sightseeing before leaving. First stop was the local big public bathhouse, very close to the ryokan. Only from outside, but it is supposed to have both an indoor pool and a rotenburo. 

From there to the first sightseeing spot, an ancient temple (Jorakuji) with it's thatched roof. Behind that temple is a small cementery in the forest and a swamp with some nice white flowers. 

It could be a very serene spot, were it not for these two enormous flags outside that squeak on their metal pools in the wind. Again very strong wind today. The flags look nice and all, but I am feeling for the poor people living closeby having to hear their squeaking day and night. 

The next stop was an other temple (Anrakuji), which from a temple perspective seems quite normal, but it has this octagonal 3 story pagode in the forested cemetery behind, which seems to be a unique shape for a pagoda. Well, I guess most of them are square. 

Off to the last temple in town, Kitamuki Kannon ...

... from which's balcony one has a nice view down into the valley of Ueda. 

This concluded the touristy bit of the day. From here a small road went up and up into the mountains behind Bessho onsen, through very small villages. 

My plan was to ride up and over and down to Matsumoto. This part of the road which was destroyed by some landslide, did not put a stop to my plan... 

But soon after turning on to the bigger road (which wasn't much bigger anyway and didn't have any traffic either), I was due (per komoot plan) to turn into yet an other small road, continue uphill, before descending to Matsumoto. However that part of the road turned out to be a gravel road (unexpectedly as Komoot was expecting a paved road). Now, I am not opposed to gravel, but in the middle of really nowhere (no internet, no phone reception), in potential land of bears, needing to ride uphill on a very gravelly gravel road for 3 km didn't sound like a good idea at the moment. Also not knowing if after 3 km the path would again join a "real" road or not. 

At that point I had two options: turn left and join National Highway # 254 to Matsumoto or turn right and ride down the mountain on a small but reasonably good street back to the valley of Ueda. I did choose the second option, as I am pretty convinced that National Highway #254 is full of cars and trucks and tunnels. Doesn't sound like fun. And I had no NEED to go to Matsumoto. Staying on this side of the mountains was just as well. But my curiosity is spiked and I will try this ascent again, however not from Bessho Onsen, but maybe from Aoki where there should be a real (small) street over the mountains to Matsumoto. 

So down it was. In Aoki little by little population and people picked up again and I found a "michi-no-eki" to have lunch and decide where next. I decided to go to Nagano, but to also climb up an other hill closeby. So hill first: 

And then down to the valley, where I should have joined a bicycle path to Nagano (maybe about 30 km)... but the wind was still very strong and even though it would have been slightly downwards to Nagano, the wind was a very strong headwind. So instead I decided to ride river upwards to Ueda (wind in the back, bicycle road below my tires) and take a Shinkansen from there back over the mountain (to be fair: through the mountain) to the Tokyo side of things. 

Good timing allowed me to hop on the next Shinkansen a few minutes after arriving at the platform and getting back to Tokyo. 

Walking (and a bit of cycling) tour of Bessho Onsen:

And from here it is real cycling. After the elevation disaster (misscalculation by Wahoo) yesterday, today I recorded the ride on Strava instead... which is not ideal as it drains the battery unnecessarily: