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Posted in Japan, Travels
Tags: bicycle touring, cycling, Foot Bridges, Japan, photography, touring, travel
If there was ever proof that our oceans are a swirling cesspool of plastic waste, this is it. The day before this beach was spotless. The next morning: this. We asked the cleanup crew if this happens every day, it doesn’t. But last night the sea was rough and it was windy.
ABOVE: A very cool meditation center
BELOW: A strawberry greenhouse where you can pick strawberries and eat them picnic-style under the vines. Way over-priced. Milking it for more than it was worth. Best part was the photo opportunity.
There is a pedestrian walkway under the bridge with clear panels in the floor to see the whirlpools and rapids 150 feet below.
These high school age kids were on a field trip to the Earthquake Memorial we visited. All wearing the ubiquitous black and white uniforms, all with jet-black hair, most all about the same height, most wearing masks…
I pulled our rental car into this parking garage. When I got out of the car, I looked up, and…
…this is what I saw above me. A Matrix-esque scene of stacked cars in this creepy automated parking garage.
You approach the temple by first seeing the Ando signature concrete walls (first 2 photos). Then you walk down underneath the shallow pools.
Then, below ground, you come to the temple
Next, another Ando project, the Awaji Yumebutai. The size and scope of this is hard to explain, and even harder to photograph. The Wikipedia page link below will explain.
No discussion of traveling in Japan is complete without mentioning toilets. Even a train station can have an expensive Toto toilet, and there’s always a bidet. Very civilized.
Sometimes even an ordinary experience like stopping for coffee to get out of the rain can have a certain amount of simple elegance.
The bike comes to Japan in this case, which is the maximum size for a standard checked piece of luggage.
Then, of course, it turns into this….
And sometimes it looks like this on a small commuter train…in the required bag. Speaking of the bag: to go on a train the bike must be in a bag. But most bike bags are big, bulky, and heavy. So, I made my own. I needed a material that was strong, lightweight, and that compressed into a small package, so I bought some parachute material and fabricated my own bag. It may not be pretty, but that wasn’t one of the criteria.
And then, in my last cycling hotel, it goes back into the case, and then I have a celebratory sake.
Katsuura bills itself as the capital of maguro (tuna), and well, this claim may be true. The shashimi I’ve had has been amazing. This small port town has either fish stores, fish restaurants, fishing boats, or a seemingly endless number of sake shops.
This was a hard day on the bike: 44 miles and 5,900’ of gain. 5-7% grade on a touring bike I can handle just fine. But when the grade gets up to 18%, we’ll, it’s absolutely brutal. There was a lot of the former, and way too much of the latter. However, I had an astounding downhill.
Then I ended up in Katsuura, on the coast, for a rest day. I walked a short part of the Kumano Kodo Pilgrimage Trail and went to Nachi Falls.
Nachi Falls is the highest waterfall in Japan. There is a (virtual, of sorts) “shrine” at the base in the 3rd image.
48 miles and 5,800’ of gain…And then there was this….
And I thought Shikoku has steep hill climbs with deep, practically vertical valleys. Well, the Kii Peninsula, southern Wakayama Prefecture, has plenty.
The first ride went south from the city of Wakayama through Yuasa, home of Soy Sauce (I went through the small soy sauce museum) to a rural location where I stayed at a guest house. It was a converted fruit storage building. Nice renovation.
Then, it was a grueling climb up to Koyasan. The third day riding the Kii Peninsula was another big climbing day to Ryujin Onsen.
These last 3 rides were not huge in miles: only 111. But the total elevation gain was right at 15,000’. Pulling those damn panniers up the hills, was, well, a bit tiring.
The weather forecast has been accurate. It was supposed to rain all day riding out of the Iya Valley, and it did. A winding road through the beautiful steep canyon was even enjoyable in the light rain.
Temple #12 of the Shikoku Pilgrimage. (henro)
It rains often in Japan. Shikoku is covered with steep mountains, and it’s really remote. And I missed the food. I know why this island is one of my favorite cycling destinations in Japan (though, I would prefer less rain).
The first day was short, Maragume to Kotohira, intended to make sure all was well with the bike, get used to the new navigation tools and the new electronic, wireless shifting. It rained off and on all day. Glad it was short.
The second day, Kotohira to Sadamitsu wasn’t too long but had some climbing. The downhill was a bit much: in 4.8 miles I dropped 2500’. Some of the grades exceeded 25%.
After my ride I walked up 1,379 stone steps to a series of temples. I counted them on the way down. The photo of the monk hitting the big drum was on the way down.
Day three was only 40 miles, Sadamitsu to Iya Valley, but I had to ride my touring bike with panniers up 5200’. Most of that gain was one 17 mile climb. The first 11 miles had only 1100’. But the last 6 had 2800’.
It’s supposed to rain solid all day tomorrow. Oh boy.
This trip starts today with my first bike tour here since Japan closed its doors. While I’m doing that, Alison will be visiting friends, staying at a Zendo, and renting a house in Kyoto for a week. I’ll be doing a “Hills and Hot Springs” cycling trip.
First, I ride on Shikoku for 5 days doing 200 miles with 20,000′ of gain. Then I take the ferry from Tokushima to Wakayama, and on the Kii Peninsula I ride 8 days, doing 320 miles and 42,000′ of gain.
After that, I meet up with Alison and we we do a few road trips, spending 4 weeks traveling around Shikoku, Western Honshu, and Hokkaido.
Here’s the bike route:
We spent 3 days in Tokyo before going our separate ways. Did some shopping, visited the Tokyo Photography Museum, wandered around, soaked in the hotel’s spa (Yu, ゆ).
The Pueblo has been inhabited for almost 1,000 years. Currently there are about 1,200 people living there.
On a drive south of Lecce, we saw thousands of olive trees that have been hit by a bacteria that chokes the trees to death. It reached southern Italy in 2013, and since then, it has killed one-third of the 60 million olive trees of Puglia.
The Mediterranean was an amazing color. That’s Alison in a olive press cave.
A stormy sea, a medieval village with LOTS of stone, and an early Antoni Gaudi designed residence.
This trip starts in Bilbao. (Click on an image to launch a slideshow)
El Alpujarra is the southern portion of the Sierra Nevada. The cycling here is about as good as it gets: fantastic roads, great climbs, amazingly courteous drivers, and beautiful scenery.
Cycled a month in Andalusia using Montejaque as my base. The riding there is fantastic. Some photos are below.I also did 3 days of riding on Mallorca, and pretty much hit the highlights Northwest of the Ma-13, covering 185 miles with 19,000’.
On the plus side, Mallorca cycling certainly scores high on my three main criteria for day-trip rides. Roads: mostly perfect and a joy to ride on. Terrain: Loved the climbs and descents, couldn’t ask for a better cycling topography. Scenery: nothing short of spectacular. I have never in my life seen so many recreational cyclists (not counting the likes of commuters in Northern European cities, or Japan). It was truly amazing, which leads me to the not-so-plus-side.
Many places in the world, especially Europe are suffering from “over tourism”. Think, Amsterdam, Rome, Venice, Barcelona and a whole bunch more. In my opinion Mallorca has hit that for cyclists. I never thought I would say this, but I think there are far too may cyclists there. Add the staggering numbers of bikes – and lets face it, when you get those kind of numbers, you’re bound to have a lot or riders who don’t have a ton of experience with that type of cycling – to the endless stream of cars, trucks, and busses, and you get a situation that is less than idillic, and frankly, dangerous at times.
I left Selva pretty early for the climb up to the summit then to drop down to Sa Calobra, and on that initial climb I was alone, and it was wonderful. I was also alone on my descent into Sa Calobra so I could fly down the hill. At the bottom, zero tourists, no cyclists as it was still pretty early. However, on my ascent, as I got past the halfway mark, a phalanx of busses, cars, and a growing wave of cyclists were coming down. As the busses can’t make the turns around the switchbacks very effectively, it requires full attention to keep from getting squashed against the guardrail. Not exactly a peaceful ascent, though, as I was still pretty early, there were sections of serenity that I relished.
The ride to Cap Formentor was also pretty early, but once again, not early enough. There were literally thousands of cyclists, endless cars, and on my return, buses coming up as I got near Port de Pollenca on the final descent.
Would I go back? Maybe, but only if it was convenient, say I was going there to sail, but I would do the rides leaving at Civil Twilight, and made sure I was finished well before noon. I like cycling in Andalucia better, plus there’s more to do here when you’ve finished riding.
Images from Mallorca
After yesterday it was great to have a mostly sunny day on the bike. I normally pick small roads when touring in Japan. But some of today’s roads were really small. And a few of the diversions required a bit of effort to get around, and one road was completely blocked off requiring a total reroute. The ride ended up being 50 miles.
I have three navigation systems running, 1) a Garmin Edge 1030, 2) a Wahoo Element Bolt, and 3) the RWGPS app running on my phone. The Garmin gives me a great map and turn-by-turn directions, the Wahoo gives me instant syncing with my RWGPS website route and custom cues, and the RWGPS app on my phone gives me audio cue prompts. And all three give me vastly different elevation gains for long, hilly rides that have lots of up and downs. Garmin said i climbed 6200’ today. Wahoo said 3950, and RWGPS said 4250.
It felt closer to Garmin, but not 6200’. Maybe 5200, but its hard to tell. Obviously.
This road was a bit of a mess but was very rideable.
This required the removal of all bags so I could climb over the trees carrying my bike.
And yet another one to climb over
Then I saw these signs. Yea, “Therapy Road”. It was therapeutic all right.
And more stuffed characters.