May 2016

Kofu

Posted on 2016-05-07 07:02 by rv

It's now 2PM and it's nice and warm in Kofu. I'm sitting in a Tully's coffee getting unnecessarily frustrated by the impossibly slow internet. Let me start out by ranting about that a bit. Why can't people get wifi right?

Japan especially sucks when it comes to wifi. Many business hotels still supply a lan cable in each hotel room, and to be honest I much prefer that because with wifi you just never know if it's going to work. Yesterday I had a hotel that only had wifi and no lan cable, and for some mysterious reason it only worked in the lobby and not in the room. I'm guessing the router on my floor was messed up, but try telling that to staff whose main task is not to provide you with internet. I did not bother and just sat in the lobby.

No internet is without a doubt a million times better than slow internet. When I know I have the option of having internet I start to depend on it. For example, sometimes I see a 7-11 or Familymart conbini popping up and then I know there's about a 50% chance that they'll have working wifi. I don't even bother with other conbinis any more, they never have working internet. But it's so incredibly frustrating when all you want to do is quickly check the weather, do a google map search or book a hotel, and the internet's just too damn slow, or won't let you sign in. FRUSTRATION.

There's supposedly free wifi almost everywhere for visitors to Japan, where they let you log in with your mobile phone number. But in order to make that work you first need to call a special number to receive a login code. I have never ever managed to connect to that number, or any of its alternatives. I don't know whoever was in charge of building that system, but user testing certainly didn't come into it. FRUSTRATION.

I know I'm getting unreasonably frustrated over this. All I have to do is set everything to airplane mode and not worry about a thing. I think perhaps the cause of my mood is that things have become a routine, and that things are coming to an end. I've got two more days of progress-/luggage-cycling left until I reach Atsugi, which I can't help but consider my obvious trip endpoint. I considered dragging it out by making a detour or having more break days along the way, but in my mind that somehow diminishes the trip. When it ends, it ends. I just have to accept that.

Something that still blows my mind is that more time has passed since I left Atsugi, than the total time I spent in Japan. It's been 6 years since I lived here, and I only lived here less than 5 years. Time will always be the number one thing that interests me in my life.

This morning started out very grey and mildly rainy. The way the weather is like at a place really affects how I think about a place. As such, I didn't get a very good impression of Lake Suwa. Despite me saying that I'm falling into a routine, the morning started out very un-routine-like, with a hotel breakfast that was included. And this time I remembered that my hotel had free breakfast, so I partook. Then I set off onto yet another climb, this time on the way to Kofu.

The climb turned out to be very manageable. The inclines were never very steep and the area stayed populated and rural rather than narrow mountain pass like. It wasn't too much of a climb either, maybe 300 meters max. When I reached the top the road did go down steeply for quite a while. Then it changed to a pleasant downhill slope that carried me all the way to Kofu without using up too much effort. I arrived before lunch, found a Sukiya and then lazed about in the local castle gardens and watched a woman play with her dog. For some reason no one else was there even though it was a beautiful place. It felt really peaceful.

I knew I'd be too early to check in to my hotel, but I went anyway and dropped off my luggage, then found a nearby coffee shop to spend time in. There is real value in sitting somewhere different and just thinking.. and writing. It's something I want to continue doing when I get back to London.

Speaking of London.. today, while I was cycling along a quite busy narrow road, completely comfortable and listening to music, my mind wandered off into random things, and somehow ended up at post-trip worries. My mind's decided that the end is nigh so I might as well start thinking about post-trip actions. I don't want to.. but my mind does. I wish I could control it better. I guess sometimes it's best to just let it wander.

An odd thing I've noticed about myself is how easily my mind wanders after three weeks of cycling. I used to always want to be busy with something, but now I'm just content staring out blankly towards a lake or a mountain for hours on end. That kind of mindset just comes naturally when you're traveling alone, I guess. I enjoy being in this state, but I know I will lose it again when work life starts up again. It can't be helped. There is no possibly way to keep this state of mind and still get work done. I've tried many times and did not succeed. But I also know that I can reach this state of mind any time I want. All I need is a few weeks holiday and a cycling trip :)

Who remembers Fallout 4? Or Skyrim? Or any other RPG with an open world and a million quests? Cycling trips are very much like that. You've got a main quest to fulfill, which is getting to your destination and not missing your flight, but while you're doing that you can make up your own side quests, and sometimes a random stranger comes along and gives you a quest, or helps you with yours. For those of you who haven't played any of those games, the very first time you play a new game like that and discover the world and all of its possibilities, that moment is a magical moment that will not come along often.

Cycling trips are very much a journey of discovery. For my very first trip I did not know anything and kind of went in haphazardly, with a friend to share the experience. Neither of us had expected it would be that difficult, or that amazing, and it was a magical moment to discover the nature of cycling trips. For my first solo cycling trip I had set myself some mad goals right from the get-go, but already I was more aware of the kind of challenges I would face (even though I underestimated them). I genuinely did not know if what I wanted to do was possible. Geographically. Physically. It was all new.

This is my eight big trip. I've done some pretty crazy things. I know the things that are possible. In fact, I can't think of many things that are impossible really. Anything a road bike can do, a touring bike can too. I suspect that anything a mountain bike can do, a well-prepared touring bike can do too, but I haven't ventured into that area yet. What used to be potentially impossible to me is now just difficult. The world has been explored, I've leveled up, done all the side quests. It could be time to try out a new game.. or I could do it all over again somewhere else, or with someone else, or in a different style. A lot of things are possible with experience.

When I reached Kofu the sun had come out and I could see Mount Fuji on the horizon. That's the sign that I'm getting very close to home now. Tomorrow is sunny too, so I will challenge myself with what could be the most difficult day of the trip: the climb into the Fuji five lakes area. It's not very long-distance, but the climb could be severe. I need to prepare for the worst. But it will be the final challenge. It's all downhill from there, literally.

Posted in Spirit of Japan 3

Down and then up and then up and then up...

Posted on 2016-05-06 08:27 by rv

Because camping I woke up early. I always end up going to sleep early when camping because it's just so cold outside, so I tend to wake up early too. I had left a bit of tent flap open so luckily did not have any issues with tent moisture today. After a little packing I was on my way to Matsumoto.

Matsumoto is downhill! It was a very gently constant 1-2% downhill, which made for an easy cycle. The road I had chosen wasn't too wide and there was a fair bit of traffic, but it didn't bother me much. Not after yesterday. Those tunnels really put me on edge, but they also put everything else in perspective. I am able to relax more now.

Due to my early start and the downhill road I actually arrived in Matsumoto at 9:30AM. Can't have that! I was planning to have an easy day, but that's just a bit too easy. I used the station wifi to check out the route towards lake Suwa and booked myself a cheap hotel there. It was a good 35 kilometers away, but I have the whole day, so why not.

I don't regret that decision, especially because I had planned to do Matsumoto - Kofu in one leg, but damn that was tough. I had chosen a fairly direct route via a smaller road, which was fine while I was in a suburban area, but the road eventually changed into a small side road parallel to the big highway, and that's where the trouble began.

The big highway had a steady incline up to the mountain pass that connects the Matsumoto area with the lake Suwa area. The side road however, did not. It would go up extremely steeply to connect to a bridge over the highway, then go down extremely steeply again to a normal height. So instead of suffering normally on an 8%-ish incline, I did a 15% uphill, then a ±5% downhill, then a 15% uphill again. And again. And again. I was completely exhausted by the time I actually reached the mountain pass.

Since I had climbed that much already to even reach the mountain pass I was hoping that it would just go down again to connect with the lake area. After every hill, every corner, I hoped to see the end of the 'slow traffic' line that signifies a steep uphill road, and after every hill and every corner I was wrong. It was only at the very end of the mountain pass, when I was already able to see the lake, that the road started to go down again. According to the stats I've climbed 600 meters less than yesterday, but it felt a lot worse. At least yesterday's road was gradual and predictable.

It had been mildly cloudy all day but when I finally entered the lake Suwa area it really got gray. The cycling path around the lake was utter crap. It was full of bumps and side roads and steep edges. Definitely not the way you should design a cycle path. The dark clouds soon turned into rain just before I found my hotel. Hopefully it'll be better tomorrow.

Posted in Spirit of Japan 3

The climb to Lake Kizaki

Posted on 2016-05-05 07:49 by rv

It's been quite a day. Everything went exactly as planned, I guess, since the suffering and the long uphill road with all the tunnels was part of the plan. Yesterday was a day where I could almost get away with zero effort and still get to where I wanted to go, but today I had to go all out. You can't half-ass a hill. Sometimes I plan out a route the evening before, and I tell myself 'I should be able to do at least this speed on this incline'. But the next day, after an hour of climbing, I'm just doing whatever my body is capable of. So tired.

I started out early and left Itoigawa to turn onto the long road leading to Matsumoto around 7:30AM. I had expected to have to climb immediately but the road went through a nice valley for about 10 kilometers before the steepness began. And the tunnels. I knew they were coming because I had scouted out the route, but tunnels are just never ever fun. They're cold, dangerous and noisy. I had my blinkenlights on all the time, and later switched to a coat, because despite the uphill effort I still got cold. My early start paid off though. Until 9AM I hardly saw any cars, and the first tunnels were actually quiet and easy to cycle. Also, I saw wild monkeys near a tunnel entrance! Much nice.

That changed as I approached Hakuba. There were several really long mildly-uphill tunnels that were pretty tiring, and by that time traffic was in full swing. It still wasn't too busy thanks to golden week and probably because not many people start from Itoigawa to get to Matsumoto, but there was a fairly constant stream cars going past me now. One tunnel was 2 kilometers long, and when it was over you could already see the start of the next tunnel. Yesterday I had fun slacking off in the wind, taking side roads, enjoying the fact that there was no traffic, but today I really had to push for it. There's only one road that goes to Matsumoto. If I want to go there that's my only choice. (Well, that, or the /other/ road to Matsumoto that's even longer and more difficult.)

When the tunnel stage ended I was getting closer to Hakuba, and the climb got less steep. That's when the wind got its revenge on me for yesterday. It wasn't quite as strong as yesterday, but much more unpredictable. I don't know what's going on in Hakuba, but it felt as if winds from several directions were all merging and causing chaos right where I was cycling. It was still uphill, so I wasn't going too fast to begin with, but with every sudden gust of wind I slowed down to a crawl. One of them nearly blew me off my bike when I was standing still to take a photo. The view of the mountains west of Hakuba was impressive, with rain clouds just hanging against them, unmoving. Some raindrops came my way but not many. I was heading towards the blue blue sky.

The climbing never really got difficult again after Hakuba, but the winds didn't let up until much later. My goal today was to reach Lake Kizaki, mainly because it's near in the middle between Itoigawa and Matsumoto, but also because of yet another mini anime pilgrimmage. Lake Kizaki is apparently the inspiration for an anime called Onegai Twins, an anime that I watched a long long time ago and wouldn't really recommend to anyone, but hey, why not right? Kasumi disappointed, Lake Kizaki did not. It's beautiful. And rural, and not too busy.

I went to the campsite I had planned to go, half expecting to be disappointed because it might be full, annoyingly crowded or expensive. It was none of those things! It only cost me 1300 yen to stay the night, and they let me camp anywhere I liked, so I chose a spot right next to the lake with a beautiful view. As I'm writing this the one noisy group of people has disappeared and only a few people with smaller tents remain. I still have not ever seen anyone else with an orange tent. After I set my tent up I went for a cycle around the lake without luggage, taking a bunch of photos along the way. It felt great to not have to hurry and not have to push all the luggage around, but at the same time my legs did feel a bit tired from the morning climb.

After cycling around the lake I went back to the camp site and asked for a chair. They have chairs! I spent most of my time here sitting in the chair or walking around nearby, listening to music and taking photos. It feels really peaceful here. Every half hour or so a one or two-car train passes by the lake, passing by all the local train stations. There's exactly one boat on the lake, with two old men in it, fishing. One guy lay sleeping at the tip of the pier for hours, while some kids were playing with their fishnets on the pier next to it. It's all so wholesome.

In all truth, I am freezing my bloody ass off right now. I'm wearing 4 layers and I'm still cold. It's kinda hard to self-reflect and be all philosphical and shit if you're freezing cold. Oh well. I'm very happy with the down sleeping bag I bought a few years ago. It's amazingly warm. With my old sleeping bag I used to worry that I'd be too cold, but with the new one I know that that's just not possible. While I sit outside on this chair though, I freeze..

I'm really glad I came here and camped. I don't camp often, but when I do... it is kind of epic. I had a similar experience during the Hokkaido cycling trip, where I also didn't camp too often, and had some bad camping moments too, but right near the end I had a perfect camping day. That's what this feels like too. When camping is good, it's amazing. It's good to mix up the business hotels with other things once in a while. In moderation.

I remember reading an article about how one half of your brain is awake when you're sleeping in a new place. There's no way that that's the case when you're frequenting various Japanese business hotels. They're literally all the same. It's really all just one room in a parallel dimension that changes slightly every time you open the door.

Whenever I'm at a place like this I can't help but wonder how it is best appreciated. Is it by the travelers, seeking a place to sleep while they're going from A to B? Or is it for the people having social events? Or tourists, who go here by car, look around and then go home again? I also wondered, while looking at the awesome scenery, if I would be happier if I owned everything I could see, and then immediately thought 'no'. Owning is probably the opposite of freedom. Some ownership is required to not die and have a certain standard of life, but beyond that I think it only weighs you down. Buying things is fun. Owning things isn't. Coming back to who best appreciates a place like this camp site, maybe the people who own the least appreciate it the most? Something I will think about.

Matsumoto isn't too far now, and shouldn't be as tough of a climb as today was. I'm not entirely confident in this, but it seems that Matsumoto to Kofu may be a fair bit downhill. So the next climb that will be tougher than today will likely be the one that takes me to the Fuji five lakes area. Let's not think too much about that yet.

Posted in Spirit of Japan 3

Be Sailboat

Posted on 2016-05-04 08:17 by rv

Today marks the last day of my coastal adventures. I had been expecting an average, perhaps slightly easy, day of cycling. It could have been raining, hilly and with the wind against me. But the universe gave me a break today. It was sunny, flat and the wind was powerfully on my side. Today was probably one of the most successful cycling days I've ever done.

I started off cycling north towards the coast and noticed that there were hardly any cars around. This must have something to do with golden week, as well as some of the roads I've chosen. The roads were not the most direct route to the destination, and those roads are always the best for cycling. They're quiet and lovely. Today I started out on a coastal cycling path and then switched to regional roads going through sleepy Japanese villages and wide-open rice field plains. Later the land became wedged between mountain and ocean and there was a bit of tricky coastal road, but it was all good fun. All thanks to the wind.

That amazing wind. I encountered a few cyclists going the other way today, and they were suffering like mad. The wind was insanely strong. Without doing anything it would occasionally propel me to speeds of around 35kph, and in one instance it actually blew me up a 3% incline that I had began to slow down from. Even when the wind was less strong I had no problem keeping up a pace of around 30kph, with significantly less effort than it would have taken any other day. It was fantastic.

Of all the traffic participants I seemed to be the most positively affected by the wind. Walkers were annoyed by the wind, motorbikes slowed down a lot to avoid being blown over by sudden gusts. Road cyclists going my direction didn't dare go fast because their bikes are so unstable, and one gust could blow them off the road. I, on the other hand, was cycling on a supremely stable sailboat with loads of surface area for the wind to blow on, and loads of very well-balanced weight to keep the bike stable. I had a blast. The best part was thinking to myself "I don't have to go back the same way today". I just couldn't keep the smile off my face.

It was tricky at times, especially when the road turned a bit and put me in a crosswind. If you're not going exactly the right direction then the wind can be very quick to suddenly give you a nudge towards a gutter or into a car. But those bits did not come often and most of the time the wind was near-enough in my cycling direction. The best part was getting up to about 30kph, which must have been around wind-speed, because the sound of the wind disappears and everything just gets perfectly quiet. You can hear the wind shearing past signs and houses, and you can see it making waves in the water that lay on the rice fields, but at the right speed it did not affect my bike at all. There was just serene silence. And music. Excellent music.

When the plains ended the road became a bit more hilly, and a lot more tunnely. As I was about to head into quite a long tunnel I noticed a side road going around, so I took that instead. It led me onto an amazing walking path that ended up at a famous site which is better described here. It used to be one of only two ways to the west of Japan. It was an unexpected monument and it really me appreciate more the roads that I am traveling on. It also did a great job of making me feel like a traveler.

Thanks to the amazing wind I did 80kph in 4 hours and ended up in Itoigawa quite early. According to the cyclocomp I've climbed 600 meters during those 80 kilometers, but I hardly have any recollection of it. The wind just made it so easy. I really almost felt like the day ended too quickly. But it was too late to do another 60 kilometers in the mountains and find accommodation.

I had planned to camp in Itoigawa because I couldn't find any hotels online, but since I was in the center of town I had a look around. The very first hotel I went to was cheap and had room, so I reserved it. I cycled to the campsite anyway, but it was quite a climb. 10-15% inclines.. When I finally reached the top it turned out to be a posh holiday park thing with tennis courts and baseball courts, so I decided I was happy with my hotel room instead.

The end of the trip is nigh! It's still a good week to get back, but I'm starting to feel the mood shifting towards an end. I'm a bit sad about it ending, but I remember when, at the end of the second trip, I tried to extend it by doing another stretch, which ended up just not feeling right after a while. A proper end must be had.

I am 50 kilometers away from Joetsu, which is where I took the ferry to Sado island on my second big trip. I'll be in Matsumoto soon, where I've been once before, with good friends and great memories. After that it's not long to the Fuji five lakes area, which is where I started my very first solo cycling trip, now over six years ago. I've been to the five lakes area many times, with many people, and it's an area that's hard to forget. I'll be spending some time there before taking the same road back to Atsugi that I started on all those years ago. I've come full circle. Kind of. Minus a few bits of coast. But it's the thought that counts :)

Posted in Spirit of Japan 3

Nope

Posted on 2016-05-02 13:42 by rv

Today was tiring. I started out heading towards the coast and found a lovely road that was wide, smooth and didn't have too much traffic on it. Then I noticed a sign for a cycling road, but I was kind of happy on my current road so I ignored it. Then I saw another sign, and then another, so finally I followed the signs onto a steep bridge and then down again, and suddenly I was surrounded by big fat hornets doing suicide runs on my face. I managed to avoid them as best I could and reached the seaside cycling road just beyond the hornet danger. The cycling road was.. nonexistent. It was a sand path. What the fuck, Kanazawa? You think that's a cycling road? Seriously poor show. I had to go back through the hornets to get back to the nice road.

You'd think I'd learn from that experience, but noooooo. A few decakilometers later I saw another seaside path that looked enticing, so I took it. It was really nice for the first 5 kilometers or so, but the next 15 kilometers were just completely monotonous pedal-pushing, with a noisy highway on the right side and a very dirty, garbage-ridden beach on the left. And nothing else. For 15 kilometers. To make matters worse the path that started out only slightly bumpy became worse and worse, and some bits were basically made up of independent concrete slabs that were not aligned very well, leaving a gap of several centimeters between them. So every 5 meters or so I would hit one of those gaps and my tires would cry, my luggage would jump and my butt would hurt. Seriously, Kanazawa, you call that a cycling path? You do not know what cycling means.

I arrived in the center of Kanazawa well before noon, and for a while wasn't sure what to do. Should I cycle further or see if I can find some local hotels and laze about town? I decided to have a look at Kenrokuen first to see if it wasn't too busy for me to have a look. But even before I got there I knew I wouldn't stay in Kanazawa for the night. Trying to navigate through the center of town was just madness: tourists everywhere, entire classes of school children, various foreigners or various levels of annoyingness, and traffic stuck in a standstill full of tourists trying to find a place to park, packed so tight together that it was hard to even get around it by bicycle. Definitely not my idea of fun. I turned around and cycled the fuck out of there. Kenrokuen will have to happen on another trip. I would much rather prefer to be in a place that's only 90% as nice as Kenrokuen if it means that there'll only be 10% the amount of people there. People ruin places.

On the bright side, the weather was absolutely perfect today. It's finally warm enough for me to not have to worry about being too cold, no matter what I do on the bike. I could be drenched in sweat from an uphill and it'll just dissipate happily without me getting too chilled. Lovely. Well, partially lovely. I'd hate to complain even about this, especially considering I love this weather, but my body isn't built for it. I cycled in shorts today because it was nice and warm, and despite all the sun lotion I applied to myself every few hours one of my legs got seriously sunburned. My face was already starting to come off from the sun from the days before, and today only made it worse. I took a sun break today mid-afternoon, not sure if it helped much. It was a good break though.

Side note: many strange insects have been on me. I've had something fly into my eye twice, despite my cap usually deflecting things. Today something managed to fly up one of my nostrils. I blew it out. Various weird and dangerous-looking insects have been stuck in my cycle shirt, but I always managed to brush them off. A lot of creatures seem to be doing suicide attacks on me and are specifically targeting my holes.

Since I was on the road again I decided to cycle on to Toyama, which was a good 60 kilometers away. I took a road that seemed like a fairly direct route, and also had a highway/bypass next to it so would hopefully not be too busy. The road was indeed not too busy. It was also way steeper than I expected it to be. I knew it would cut through a bit of mountain but didn't think it would climb 200+ meters.. It was a pretty tiring climb, but good fun compared to the ridiculous climbs in the Tottori area. And after the climb it was all flat roads all the way down to Toyama.

Good progress was made today. I did three days worth of cycling in two, but I'm about to undo that. I cycled myself into a corner, sort of, although most of it can be blamed on golden week. It's just so insanely busy everywhere during golden week that all hotels are either sold out or insanely expensive. Also, rain is expected with high certainty the day after tomorrow. I'm not confident that I can get decent accommodation at my next destination, and I don't want to get caught by the rain in a shitty campsite in the middle of nowhere. Again. So I'm taking the next two days to relax, recover, not get sunburned and maybe do some bike maintenance. The brakes are the next part that needs some work. That, and maybe a new front tire.

I had real trouble finding a hotel for tomorrow. Today I got lucky because booking.com provided me with a last-minute discount, but trying to book a hotel for tomorrow on booking.com meant prices that were triple the nice rate. I could wait it out and hope for a discount rate tomorrow as well, but given how everything's sold out already and there's rain on the way I'd rather not risk it. I considered cycling to the next town and camping tomorrow, then booking a hotel for the (rainy) day after, but there's no guarantee that'll work either. There seemed to be no safe and comfortable option for me anywhere within cycling distance.

A solution presented itself, but I don't know if I just got really lucky (I mean: used my fantastic hotel-finding skills) or if things just aren't as fully booked as I imagined. I marked a bunch of hotels on my map and took a walk around town. The first hotel looked ridiculously sleazy and I didn't even bother asking. The second and third hotel were fully booked. The fourth hotel had space, and was cheap, and had coin laundry, so I booked it for two nights. I'm quite pleased with this discovery. The hotel is in a meh location but it has all the business-y-ness of business hotels, and is way cheaper than anything I could find online.

I'm taking a chance on the weather report. If the rain hits early then I waste an extra day here. If the rain hits late then I'll be cycling in the rain, or will have to take another rain day. If that happens I won't have many slack days left. So let's hope that doesn't happen.

Posted in Spirit of Japan 3

A mad dash north

Posted on 2016-05-01 08:34 by rv

Today was a day that did not go according to plan. It went better than planned. Much better.

From Tsuruga about halfway to Kanazawa. That was the plan for today. I had intended to cycle along the coast for about half the day and then turn in to a mountain road that veered off towards the city of Fukui, inbetween two mountain ranges. The reason I planned it that way is because of trauma from the 'coastal' roads after Tottori, which were just utter shite really. Way too steep, way too zigzaggy, and nothing useful in ways of facilities along the way.

Turns out, none of those things are true about the coastal road going north to Kanazawa. The 305 was a fantastic cycling route: extremely flat, beautiful scenery along the way and loads of restaurants and vending machines. The weather was great too: nice and warm, and with a slight tailwind cycling was good fun. On the fly I decided not to take the mountain road and just kept going along the coast. I had worried that it would take forever if the roads were hilly and the wind was against me, but everything was in my favor and I made excellent distance. Note to self: must take photo of caterpillar crossing the street. There's always so many of them in the morning.

Everything went great until I got to the end of the coastal road and back into populated area. There was a camp site I had marked which was a bit out of the way of the main road. That 'bit' turned out to be a 10 kilometer detour through a fairly hilly road full of annoying tourists and overcrowded tourist attractions. I was even stuck in a traffic jam for a few minutes. Yuck. You can definitely tell that golden week is in full swing. Tourists everywhere.

When I got to the camp site it wasn't very busy yet. I soon found out why: it cost 4500 yen. The only was I can describe my reaction to that price is: that is just fucking ridiculous. No motherfucking campsite is worth more motherfucking money than a motherfucking cheapass business hotel. No matter how fancy you think your shitty camp site is, there's just no way it would be as nice to stay at as a hotel, so if you're going to ask for that much money it's pretty clear that you're targeting rich-ass tourists. I literally told the guy: (accidentally in a voice that was probably a bit too loud >_<;) "Way too expensive! I can't do that. I'll find someplace else". So I did. And I didn't.

I cycled on to the second (and last) camp site I had marked in the area, which was quite close to a massive theme park, which was clearly crazy busy. Unlike the camp site, which did not seem to exist. I didn't mind much at that point. If it had existed it would likely have been expensive and touristy as well.

From there I had two options: cycle to a nearby town to find a hotel, which wasn't quite in the wrong direction, but it wasn't much in the right direction either. Or option two: just cycle on to Kanazawa and see what I'll find on the way. With 95km on the cyclocomp I went for option two.

After some inefficient cycling on some local roads I managed to get back on the 305 heading north. I saw a very direct road leading straight to Kanazawa and figured it'd be loaded with conbinis and other useful stuff, so I could make it a long cycle day without any issues. But when I got near the direct road it turned out to be the highway bypass road thingie, which means no cycles allowed. I changed direction and had to cycle another few kilometers to get back onto a road that actually went anywhere. Amazingly, just as I got to the junction, there was a lovely conbini waiting for me. I really needed a proper break.

With my mind still set on cycling all the way to Kanazawa I quickly checked the internet for weather, and snuck a peek at the booking.com app for nearby hotels. I didn't except much from it really, and when the first hit was an onsen hotel 30 kilometers away for 90000 yen per night I was about to close the app immediately, but then I saw the second hit: a cheap-ish business hotel less than 2 kilometers from my current location! Woohoo! I did not expect that. It was in the wrong direction but I figured it was worth a detour.

So now I am in a place called Daishoji and I have no idea what's there to see around here. My legs hurt like hell but I'm still kind of curious to explore the area. In the end I haven't saved myself a day in terms of progress. Kanazawa is still a half-day cycle away, and any further destination would be just a little bit too far. Since I've got time I'd rather take some more interesting roads and zigzag around a bit, rather than rush to the finish.

JMA's weather report keeps changing every time I look at it. Yesterday it said that Tuesday would be dry, now it says that there's a 70% chance of rain on Tuesday. They're kinda crap, really. Only useful for the immediate next day, and even then they can be pretty wrong. I'm not too worried for the next few days, since I'll be in a fairly populated area. There'll be places to hide under if the rain hits.

One last thing: biker gangs are bloody annoying. They ruin nature and every single place they visit.

Posted in Spirit of Japan 3

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