Solo Tour of Japan & Shimanami Kaido Event Part 2

by Brianin Aichi, Ehime, Hiroshima, Japan, Kagawa, Kanagawa, Mie, Nara, Osaka, Shizuoka, Tokushima, Wakayamaon Posted on

Day 3 - Hamamatsu to Nagoya

Another convenient breakfast and look, more meatballs hehe big breakfast today, leaving about 715am... hoping the routes work better.
Earlier in the morning along route 301 I noticed this off to the side of the road so I took a little detour to get a better look. Just seems like a random torii gate out on the water, still nice to look at.
Not a whole lot to take pictures of today. Weather was very warm and it was pretty much just a straight shot to Nagoya so the most interesting thing was actually the torii gate in the morning. I noticed there are plenty of nice temples/shrines, old towns that seem comparable to Kamakura/Kawagoe but not nearly as crowded... maybe just harder to get to?
Sooo, I was really craving Mos Burger but didn't come across one and I was running out of water. Had to settle for McDonald's but that strawberry shake sure tasted delicious. Stopped in around 1220pm.
I was actually falling asleep after eating, and it was still really hot outside so I didn't leave right away. Actually, there were pretty drastic temperature changes going from hills to flats to oceanside, maybe 10 degF differences (5degC). Also noticed it's much more comfortable shifting/using gopro with full gloves on.
After arriving in Nagoya I rode straight to the castle with all my things still on me. Wanted to get there before it closed.
Nagoya Castle
There was also a Hawaii tour group walking around while I was here... interesting how you can just pick them out of a crowd usually.
Didn't go into the castle this time since I was pretty tired, had all my bags on me, and it was getting to be near closing time. Lots of people looking at me weird since I was walking around with all my gear and only cycle shorts on.
The Hotel B in Nagoya where I stayed. Never thought there was much to see/do in Nagoya to warrant a separate trip by train for here alone so it was good to see the highlights and central part of the city at least. Maybe there's more to do here afterall?
No bicycle parking at the hotel so had to walk about 2 blocks up to the bus transfer station where I could keep my bicycle overnight.
Overall, a much flatter city than expected (as in no skyscraper buildings)
Center of the city were many shopping malls, some fancier than others but I definitely felt too underdressed to wander around in any. Not a big shopper anyway.
Nagoya TV Tower in the back there
Found a funny chicken sign restaurant with an easy enough looking menu close to the hotel.
Was hungry again so tried what seemed to be there famous fried chicken and some kimchee noodle dish... service was a little slow and food was just ok, nothing life changing.
Even the dessert was just ok.

Main route was 152 > 257 > 301 > 3 > 1.  Route 301 had the nice torii gate in the morning.  Route 3 was very wavy with rolling hills, not so difficult. 

Route 1 was forced to ride mostly on the sidewalk which was one of the most irritating parts of the trip.  Too many speedbumps, random bumps, harsh/abrupt curbs, even at intersections have to slow down a lot because of transitions and crosswalk is not straight across.  Streets are really not designed with bicycle users in mind and most drivers don’t care either.  Lots of reasons for this as I’ve learned over time but still frustrating on this kind of lengthy trip.

Short little weave back to the hotel from the castle.

Day 4 - Nagoya to Nara

Left around 725am today.  Had to check my phone map a lot and it was very slow getting out of the city.  Little bit of rain starting out, many people on bicycles, especially school kids… pretty cold too (could see own breath).  Was frustrating in the city (common theme) and on route 23 was forced to ride on the sidewalk again… my notes express my frustration more strongly but just a lot of bumps, bushes, holes, gravel, rocks, cracks, bad transitions again. The bike was handling very slippery like and at one point I was forced onto the road at a short bridge, hitting my crotch on the saddle which was just very painful and miserable for the rest of the day.

I thought I'd be lucky if I could go the entire week with good weather but alas, this day the rain came.
Always looks a little goofy with the camera (2nd gen gopro) on the helmet... but had to make a pit stop to charge the watch a little bit and no food places in sight this part of the mountain. By this point, I've already been riding far from the city and into the lonely mountains. Some of the best scenery but also the worst weather so more video and less pictures this day. I am completely soaked and freezing now so I couldn't stay still very long. Oh yeah, and there were small crabs on the road near the rivers too.. thought that was entertaining while I was riding.
I didn't want to, but I had to stop to eat something (around 240pm)... I ordered this large size curry hoping it would warm me up but that only lasted about 5 minutes. As I was standing in Sukiya, trying to dry off my things and warm up a bit, I just became more cold and couldn't stop shivering. The workers were probably wondering why I wasn't leaving but this was, I think even now, the hardest part of the trip mentally for me.... to go back outside into the rain for the second half of the day.
Towards the end of the day, the rain went away mostly or slowed to a drizzle mostly so I could take a few more pictures. My gopro was dead at this point so ran out of video.
Just a bunch of small farm villages and probably 95% old people living/working in these places... usually in all the mountains I've crossed. Always thinking what kind of life style that is, who takes care of them at such an age, what happens with the land after they pass, do they have family to visit them? All random things that pop into my head as I see things.
Just rivers, valleys and mountains
And many bridges
One of the last crossings to Nara in the second set of mountains
Upriver from the bridge. I thought it wasn't too much farther to Nara and it would be easy from here but I was sorely mistaken. The last pass was way more climbing than I thought (switchbacks)... it got much darker much quicker than I anticipated, went a little off route, riding in the mountains, it started raining again, pitch black roads with nothing but my bike light, fell off the road into a ditch going uphill at one point and freaked out when something large moved next to me in the trees after that. Downhill in the rain and dark is very scary too, especially with it being so cold, soaking wet, and not able to wear my glasses to see much because of the rain/fog.
Definitely the hardest day of the trip (but the first day was a very close second). I took this picture because I was here almost a year prior and took the same picture. There was just something about having been here by train, and now by bicycle... the feeling is hard to describe but somewhere along the lines of disbelief, nostalgia, relief, pride, etc.
A look of the hostel type place I stayed in (picture actually taken the next morning)
Look through the community kitchen
First time staying in such a place... I usually avoid if possible but not many options in Nara that are economically feasible given all the circumstances.
Get one locker for all your things... the rest is just kept beside... but at least Japan is safer than most other places.. I would not do this type of place again, simply because one guy was farting, another guy was talking in his sleep, another guy stayed up late, the light stays on, and mostly I just don't trust other people, especially when I'm tired, been cold/wet all day, and just want to sleep in peace. On a positive note however, the staff was very nice and accommodating, even welcoming me with English and a towel while laughing at the seemingly insane foreigner who arrived late at night on a bicycle, soaking wet from Nagoya (I was kind of laughing at myself too).
Walked towards Nara station to where I remembered the shopping street was to find something warm and wholesome to eat. This ended up being a great choice, simply because free refills on rice/cabbage/miso soup which is typical of these type of katsu restaurants.
Filled my belly good, so satisfied I almost fell asleep in the restaurant again hehe

Just getting away from the city was a pain…

First mountains had some amazing views, unfortunately most are just in my memory as my gopro died and too wet for camera.

That last part was just very difficult as mentioned earlier and not a good situation to be in… this would also play a part in my decision a few days later in Naruto.

Anyway, to be continued!

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