After three trains from Yokohama (two packed commuters, one express on which we were relieved to get seats), we bee-lined for our favourite bike shop in a grain store to be reunited with our bikes. Very pleased to finally have replacement, faster rolling, tyres – my Mezcals were lightly used before Mongolia, with the plan to replace them in Japan – but finding 29″ tyres is very difficult as the few mountain bikes are mostly 27.5″. Also a new chain and the mechanic dealt to the click from my eccentric bottom bracket that had been persistently slightly irritating.

Bonus – these tyres were unwanted by the purchaser of a new bike, so only forty dollars equivalent each. So much faster – don’t tell Rachel.

A little life left in the rear one, more on the front – they may have survived the final month, but I was keen to have slicker tyres too. Rachel had her Mezcals swapped between wheels.

After continuing to enjoy the bike shop’s stock and chatting with the mechanic (he even looked up other bike shops on our route that might have a replacement SRAM chain for Rachel – again, don’t tour Japan with fancy SRAM bits), we eventually pulled ourselves away to repack our bikes at the hostel we’d left most of our luggage, have lunch and resupply.

Found some of my favourite Japanese candy.

Two o’clock by the time we were leaving the city, heading for the hills again. Wahoo!

Bodes well.

Various bike routes and quiet roads across the plains, climbing gently for twenty kilometres.

Bit late to forage for salad ingredients.

Into a much narrower valley, we joined the historic Nakasendo route – an old route connecting Kyoto (former capital) with Edo (now Tokyo, current capital), dotted with beautiful old postal towns. The route is now with popular long-distance walkers, which we’d occasionally see over the next few days.

A rare sighting of an old kei truck.

Not often we saw roofs held down with rocks, only a few in our three months.

Another plus of being back in the hills.

The sleepy main streets of these small towns were delightful to potter up.

Kiso-Hirosawa is famous for its lacquerware. Late in the afternoon we found but one shop still open. The size of it was impressive enough, let alone the beautiful items displaying the craftsmanship – seven generations of expertise over two hundred years showing through. Travelling by bike helped save my money, some nice chopsticks the limit of what extra I could carry.

A locally-owned store gave different, and fewer, options for dinner ingredients – but enough to concoct something when we got to our park for the night. This one had a large covered wooden floor, as well as nearby playground and toilet block. After dinner, I slept on one of trampolines for the night – surprisingly comfortable.

Dawn rain shower was a good reason to stay in bed a bit longer, thankfully our barbecue shelter kept us dry.

Obviously couldn’t find our usual muesli and yoghurt breakfast yesterday.

The observatory was easy enough to work out, what the train in the sky is about – I’m unsure.

Big descent out of the hills first up, five hundred metres in five-ish kilometres, through a few tidy small villages.

Rice drying with raincoats.

Unfortunately the last steep part of the descent was in a long snow tunnel, so we couldn’t see much. After a short section following  river down valley and a michi-no-eki stop, we turned south and regained most of the altitude we’d just lost getting to Miasa.

A smaller climb and drop took us to the outskirts of Omachi, where we had an interesting chat with a ski guide outside a konbini. Rest of the day skirting towns in wide, flat valley floors. Surprised to find a well-maintained cycle path taking us most of the way to Matsumoto.

Signs of recovering from flood damage…

Bit cloudy for much peak viewing, but nice to be surrounded by mountains.

Took a short while to work out what this complex was, big building and large grounds.

An enclosed driving school training area – cars, trucks, motorbikes all over the place.

Some fine examples of grain stores to be seen.

Strangely large bike parking area in what seemed nowhere in particular – but probably was somewhere.

Nearing Matsumoto, it was about now a scratch in my throat developed enough that I couldn’t pretend I wasn’t getting sick. Thankfully we had a few days off the bikes planned.

Blue raincoats now.

Reaching the city, we headed straight for this well-reviewed ramen restaurant; helped by being in an old grain store.

We were not disappointed – best ramen of the trip so far.

Checking into a good hostel, in a restored building, I spent a lot of the rest of the day snoozing and avoiding the heat outside. I did venture out a little later in the evening to see some of the sights.

Matsumoto Castle.

A giant dog!

Giant frogs too, sort of.

Straight into the mountain views as we climbed back up to Sekiyama town and joined a reasonably busy highway.

(Rachel’s photo.)

Turning off the highway gave a quiet road to the deserted summer playground of Lake Nojiro. Seems to have mammoth history; alas too early for the museum to be open.

Crossing the highway, it was quiet through Shinano town as the climbing continued. We joined the Japanese Alps cycling route and soon found a cyclist station. Most of numerous roadside stalls in the area closed, but we got some produce (well, one apple was enough…) and found gelato next door.

(Rachel’s photo.)

The Tokugashi mountains, as well as being beautiful, are some of the most spiritually important in the country – the popularity was understandable. A vast campground was much busier than most we’d seen since peak summer season had recently finished. Unfortunately it was too early in the day to stay there.

For a change there were some dirt trails as we completed the short descent to Tokugashi village – known for its impressive temples and cedar trees.

The steep descent continued as we tried to find somewhere to picnic, strangely failing at first attempt due to some private land. But shortly after turning back into the climbing we found a mountain stream to lunch beside and try to finish that giant apple.

A couple of steeper climbs (especially loaded with overnight food supplies) for the rest of the afternoon taking us through mountain villages, forest and rice fields with changing views of the mountains.

At Ogawa, about 1000 m, we found a large park and small campground over the road from a hotel. All closed, but still serviceable – we camped for the night in the large barbecue shelter.

Forgot to bring our clubs.

Observatory was a good sign, but it clouded over before we got any stargazing in.

Some company keeping an eye on us as we cooked a tasty dinner of meatballs, aubergine on soba noodles.

Due a good sleep after one our bigger days climbing of the trip – all worth it, and it was only 1600 m after all.

Returning to the mainland on a different ferry, from the south of Sado, cut out a fair chunk of riding we’d have had to do from Niigata to fit into our plans to be in Tokyo area in a few days’ time. It also meant that we’d get to see a bit more of Sado, and an early decamp and departure to ensure we had plenty of time to get tickets (can’t rely on that being an easy process).

Flat and coastal initially we had some fun route finding and ended up on a big sea wall and tracks around an industrial complex. That put us back on quiet highway through some coastal towns before a little climbing.

The hills showed us some extensive orchards, some persimmon again and maybe nashi – hard to tell as the paper bags protecting the fruit returned.

At the top of a climb we found these old distance markers from centuries ago.

And also some nice views across the countryside.

Arriving at the ferry terminal with hours to spare, we found it pretty much deserted. Eventually we found an attendant who told us that there were no spaces left for bikes. This seemed unlikely, given the general lack of activity and the size of all the other ferries we’d previously been on. It was recommended we buy tickets anyway and see if we’d get on. Which we did, before going to find somewhere to sit down and have second breakfast.

Crossing the strait in a traditional tub boat did not appeal.

Successfully found a interesting cafe, hot cocoa for a change (along with second breakfast).

Eventually it was time to try our luck at getting on the ferry; not getting across would rather put a tightening implement in the machinery. We queued with a Japanese cycle tourist – still using the same bike after forty-odd years! Kudos to him. The marshals waved us on board first with no problems whatsoever, which was a relief.

Seems unlikely they’d run out of space for bikes.

Now getting used to this level of care.

After a shorter voyage than the one to Sado, we were first off the boat in Joetsu. Hot again, time to find a 7-Eleven lunch before twenty cruisy kilometres of stopbank riding south. An unexpected cathedral and an expected castle, with moat, on the way.

After Myoko, gradual climbing into foothills began – with glimpses of the Japanese Alps in the distance. Very pleasant riding on quiet roads through rice fields.

Rejoining a main road through Sekiyama, half-four felt like a good time to resupply and find somewhere to camp. Dropping down a side road, over the rails took us to a large sports complex. Nowhere suitable to camp around the baseball diamond or athletics track, but on the other side of indoor arena and gym we found a beautiful little park out of sight.