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  • Silver Week 2026 – Day 10

    Posted on by micha Comment

    Zao to Tokyo

    Weather: rain and heavy clouds with intermittent sun. 15C in the morning, with a high of 24C in Tokyo.
    Distance: ~490km

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    Today was a day of epic roads, mostly spoiled by rain and/or slow cars and some unexpected highlights.

    Woke up early to rainy weather. As it was still some time to breakfast, I uploaded some photos to my albums. I asked for a smaller breakfast, but it was still more than enough food, and very delicious. As the rain didn’t let up as predicted I finally left around 8:30 and decided that I was going to do my planned roads after all despite the miserable weather.

    First up was the Zao Echo Line, a fantastic and very scenic road curving up and over the Zao mountains. I’d ridden it before in the other direction, and I was hoping to take a bit more time this time around and stop at some waterfalls and views. But there was nothing to see due to rain and fog – at least, not until I got over the other side when the clouds lifted, the rain stopped, and there was a bit of a view.

    I had originally planned to do the 399 heading south, but at the last minute switched it to the 13/133 instead which, as it turned out, I had ridden before. I didn’t realise until I got to the Shichikashuku Dam which looked strangely familiar..  I guess there was a reason I had planned to do the 399 instead lol. On the way I also stopped for a quick break for an ice-cream, and a nice surprise was that the place I had stopped at was also the location of the … waterfall! If From there I went and rode the Bandai Azuma Skyline which, like the Zao Echo Line, was mostly wrapped in thick fog and some rain which is a shame, as this road leads through some amazing volcanic terrain and I was hoping to get a different view of it going the other way. I guess I’ll have to come back someday.

    From here my plan was to head back to Tokyo on the highways, but the weather was finally clearing a bit and, due to not really stopping anywhere, I was still pretty early in the day. So a brief cafe-break at a 7-11 had me decide to go to a waterfall, which was also marked as a BMW Mileage Rally waypoint. Turning out of the parking lot I was stuck behind a huge queue of cars, trucks, and other bikes, so a brief check of the GPS showed a couple of regional roads leading roughly in the right direction, so I peeled off the main road (much to the dismay of my GPS) and ended up having the best part of the day, leading through some really nice rural areas and great little roads with little to no traffic, especially as the sun was making a bit of a break through the clouds as well.

    The waterfall stop turned out to be an overlook quite far away from the waterfall, which still looked impressive even from this distance. I have no idea whether it’s possible to reach the base of the waterfall, but it would be a pretty lengthy hike. As a hidden bonus I saw a sign for an onsen, and, grabbing a towel, I walked the 400m or so to get to it (no vehicle access). This turned out to be a real hidden gem, a very traditional rambling place, half museum, half onsen, set deep in the forest next to a river. I enjoyed a good hot soak and a bit of a chat with another visitor, Tatsua-san, from Utsunomiya.

    In the gathering dark I jumped back on the bike, headed out of the forest, and did the last 200km or so back home on the highway. Apart from one slowdown due to an accident, traffic flowed very well and I mostly cruised between 100-120kmh, so ended up home just after 20:00. A bit of a mixed-bag of a day, some early disappointments, but also some nice roads and a fantastic end to the trip!


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  • Silver Week 2026 – Day 9

    Posted on by micha Comment

    Ryusendo (Iwata) to Zao

    Weather: heavy clouds all day with some showers. 15C in the morning, with a high of 21C during the day but mostly cooler.
    Distance: ~400km

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    Today was a day of mostly following the 45 along the east coast..

    Woke up later around 6:30, then had a huge breakfast and was finally ready to leave by around 8am. It was pretty fresh heading off to the coast, where I picked up the start of the 45. The GPS kept trying to push me onto the E45, but what’s the point of a motorcycle tour if you just sit on the highway between stops. The point is to ride cool roads.

    Overall the 45 is a very mixed bag – long slow stretches following cars with yellow lines, but also the occasional faster stretches with nice curves and views. All up it was rather sobering to be riding along the coastline which had been devastated by the tsunami. The entire coast is now huddled behind a 14m high concrete wall and it’s impossible to see the ocean unless one is up on a hill. I guess everybody feels better this way, especially with the devastation still such a recent memory. But as an outsider it is difficult to understand, it seems to me it would be better to rebuild the towns higher up in the hills and leave the coast for farmland with the risk that it might get inundated once every 50-100 years or so. The way the coast is wrapped in concrete is very ugly to me and I can’t see many people coming to visit these places anymore.

    But for the people who live with the memory of this disaster, and seeing all the empty places where once houses and villages stood, I guess it is not such a high price to pay.

    Unfortunately I made a few poor choices with my stops today.. I went to see a few coastal highlights such as interesting rock formations, but overall they weren’t all that spectacular.. and while I did stop at a small tsunami memorial, for some reason I had neglected to put the big one on my route for today. In retrospect that would have been a far better stop.

    One place which I did not regret going to is a daibutsu, a giant buddha statue overlooking the coast. Always quite impressive and I didn’t realize that Japan has so many of these dotted around all over the place.

    Overall it was a bit of a rushed day as I had quite a lot of distance to cover, and I did not want to do it on the highways. At the end of the day it was quite good that I didn’t stop too often since I got to the property just as it was getting dark. Even though it was still well before sundown, the heavy clouds made it much darker than it should have been.

    The place I sopped for the night, Dari Pension, is run by a guy who has accumulated a pretty impressive whiskey collection – over 800 bottles! After onsen and dinner I sat down and tried a couple, chatting with the owner as good as I could with my broken japanese and lots of Google Translate..


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  • Silver Week 2026 – Day 8

    Posted on by micha Comment

    Oma to Ryusendo

    Weather: mostly sunny to heavy overcast.  Low of 14C in the morning, brief high of 22C, then cooler again.
    Distance: 360km

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    Today was a day of a lot of great roads, unexpected highlights, and caves.

    Woke up before 6am, got ready, and left to a mostly sunny morning. First stop was the top of the cape, which was almost deserted, so I managed to get a nice pic of my bike in front of the statues. From there I had decided to detour over the mountains to visit a lookout I had spotted the day before. Picking a slightly different road to the one suggested by the GPS got me to a spot where I smelled sulphur in the forest, and, sure enough, a few corners further on was a bare patch of ground with some steam rising from it.

    This turned out to be my first unexpected highlight of the day. There is a temple on top of the mountain, the Orosezan Bodaji, which is built right on top of the last remaining heat on this mostly extinct volcano. Surprisingly it was already open for visitors at shortly past 7am! Apart from it being quite a nice temple the entrance fee also lets visitors wander amongst some small fumaroles. Oddly enough a lot of them were surrounded by stacked piles of rocks with dozens of brightly coloured plastic windwheels stuck i them.. I had been meaning to find something volcanic so this was a very welcome, if somewhat unexpected, fulfillment.

    From there it was on to the observatory, but part-way along the access road a gate blocked my way. Nothing for it but to turn back, When I got to the junction with the main road, a couple of workers had just pulled up. I briefly asked them about the closed road and they said the observatory doesn’t open until 8:30.. so it was either wait, or skip it. I chose the latter as I was sick of arriving at my destinations after dark..

    From there I enjoyed a lot of great roads, mostly through farmland. At one stage I was following Route 45, and decided to actually follow its full loop rather than take the GPS-suggested shortcut, and to my surprise, the 45 suddenly turned into a little farm gravel road, which then petered out even more into a very overgrown track, at which point I decided that I had had enough of dirt roads which then end up blocked, and turned back.

    My next waypoint was the Amber Museum, or so I thought. It turned out to be a ramen shop, which I presumably had picked just for the routing, and I arrived there at the same time as the owner who looked at me rather amusedly as they unlocked the shop.. It was too early for lunch anyway, so I kept going. Quite a bit further on was the Amber museum, which was alright. They even had some information in english, and covered a little bit of the history of amber. Turns out the amber found in Japan is amongst the oldest, dating back to 85million years ago, well into the age of dinosaurs.

    Not much further down the road was Akkado Cave, well worth a visit! This was my second unexpected highlight. It’s nowhere near as famous as nearby Ryusendo Cave, but I almost liked it more as it was a more natural experience with limited infrastructure and even a couple of side-tunnels which are completely unlit and which you’re still allowed to crawl into. This cave is also Japan’s longest at 23.6km deep, although only the first 500m are developed and open to the pubic. Apparently there is an 8-hour guided tour into the depths.. Had a nice little chat with the proprietor, I think he was a bit bored and just wanted someone to talk to. I guess not so many people go there overall, certainly not many on a Friday afternoon!

    Finally I headed to Ryusendo Onsen, my hotel for the night, where I also got a ticket to Ryusendo Cave. I quickly dashed to the cave, and wow, completely different experience but also extremely worthwhile as there is an underground river flowing along most of the pulic area, as well as 3 underground lakes with lights suspended in their depths. The ticket is also good for the “science cave” across the road. Before the river cut through the gorge it was a single cave system. The science cave is definitely also worth a visit – while the “science” bit is a bit dated, the cave itself has much better stalactites than the main cave, although doesn’t come anywhere near the scale of it,

    Finally back to the hotel for onsen and dinner. Secondlast day tomorrow..


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  • Silver Week 2026 – Day 4

    Posted on by micha Comment

    Shizukuishi (Iwate) to Hirosaki (Aomori)

    Weather: Mostly rainy, easing later
    Distance: 336km

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    Today was a day of epic roads but rain and fog..

    Woke up to rain again. Had a coffee and my apple from yesterday while slowly getting ready. The rain eased a bit, so I left, hoping for the best.

    Loop of Lake Tazawa. I was lucky, by the time I got here, the rain had pretty much finished. Very nice roads and views around the lake, the highlight being a golden statue of Tatsuko. Legend has it that in an effort to maintain her beauty forever she turned herself into a dragon and threw herself into the lake, in the process making it the deepest lake in Japan at over 420m.

    Since the weather had cleared I decided to detour over the Aspite Line instead of heading straight to Hirosaki. I had selected a silver mine as another potential waypoint, so I decided to check it out. But much to my dismay the weather moved in heavily. The road was awesome, the views presumably so, but apart from fog and rain there was little to see. The silver mine was another disappointment – a couple of crumbling apartment blocks slowly getting swallowed by vegetation and some sort of water treatment plant. So much for a museum or tour or anything really.

    Since it was still raining heavily I stopped at a roadside area and, as luck would have it, there was a guy making coffee. Not only that, but he also had some cheesecake! It was one of the more interesting coffee’s I ever had, made in some sort of glass retort and it bubbles and gurgles through the tubing while its brewing.

    While having coffee I chatted with someone who recommended a local onsen, famous for its ramen, and as it was still raining and I was cold and there was not much else for me to do, I decided to head there for lunch. Unfortunately when I got there the restaurant was closed.. so were half the baths, but I still enjoyed the hot bath and sauna. One of the gents in the onsen told me about a waterfall in the area; I think he said there was a good restaurant there or something, but I didn’t quite understand him. Anyway, I had had enough and just wanted to get to my hotel, but on the way I saw a huge Tori gate and a sign with the name of the waterfall, so I ended up going there after all..

    It was a nice little detour and while not the most spectacular waterfall ever, it was still pretty nice with a little shirne along the way. No restaurant though lol.

    After the waterfall the weather had cleared enough that I decided to detour around the west side of Lake Towada. The lake is much larger than Lake Tazawa, but as the road is mostly in the forest it’s not really possible to see much of the lake. I did find one viewpoint as I was climbing out of the lake area, but it was built into tress so couldn’t see anything!

    From there it was straight to my hotel which turned out to be a capsule hotel. It’s my first time to stay in one, so it’s a bit interesting.

    Before turning in for the night I went to find some local food and ended up in a nearby Izakaya. I tried Igamenchi, which is chopped up fried squid and the local delicacy. I also had more local specialities in the form of dried cod with raw-egg dip, and sesame-butter crackers.

    Once I got back to my capsule hotel I went to the onsen before bed. It turns out this particular capsule hotel has one of the more famous onsen in all of Aomori, at least, according to a guy I chatted with for a bit. He’s a doctor and apparently a bit of a sauna/onsen afficionado. He’s been to Germany, Switzerland, and Sweden, looking for the best saunas. While I was there I was lucky enough to get a special sauna treat which apparently only happens a few times a month – an Aufguss cermony with tea leaves.

    That’s me done for the day.. oyasumi!


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  • Silver Week 2026 – Day 3

    Posted on by micha Comment

    Yamagata to Iwate

    Weather: rainy, then heavy clouds, a late break in the evenings. Low 20’sC throughout the day.
    Distance: 450km

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    Today was a day of much driving and little sight-seeing, as the typhoon had thrown a bit of a spanner in the works..

    Woke up at 5:30 to rainy weather… the plan had been to head more or less straight north of the accommodation, with one of the roads being at least partially a gravel road, so taking extra time. Along the way there were some scenic spots, a castle, and an early arrival leaving time for extra ride-outs in the area.

    In actuality, rain was not only forecast all day, but the rain radar showed heavy rain more or less along the entire route I had planned, whereas it was showing mostly dry along the east coast. So, not fancying an entire day in the rain, especially since I still don’t have proper rain gear, I decided instead to head towards Sendai and the coast roads just north from there.

    The first part of the day was interminable slow roads with queues of traffic and solid yellow lines. I was seriously second-guessing my choices of leaving behind the sparsely populated mountain roads and heading into suburbia, but the day finally got better after I peeled off to visit a dam. People sometimes wonder what my obsession with dams is.. it’s quite simple – they are usually high up in the mountains next to rivers and away from people, so perfect motorbiking territory!

    To give my day a bit of direction I had picked out a couple of community waypoints from the BMW Mileage Rally. These turn out to be pretty hit-and-miss, some are great (like the motorbike temple the night before), others are random waypoints in the middle of nowhere.. for one I even ended up in a retirement village only because it was the center of an island! One of the better ones, and my first stop of the day, was at some sort of exhibition center for the Blue Impulse jet acrobatics team. There was also some sort of bicycle event on, so there was live music and food stalls as well as the jet exhibit.

    The highlight of the day was a completely accidental stop. While riding along the coast I saw quite a large vessel on display and rode up to take a look. Turns out it is an old whaling vessel, the Tashimaru No16, which is part of the Oshika Whale Land exhibition dedicated to the history of whaling. Apart from a couple of whale skeletons and a few exhibits from whaling history there’s not a lot there.

    In general I got the impression that this part of the coast got hit pretty hard by the tsunami 15 years ago. There are a lot of brand-new villages high up in the hills, a brand-new highway, again, set up in the hills, and a lot of empty flat land near the coast with only some new fishery infrastructure and related factories.I did find some really nice roads on the Oshika Peninsula, and I definitely want to come back someday with better weather. There are some great viewpoints up in the mountains, but due to the fog I barely saw anything.

    As it was getting on and since I didn’t want to get caught out after dark again, especially if it was going to be rainy near my destination, I headed towards the highway. The way I ended up going took me a long way up the Kitakami River and, as it was up on the embankments, had a pretty nice view. Then it was 100km or so on the highway before peeling off and enjoying some nice, almost european, scenery for the last stretch near Mr Iwate.

    I checked into my hotel for the night, the Pension Kumasanchi, where the owners made me feel quite welcome. First thing was onsen after such a long day in the saddle! Afterwards I went downstairs to write my diary, and the hosts gave me ところてん (tokoroten), a strange gelatinous square block which you press through a device and turns it into some sort of noodle. Eaten with soy-sauce and からし, a spice, they are quite nice with a beer.


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  • Silver Week 2026 – Day 2

    Posted on by micha Comment

    Nikko to Yamagata

    Weather: sunny then cloudy, 10C in the morning, reaching 29C during the day.
    Distance: 474km

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    Today was a day of many closed roads, and a lot of backtracking. But I also enjoyed some really nice scenery and even a bit of culture.

    Woke up at 5 and was ready to go by 5:30! So I took the short detour to tag a BMW Mileage Rally spot which turned out to be a beautiful little lake and cascade waterfall just a bit up from Lake Chuzenji.

    Then it was time to head along my planned route for the day. Unfortunately it was still too early for the Lake Chuzenji lookout, so I skipped that. At the bottom of the range I stopped at a konbini for a chocolate croissant and a cup of coffee.

    Instead of tagging a new road I decided to enjoy the 169 again over the highlands, and to my first stop, the Ōzasa Farm which was, unfortunately, still closed. This was my planned breakfast stop, so just as well I had a little something a bit earlier.

    Heading further up the 169 and the super pretty, albeit slow, 249, I hooked up to the 390, which I had tried to do before but it was closed. It was still closed today, but I tried to take the rindo instead and managed to get most of the way along it, despite a long section of muddy gravel, before I got stopped by a small landslide. With a smaller and lighter bike I might have tried to manhandle it over, but no chance with the Bumblebee.. so I had to backtrack all the way and take a huge detour.. which also meant having to skip a couple of waypoints.

    Eventually I made it to Maezawa village which is famous for its “L-Shaped Farmhouses”. The village is still being actively lived in, but it’s slowly dying out as so many of the small remote farm villages in Japan are due to lack of young people interested in taking over. One of the farm houses has been converted into a small museum, showcasing how it might have looked like in its heyday. I tried chatting to the proprietess, but it’s a bit difficult with my limited japanese. I had a lovely soba lunch and then headed on my way..

    My next stop was Tadami Dam, not that much further up the road, where I had an ice-cream sprinkled with flower dust while taking in the view. From the top dam you can get a fantastic view over the valley onto the lower dam, which has a small information centrer although it seems to be mostly aimed at kids with some interactive displays.

    From there it was a farily long-haul to my next stop, which I didn’t reach until shortly before dark due to more closed roads, a fuel-stop, a lengthy stop at a hardware store to get some tools to adjust my new phone holder, and some slow traffic. The stop was supposed to be the Lake Shirakawa Submerged Forest, but I couldn’t really see it. The info center for it was already closed, and it was a bit too dark to make anything out. It actually almost looked as if it has been replaced with a camp ground. Certainly didn’t look anything like the pictures on Google Maps – but maybe I just need to try to go there again in daylight!

    By now it was more or less dark, so there was nothing much to see until I got to my accommodation, which I reached just after 7pm. Very glad this bike has decent spotlights! I did sneak in a final stop at the Somiya Shrine in Nagai, which is a famous stop with bikers. But unfortunately most of it was all closed up and dark.

    My stay for the night is the Daichi Farm and the hostess made me very welcome. I ended up chatting with the family while I had my dinner (a roll and a beer from a konbini) before having a quick shower and ready for bed! Fingers crossed the weather will hold tomorrow – a typhoon is supposed to be rolling in..


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  • Hiroshima Tour – Day 10

    Posted on by micha Comment

    Kameyama to Tokyo

    Hiroshima Tour Route Map - Day 10 Length: 583km, ↗11010m, ↘11055m Time: 15:23:54h, Speed: 38km/h Moving: 10:22:05h, Speed: 56km/h Start: Sunday, 11 May 2025 05:58:42 JST End: Sunday, 11 May 2025 21:22:36 JST Points: 8733 (8733)

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    • Weather: Mostly sunny
    • Ride: 583km; highway past Nagoya, then windy roads all day (some closed), followed by highway through Tokyo
    • Stay: home

    Woke up fairly early, but I had heard Ben leave even earlier. Despite not having a shared room for the last night there was no mistaking his bike! I got ready and was on the road in glorious sunshine shortly after 6am to try to avoid the traffic around Nagoya.

    Combini Breakfast after getting off the highway through Nagoya.

    Skipping breakfast it was, after a couple of wrong turns in Kameyama, straight onto the highway for a pretty smooth ride past Nagoya. While there was some traffic about, it wasn’t too heavy and I made good time. By 7:30 I was off the highway and stopped at a combini before heading up into the mountains and smaller roads – time for the customary coffee and sandwich brekky!

    My plan for today was to mostly to just keep off the highway back to Tokyo, so I strung together a bunch of smaller roads which roughly ran parallel to the highway a bit north of it, winding their way through the moutains.

    At Habu Dam on Lake Mikawako
    At Narusawa Falls on Route 420.

    The first stops were Habu dam and the shores of lake Mikawako, which is quite a large reservoir and seems popular with camping and watersports. Next was Narusawa Falls just off Route 420, which is below the road bridge, but to get to it it’s actually inside a camping area. When I got there they had just started a party with some thumping good music and a dance area overlooking the falls. I chatted to a couple of guys briefly, seems they were mostly regulars to the event. Reminded me a bit of our motorbike rallies, except with cars.

    At the Yotsuya Senmaida Rice Terraces

    My next stop, and one which ended up taking a LOT longer than I had planned for, were the Yotsuya Rice Terraces. There’s viewpoints both from below as well as from above, and there seemed to be quite a bit of activity today with farmers working the terraces and several tourists wandering about. I chatted to a couple of guys who turned up on bikes, one on a nice old R100 BMW.

    At the Yotsuya Senmaida Rice Terraces

    A couple of ladies were running a stall selling yakimochi (grilled rice cakes), but they were just starting up when I got there. So it took a good 20 minutes or so before the first batch was ready, during which time I mostly just chilled and enjoyed the ambience. The yakimochi ended up being delicious!

    At the Yotsuya Senmaida Rice Terraces

    My next stop was the Sakuma Dam and the electric power museum, but it turns out the road leading past the reservoir was closed. There had been a landslide and they were still working on clearing and repairing the road. The road was already mostly cleared and, being Sunday, there was nobody around, so I snuck past the barriers and a bulldozer and went through the closed-off section rather than taking a very large detour. Naughty-naughty! But it was very nice having the dam road all to myself, with some impressive views out over the dam itself.

    At the Yotsuya Senmaida Rice Terraces

    Sakuma dam was pretty impressive and the electric power museum is built on a hillside overlooking the dam. The museum is free, but unfortunately it’s all in japanese. It’s still worth a quick little look, if only for the lookout over the dam from which you can hear a pretty impressive triple echo if you shout or clap into the valley.

    Another road, another road closure..

    My onward journey was dogged by several more closed roads. I tried sneaking through one again on Route 362, but it was also closed because of a landslide which looked much more serious than the one earlier today, and had had no attempts to clear it yet so I had no option but to find a detour. Luckily it wasn’t too much of one in this case.

    Green tea plantations on Route 362.

    The entire area has green tea plantations, which I had not really seen before in Japan. I confirmed it by asking a couple of farmers who had just stopped their little K-truck and gotten out as I was taking a picture. Apparently it’s harvest season for the green tea.

    A small tea house near the Shiogō suspension bridge on Route 77.
    On the Shiogō suspension bridge.

    I was pretty much on the final stretch back to the highway, it having gotten much later than planned by now, when I saw a pretty big pedestrian suspension bridge, so I decided to have one final stop. There was a little tea-house nearby and the kind owner made me a tea despite being in the middle of closing up shop. He tried to explain a little about the local teas and showed me the proper way to brew it. As well as enjoying a tea and a piece of baumkuchen I also bought some of the local tea.

    A small tea house near the Shiogō suspension bridge on Route 77.
    A small tea house near the Shiogō suspension bridge on Route 77.

    I was pretty much on the final stretch back to the highway, it having gotten much later than planned by now, when I saw a pretty big pedestrian suspension bridge, so I decided to have one final stop. There was a little tea-house nearby and the kind owner made me a tea despite being in the middle of closing up shop. He tried to explain a little about the local teas and showed me the proper way to brew it. As well as enjoying a tea and a piece of baumkuchen I also bought some of the local tea.

    A small tea house near the Shiogō suspension bridge on Route 77.
    On the Shiogō suspension bridge.

    The suspension bridge, it turned out, was the longest over the Oi river and heavily used by the locals before the road bridges were built to get between the town on one side of the river and the train station on the other. A family with several young kids were crossing it when I was there, the older ones running back and forth with the younger ones being a bit more cautious and clinging to their parents. I gave the young boy a high-5 and told him how brave he was being.

    Tonkatsu dinner at the Numazu highway rest stop on the Shin Tomei Expressway (E1A).

    From there it wasn’t too much longer back down to the highway – just as well as it was getting dark. Highway is boring, but in the dark it’s much better than bumming around little mountain roads! I stopped at one of the highway rest stops for dinner before getting into Tokyo and doing the usual loop of inner-city highways to my end of town.

    Safely back home after the 10-day Hiroshima trip!
    Hiroshima Trip - final trip meter. Total distance: 3360km Total time: 10 days

    Home at last! What an epic trip, nearly 3500km’s, a couple of rainy days but overall good weather, and some amazing sights and experiences. Loved it and hoping to do more trips like this one.


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  • Hiroshima Tour – Day 9

    Posted on by micha Comment

    Dorogawa to Kameyama

    Hiroshima Tour Route Map - Day 9 Length: 331km, ↗5555m, ↘6335m Time: 09:11:54h, Speed: 36.0km/h Moving: 06:35:15h, Speed: 50km/h Start: Saturday, 10 May 2025 08:30:45 JST End: Saturday, 10 May 2025 17:42:39 JST Points: 5019 (5019)

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    • Weather: Wet, then rainy, clearing by late afternoon
    • Ride: 331km; nice windy roads down to Nachi, then an incredibly boring highway to Kameyama
    • Stay: Tabist Kameyama Daiichi Hotel; just a business hotel with no undercover parking for bikes.
    Dorogawa Onsen - breakfast at Marubun hotel.

    Woke up relatively early and moved back into my allotted room. Our original bedroom was very bright due to a hallway light, and Ben had already relocated into our sitting room, so I had snuck myself and my futon into the unused room next door, where I had a great night’s sleep. I did a bit of blogging and then a quick onsen before breakfast. We had decided to leave a bit later today to allow the rains to clear.

    We set off around 8:30 and enjoyed some nice, albeit wet, roads. About an hour away from Nachi we parted ways as I decided I wanted to explore a more windy road while Ben preferred to stay on the main roads in the wet. Again, his decision was the correct one as the road I chose, while initially fantastic, soon turned into quite a challenge, being very narrow with lots of debris on it. It wasn’t quite one of the abandoned roads I’ve explored previously, but it was well on its way to becoming one. Still, there were some amazing views, amongst them a nice waterfall in a river bend with some rice fields in the foreground, an abandoned village with rice terraces now overgrown by trees, and some awesome views into the surrounding valleys.

    In the middle the road suddenly became better and I encountered a group of work trucks and some people repairing a power line. I have no idea how the trucks got there because the road soon turned pretty bad again, and I’m sure all approaches were not suitable for truck traffic. I guess they must have managed somehow.. Nearly at Nachi I crested one last rise and unexpectedly found a lookout, shrouded in mist, where a couple of British tourists had hiked their way to. Poor buggers – they found the same conditions that they had left behind, cold and rain..

    At the Nachi waterfall and temple complex.

    I ended up arriving nearly an hour after Ben at Nachi due to the much worse than expected roads and we quickly went up to see the waterfall. It is the highest free-falling waterfall in Japan, at 133m drop. It is also considered to enshrine the local deity. All up very impressive. We spent some time just admiring the sheer spectacle.

    After a quick lunch we jumped back on our bikes for the stretch up to Kameyama, which we did mostly via expressways and highways. For what it’s worth, the E42 is dreadful – don’t get me wrong, it’s a good quality road, but about 80% is tunnels and dual-way with little to no overtaking opportunities, so rather unsuited for motorbike touring. Still, it’s a way to get from A to B relatively quickly by Japan standards.

    Converyor belt sushi dinner in Kameyama.

    Notwithstanding a minor routing mishap, we arrived at our accommodation in good time, checked in, and then had a conveyor-sushi dinner.

    Time for bed.. Ben and I will split ways tomorrow as he wants to get up very early and highway it home as quickly as possible, whereas I will take the more scenic option at least until Mt Fuji.


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  • Hiroshima Tour – Day 8

    Posted on by micha Comment

    From Awaji to Dorogawa

    Hiroshima Tour Route Map - Day 8 Length: 214km, ↗4645m, ↘3825m Time: 09:17:48h, Speed: 23.0km/h Moving: 04:25:43h, Speed: 48km/h Start: Friday, 9 May 2025 05:58:27 JST End: Friday, 9 May 2025 15:16:15 JST Points: 3797 (3797)

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    • Weather: Started overcast, then rainy, but warm-ish
    • Ride: an hour or so of highway to get past Kobe, then nice windy forest roads.
    • Stay: Hot Spring Hotel Marubun; very nice! Owner let us park bikes in a shed next door.

    Set the alarm for 5am, but didn’t really get going till nearly 6:30. Quickly went across the road from the accommodation to check out the local shrine while sipping a coffee. It wasn’t too far down the road until we got onto the highway, which was mostly clear except for a small section through Kobe which had heavy traffic. Some interesting views of industrial facilities, harbours, and a couple of big bridges.

    Combini Breakfast!
    At Shipporyuji temple in Wakayama.
    At Shipporyuji temple in Wakayama. The waterfall has chains attached to it to allow monks to climb up and stand in the waterfall to meditate.

    Once off the highway we stopped at a conbini for breakfast and a second coffee and then fueled up ready for the twisties. The roads were still dry so we could enjoy the first stretches of roads with our first stop being a shrine and waterfall. The complex was a lot larger and varied than expected and we spent a bit of time wandering about. The top waterfall had a couple of chains dangling in it, presumably for monks to climb up into the waterfall for mediation.

    At a lookout on the Kisenkogen Skyline.

    The next stop was a lookout tower, but prior to reaching it there was another one which we quickly stopped off at for a picture, but then turned into a coffee-stop was well. I had thought the top was just a lookout, but it was a tiny restaurant and the people in it were very friendly and chatty, offered to let me take some pictures and gave me some local wild cherries. So I ordered a coffee and sat down for a few minutes. One of the ladies in the restaurant rides a 125cc super-cub and showed me a picture of her on a local rindo.

    We missed the next lookout tower – I was trying to be sneaky and went past the stairs leading up to it hoping that there would be another path to it further up the road. But the next path off the road just lead to another shrine. This one to a rain god, so I asked him not to bless us too much today!

    Sights around Koya in Wakayama.
    Sights around Koya in Wakayama.

    Then it was just more stunning roads through beautiful scenery, but unfortunately the rain slowly started to come in, as Ben had predicted. We reached a town called Koya by lunchtime, where Ben had picked out a restaurant, and it turned out to be the seat of a particular sect of buddism, so there were tons of shrines and temples and impressive gate houses all over town. After lunch (katsu-don for me) we walked around a bit checking out the various sights.

    By the time we finished it was a lot later than we thought and the rain had really started to settled in, no very heavy yet, but enough to make us abandon our plans for an extended loop of roads, so we headed straight to the accommodation in a place called Dorogawa.

    Dorogawa Onsen - at our accommodation, Hot Spring Hotel Marubun.

    The accommodation, the Hot Spring Hotel Marubun, is a really nice onsen hotel and the proprietor let us park our bikes undercover in a nearby shed/garage. After checking in we had a cup of tea in our rooms and now I’m heading off to sight-see a local cave.

    As the weather was a bit meh I took an umbrella and headed out in my trusty Birkenstock’s to where Google Maps said the cave was. Ben reckoned it was a 10 minute walk or so. I took my time, checking out some local shrines, and then I got to the cave. Or rather, the bottom of the mountain! As Google had already predicted, the little monorail leading up to the cave was already closed for the day, so up up up I went, climbing the many stairs up the side of the mountain.

    Sights around Dorogawa Onsen - a shrine at the entrance to the limestone cave.
    Dorogawa Onsen - limestone cave "Menfudo Shonyudo"

    I finally reached the top, slightly out of breath, not really believing the cave would still be open, but it was. There were no more guided tours for the day, but, despite looking a bit askance at my choice of footwear, they let me buy a ticket and go into the cave.

    It was a fairly standard japanese limestone cave. On the small side, with some stalactites and stalacmites, all lit up with differently coloured lights. Due to the constant lighting and damp conditions it’s quite overgrown with mosses, which is a shame. As I got out I chatted to a girl who had also been in the cave. We ended up going into the cafeteria to get out of the storm and tried the local cider, which was very nice. She was waiting for a couple of her friends who were, presumably, making their way up the mountain in what was rapidly becoming a full-on storm.

    Dorogawa Onsen - dinner at Marubun hotel.
    Dorogawa Onsen - sights around town.

    I eventually excused myself and headed back down the mountain, declining the very nice offer of the cave staff to give me a ride down in the monorail. I made it back down quite a bit quicker than up, did a bit more sight-seeing around town, and headed back to our accommodation for a well-deserved onsen and dinner. After dinner we took another short stroll around town to check it out lit up with traditional lanterns.


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