Cycling together is much more fun!
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Nicole
09 Juni 2014 | Japan, Matsumoto
Arnoud arrived in Osaka the 30th of May, and I picked him up from the airport slightly late after an enervating ferry ride and finding my way out of the harbor (INSANELY difficult!) to find our hotel.
Love hotels are pretty crazy though funny, and after a good night's sleep we set off to our first goal: Koya-san. Due to the hilliness we arrived there in the dark but already found that it is quite an interesting village literally consisting of temples which also serve as hotels. The playground seemed a popular camping spot; we met two girls from Israel who were walking their way through Japan and soon dozed off.
From Koya-san we cycled towards Nara after some -already hot- temple visits. In Nara we bought our first souvenirs and had a relaxing afternoon, although we were both slightly pooped from all the heat.
We got kicked off our sleeping spot at 5:30 AM, so had an early breakfast (in the company of not-so wild deer!) and after some more temple-visiting we mounted our bikes to Kyoto.
Another hot day, so a well-deserved ice cream near Fushimi Inari where we ended the day with even more touristy stuff (Tori gates all over, once again!). After a beer in central Kyoto we rode the last 10km to our CouchSurfing-host who cooked us a brilliant dinner and had a comfy bed.
Two days of sightseeing in Kyoto included the main temples, sleeping in the Imperial Palace-park, marvelling in one of the larger shopping malls and a lot of good food. However, we were quite happy to get on our bikes again and get out of the city for some proper cycling.
From Kyoto we cycled to the coast, on the first relatively rainy day. The sushi was however very good, and the sushi-trains are quite amusing. We had found a brilliant sleeping spot in a beautiful pine park on the coast, but unfortunately there was -apparently- some sort of event going on the next day, causing us to be kicked out at a stunning 3AM. UGH. Luckily road side grass banks are also quite fine for sleeping, so we did catch some extra hours of sleep.
Cycling away from the coast included a lot of tunnels, a very steep (but fun) climb and some more rain when we had almost reached our destination (Ono). Once again a road-side camping spot, but this time a sign with a snoring bunny gave us the impression that it would be quite alright to crash there (and we didn't get sent away).
From Ono to Takayama was a long, tiring day with a lot of slow continuous altitude. Luckily the scenery was pretty. :)
The final day before we arrived in Matsumoto was probably the most extreme I had so far. We both crushed our highest points-reached by bike by cycling up to 2704m above sea level (YEAH), but that took a whopping 5 hours of climbing and a lot of food, stamina and puffing (but also 2 QOM's for me!). At the top it was cold and rainy (6C!) and the way down included pushing our bikes through snow, closed roads which we -obviously- ignored and VERY cold fingers. Spectacular views and being able to descend quickly made our way down relatively easy, which was good because both of us didn't have a lot of legs left. ;)
Now we are enjoying some days of rest in Matsumoto, where we booked a nice hotel and will probably do most of the touristy stuff walking - my butt is once again very sore.
Coming up are more days of mountains to eventually reach Mt. Fuji down south!
Our route:
http://www.afstandmeten.nl/index.php?id=1344331,1344343,1344342,1344339,1344340,1344335,1344336&KmStep=0
Love hotels are pretty crazy though funny, and after a good night's sleep we set off to our first goal: Koya-san. Due to the hilliness we arrived there in the dark but already found that it is quite an interesting village literally consisting of temples which also serve as hotels. The playground seemed a popular camping spot; we met two girls from Israel who were walking their way through Japan and soon dozed off.
From Koya-san we cycled towards Nara after some -already hot- temple visits. In Nara we bought our first souvenirs and had a relaxing afternoon, although we were both slightly pooped from all the heat.
We got kicked off our sleeping spot at 5:30 AM, so had an early breakfast (in the company of not-so wild deer!) and after some more temple-visiting we mounted our bikes to Kyoto.
Another hot day, so a well-deserved ice cream near Fushimi Inari where we ended the day with even more touristy stuff (Tori gates all over, once again!). After a beer in central Kyoto we rode the last 10km to our CouchSurfing-host who cooked us a brilliant dinner and had a comfy bed.
Two days of sightseeing in Kyoto included the main temples, sleeping in the Imperial Palace-park, marvelling in one of the larger shopping malls and a lot of good food. However, we were quite happy to get on our bikes again and get out of the city for some proper cycling.
From Kyoto we cycled to the coast, on the first relatively rainy day. The sushi was however very good, and the sushi-trains are quite amusing. We had found a brilliant sleeping spot in a beautiful pine park on the coast, but unfortunately there was -apparently- some sort of event going on the next day, causing us to be kicked out at a stunning 3AM. UGH. Luckily road side grass banks are also quite fine for sleeping, so we did catch some extra hours of sleep.
Cycling away from the coast included a lot of tunnels, a very steep (but fun) climb and some more rain when we had almost reached our destination (Ono). Once again a road-side camping spot, but this time a sign with a snoring bunny gave us the impression that it would be quite alright to crash there (and we didn't get sent away).
From Ono to Takayama was a long, tiring day with a lot of slow continuous altitude. Luckily the scenery was pretty. :)
The final day before we arrived in Matsumoto was probably the most extreme I had so far. We both crushed our highest points-reached by bike by cycling up to 2704m above sea level (YEAH), but that took a whopping 5 hours of climbing and a lot of food, stamina and puffing (but also 2 QOM's for me!). At the top it was cold and rainy (6C!) and the way down included pushing our bikes through snow, closed roads which we -obviously- ignored and VERY cold fingers. Spectacular views and being able to descend quickly made our way down relatively easy, which was good because both of us didn't have a lot of legs left. ;)
Now we are enjoying some days of rest in Matsumoto, where we booked a nice hotel and will probably do most of the touristy stuff walking - my butt is once again very sore.
Coming up are more days of mountains to eventually reach Mt. Fuji down south!
Our route:
http://www.afstandmeten.nl/index.php?id=1344331,1344343,1344342,1344339,1344340,1344335,1344336&KmStep=0
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Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
