Friday October 3, 2025

Another short day today due to shortage and expense of hotels in Kyoto. We are staying in Otsu and tomorrow we will take the train into Kyoto tomorrow for a day of being tourists.

As I waited for Ralf to check-out from the hotel a road cyclist passed. He noticed our bikes and turned around for a chat. I noticed that he had a bandage on his leg and arm and asked if he was o.k. Yes, he had hit something on the road and the bike wobbled and he went over the handlebars. Fortunately he was wearing a helmet, a lot of Japanese cyclists do not wear helmets. He said his bike was slightly damaged, a scrape on the gear shifters. We compared bikes, his was carbon fibre and ours are aluminum. What a difference in weight. He lifted his bike and then handed it to me, so light. he didn’t want to lift mine, especially as it was already loaded with panniers. I admired his DuraAce gear set and he liked our Brooks saddles. We wished each other safe journey and he was away on his skinny, tyred light bike.

Another nice day on the Biwaichi. We left our hotel and Garmin took us on a very nice bike path back to the Biwaichi. We kept trying to get a photo of cranes or grey herons.

This area has a lot of rice fields and other vegetables, cabbage, onions etc. I was surprised to see that they still burn the stubble after harvesting the rice.

Stubble burning

We stopped at a small harbour and took some great photos of the lake. When we came back up the little road, the gate had been locked. What the …. I managed to lift the chain and get my bike underneath it. Ralf found a path on the other side and wheeled his bike on the grassy path. Clever bugger.

The first 25 kilometres were really nice cycling along the Lake. The road was busy at times, but not too noisy. We saw a lot of road cyclists today and wondered if they were doing the route in one day – 200 kms. You could take the fast route, which had you cycling on the road with a painted blue line and paonted blue arrows for protection. Or take the cycle path, with a raised curb between you and traffic.

We stopped at Moriyama. This is the official start/end of the Biwaichi cycle route.

Not even close Ralf – I almost made it, I have to do more Yoga.

As we made the turn to head towards the bridge to cross to the other side we saw the ugliest building. I am sure it was very nice when it was first built.

We had decided to cross to the other side of the lake as on the map there appeared to be more to see. Oops error, we were no longer on our nice bike path we were on the road with all the traffic. Crossing the bridge was interesting, a narrow raised bike path.

This is also a major fishing area. We had to see a giant crab.

Of course we got to our hotel early. I went to check-in at 1:00 and asked if it was possible to check-in early, fingers crossed. Of course not, check-in is at 3:00. I asked if we could sit in the lobby and wait. I knew I could type up the blog and get the photos ready.

Ralf could check out hotels and the route. We had half decided to go to Nara after Kyoto, although it wasn’t on the original plan there was a nice walk that I thought would be interesting. Ralf found a reasonably priced hotel and booked it for two nights. The confirmation indicated that although we were staying two nights, we would have to vacate the room between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. as it may be used by other guests. Oh No, we had booked a Japanese Love Motel. We were able to cancel straight away.

At 2:30 we were able to get into our room. From the smallest to the largest room. It is expensive and a little tired, but the train station is just outside our window. We will get an early train into Kyoto, spend the day seeing as much as we can and then back to the hotel.

We have booked a hotel in Osaka for two nights on Monday & Tuesday. It is the same chain of hotels that we stayed at in Nagoya, an apartment.

Wednesday October 1, 2025

I have said it before and no doubt I will say it again, what a difference a day makes. We had a good breakfast in the apartment/hotel and headed out to the train station. We are catching another train because RidewithGPS and google maps could not find cycling directions to Hikone. We could have followed the walking directions but, we may have ended up on forest tracks.

As we cycled down to the train station Ralf got side-swiped by a passing vehicle, who was in such a hurry he had to get in front of two cyclists. Of course, the next light was on red and we easily caught up to him. Ralf mouthed some bad words to him. The car driver was indicating to turn but we were ahead of him on the cycle lane and I put my arm out to make sure that he didn’t cut me off in the turn.

We got to the train station and had to find the Tokkaido Line. We eventually found it and went to buy tickets. The man told us the bikes had to be in bags. Yes we know, but we want to get closer to the platform before we put them in the bags. Wheeling a bike is a lot easier than carrying a 29lb bike in a bag. The station staff said no difference either way (5 minute walk), they need to be in a bag. Easy for you to say try carrying a 29 lb bag and a 30 lb bag of panniers. I said to Ralf let’s wait until we get to the right platform. Ralf insisted that we pack the bikes into the bags, well wouldn’t you know it we were nowhere near the platform and had to haul those suckers almost 500 metres to the right platform. We were both so pissed. Fortunately, after we got to the right end of the station and bought the tickets a very kind couple, from South Korea, offered to carry my bike to the platform. O.k. the woman offered her husband’s help! He carried my bike to the elevator and we thanked him profusely.

I thought we would be on the 10:00 train, with all the faffing about it was closer to 11:00 before we got on the train. As we barrelled down the tracks the heavens opened. Our already dark moods got darker, to cap it all would we have to cycle in the rain today. Fortunately, at that time we were on the train and not getting soaked.

We had to change at Osaki up one elevator and down another and onto the next train to Maibara.  We could have taken another connector to Hikone, but I had decided it was going to be easier to ride the 7kms to our hotel in Hikone from Maibara. We stopped for lunch and stopped at a bike shop to put some air in the tires.

The ride to Hikone was along the Biwa Cycle Route. We had plenty of time before check-in at the hotel to visit the castle and gardens.

We cycle up to the gate to the castle – the lady in the booth shouted “No Bicycles – parking down there – No bicycles”. Bloody hell I have never known a country with a more “jobsworth” mentality than Japan. I thought England was bad, but the Japanese has them beat. Definition of “Jobsworth” it is more than my job is worth to allow you to …… park your bike here, to sit on a bench, to allow you to lean your bikes on a wall, to allow you to wear shoes in a hotel foyer!!

We cycled back to the parking area and locked our bikes to a stand. We took our front handlebar bags and left everything else. At that point we didn’t care if everything was stolen. We had passports, phones, credit cards, we would get on the next flight home.

We walked back to the ticket window and she had a big smile on her face Arigato (thank-you) castle and gardens Y1000 per person, closes at 4:30 I have English information for you. What can you do, she is only doing her job. Arigato – thank you we said through gritted teeth.

I like castles. The path to get to the main castle area was quite the climb on a rough path. This castle is one of the 12 original castles, it has withstood earthquakes and wars. It was built in approximately 1600 and completed in 1607. This is a military fortress. In 1952 it was designated as a National Treasure, along with five other castles – Inuyama (yesterday). I am hoping to get to see the remaining three, although the way today started we are ready to get on a plane and go home. Ralf and I do not argue very often, this trip has seen us being very petty to each other, sniping about silly little things. It is not as enjoyable as other trips we have taken.

We were amazed to see that Hikone has a multitude of sports facilities. While we were there, the Japan High School Games was being held there and an exhibition Sumo Wrestling competition. I noticed a Mum and 3 boys – the boys were wearing Sumo T.shirts. I asked the Mum if they were at a training camp, she smiled and said Sumo. The middle boy told Ralf through google translate that they had watched Sumo wrestling that day. Had I insulted the Mum, saying that her chubby kids could be future Sumo wrestlers or was she pleased that her chubby kids could be future Sumo wrestlers? I will never know.

The castle did improve our moods again there were steep steps up to each floor. This castle had a few view points, the other windows had chicken wire on them to stop the birds getting in.

There were some lovely views of Lake Biwa and surrounding areas from the top.

I took a photo of this not so straight beam. Then later Ralf took a photo of the Lord of the castle with his helmet on. Perhaps this beam was designed to allow the Lord and his hat to go underneath the beam.

These two turrets and gate were installed here after the castle was built. They represent a balance to the fortress like a scale.

Sound scapes: The Environment Agency selected “A hundred soundscapes of Japan on June 5 1996 in order to preserve landscapes which have such sounds as insects, mountain streams, bells and festivals, which are loved by everyone. The time-keeping bell and the chirping of insects in Hikone Castle were among these. The ringing of the bell every three hours from the castle area, the continuous songs of cicada on summer evening and the chorus of crickets in Genkyu-en garden are soundscapes which should be preserved for the future.

The castle from the gardens looks as though it is smiling

We wandered through the gardens which were lovely. Ralf offered to take a photo for a couple, we got chatting to them. They were visiting her family. They were from Kamloops, B.C.!!

When we arrived at our hotel our hearts sank again, reception was on the 2^nd floor of the building. Ralf went up to register. Low and behold the staff were awesome and they had a bike parking area on the 2^nd floor!! This was a “Cycle-Friendly” hotel catering to cyclists that were cycling the Biwachi (Lake Biwa).

We were hoping to cycle the lake but I knew that the north-end was very hilly, with tunnels, had little accommodation and poor roads. I had read that there was a ferry we could take a short-cut. However, we will have to wait until tomorrow to see where we can take the ferry to and from. There is a Tourist Information Office that opens at 9:00. Hopefully they will have some information as to the ferries etc.

Things were looking up. We asked at reception about restaurants. The wonderful young person indicated that we needed to go through the train station and that there were an assortment of restaurants to choose from.  She was right, there must have been over a dozen different restaurants: Japanese, Korean, Chinese, etc. ranging in price from $10.00 per plate to $50.00. We found a Japanese restaurant that had a set menu for $15.00 and it was really good. Miso soup, rice, salad and a protein (I had fish, Ralf had chicken) and some kind of garnish, it was really good.

A good end to a crappy day.

Tuesday September 30, 2025

A great day visiting Inuyama Castle. We walked to the Nagoya train station (about 3.5 kms).

This tower is called the Mode Gakuen Spiral Tower is 170 metres tall it is a 36 storey educational facility housing three vocational schools. The photo to the right shows the outside emergency exit!

We needed to buy tickets for the local train to Inuyama. We thought it would be easier to buy the tickets from the Tourist/JR Rail Office than try and work out the ticket machine.

The woman at the desk offered us a tourist package. Return train tickets, entrance to the castle, a discount to a Japanese Garden and other discounts at stores in Inuyama. The total cost was Y3260 – $30.66. We saved about $5.00, not including getting Y200 discount on a rather expensive beer.

The Inuyama castle is an original castle, it was built in 1537. We entered the castle through the Shrine and the main gate.

Inuyama Castle is the oldest standing castle in Japan. The castle was a fortress and had some very simple rooms. The first floor was divided into four areas with a raised platform. This was for the lord of the castle. Behind this area was the Mushagakushi (warriors hiding place). This was where the warriors would hide and protect the lord. I am not sure how good they were at protecting him, if they were hiding! In the corners of this floor an attached turret which had small windows this was the Ishi-Otoshi-no-Ma – or stone-throwing chamber. This area was used to throw stones at possible attackers climbing the walls.

The second storey was used for the armory and had wooden shelves along every wall

Look at the size of this support beam.

The third storey had a Chinese gable installed 77 years after the original construction.

The fourth storey had an open walkway, which gave 360 degree views of the surrounding area.

To get to each floor we had to climb some very steep stairs. These would not meet the Building Code in Canada.

Although the castle was small it was amazing. On the very top floor we came out on a small wooden walkway with a low railing. There were warning signs not to lean against the railing. It was funny to see people’s faces as they stepped out onto the very narrow wooden walkway.

I love the roof-lines on these castles. I feel as if I could just slide right down them.

As we were leaving the main castle a woman asked if we would like us to take a photo of the two of us. Naomi indicated that she was a volunteer and acted as an English speaking guide. We chatted to her for quite a while, her son had been to Calgary on a student exchange program. She gave us two small origami samurai hats as a gift. She forgot to take our photo, but Ralf took one of Naomi and me.

After the castle we wandered down the street. The street was part of the original property, to the castle.

We spotted a strange building with very large doors.  Google translate, indicated that they held the “floats” for the Inuyama Festival. The entrance fee was Y100 (0.95c) and we decided to check it out.  The photos do not do this justice. The floats are about three stories high, 30 feet. Each float weighs five tonnes and takes between 20 and 30 men to move them. The top section has puppets and the middle section has children playing musical instruments and singing. There are a few changes of direction on the route and the men shout Don Den. The Inuyama festival is held on the first Saturday and Sunday in April of each year. We watched a video and it must be an amazing site to see.

We headed back to the train station and then managed to find the Subway and get closer to our hotel. The subway system has a huge underground shopping centre.

A good Rest Day.

Monday September 29, 2025

The forecast was for showers this morning but clearing by 9:30 a.m. At 9:00 it was pouring with rain. I half jokingly suggested we take the train to Nagoya. The train station was directly across the road from the hotel. Ralf suggested that might not be a bad idea.

Our bikes were already packed, so we headed over to the station and bought two tickets to Nagoya. We knew we were going to be too early to check-in to the apartment. We headed for Nagoya Castle and spent about 2-3 hours wandering the grounds and visiting the exhibits.

Views of the Nagoya Castle

The castle was destroyed by the bombing in 1945 and fires. It was rebuilt using traditional materials and methods. The Castle Keep is no longer accessible to the public due to earthquake concerns. However, the grounds were lovely and the Hommaru Palace was a very special place. 

Storeroom, corner store, moat, Hammaru Palace

They had actors wandering the grounds to sit and chat with people. This one had a very deep laugh.

The Exhibition rooms were beautifully restored, the walls and partitions were covered in gold leaf and painted. We really enjoyed the visit.

Restored screens

We found our hotel which is an apartment. It has a small kitchenette, with a fridge, and a two-burner stove, microwave, there is a sofa and a bed in the living area. The bikes are in the room with lots of room.

We went out for dinner and tried once again to eat at an Italian restaurant. the chef came out and said it was closed, although it was supposed to stay open until 9:00 p.m. It would appear as if Japanese/Italian restaurants do not want to serve foreigners. The restaurant had one other person inside. Maybe just a coincidence.

On our way back from dinner, we spotted a lady selling fruit and bought a Japanese white peach that was as big as Ralf’s hand. It was really tasty. We also bought mandarins and it was lovely to have some fresh fruit.

This is a two-night stay in Nagoya, tomorrow we are heading to Inuyama, another castle which is one of the original 12 castles remaining in Japan.

Sunday September 28, 2025

We had decided to get on the road early today as the temperature was supposed to hit 34 degrees again. We were having breakfast at 6:30 a.m. Can you imagine getting up so early on a Sunday!! We were packed and ready to go at 8:00 a.m. Our friends from last night were loading their bikes we set off a few minutes earlier than they did. Unfortunately, garmin got a bit confused as to which way to go and when it eventually decided to head west Adele and Paul were ahead of us. They were heading to the peninsula and taking a ferry to Osaka. We were heading north-west and slightly inland.

Once garmin knew where we were going we were on a nice route inland. We crossed several bridges and streams and were making good time. However, due to the strict following of rules by Japanese hotel staff we knew we would not be allowed to check-in early at our hotel in Gamagori.

We cycled through a traditional village, and I noticed a figure dressed in traditional dress.

I shouted to Ralf, and we realized that it was a museum, and we had plenty of time to visit. We went to the ticket window, and I asked the lady if she had anything in English. Yes we have a pamphlet. That will do, the house looked self explanatory. She came out and showed us where we could put our bikes and asked where we were from.

She seemed genuinely pleased to see us. It cost us about $7.50 for the two of us for the entrance fee.

The house had a series of rooms and various artifacts.

There was another group of elderly people following us around the house. One lady said Hello to me and asked where we were from. She then explained the significance of this building/museum.  This was a Honjin., a rest post for nobility travelling from the Kyoto-Osaka area to Tokyo. During the Edo period Tokaido was the most important route and we had happened upon it by accident. Of the 53 rest stations along the route Futagawa Shuku was the 33^rd. There are only two original rest stations remaining.

The lady spoke good English and explained that the Landlords (Daiymo’s) with their entourages would walk with great processions along this route several times a year to go to Tokyo to pay respects to the Shogun.  The processions would show off the wealth of the landlord and the more people they had in their entourage the more wealth they had. They spent a lot of money on these trips.

Yes, Ralf was allowed to try on the wig and I could have worn any of the kimono’s on display.

After we visited all the rooms in the house/ Honjin we went into the museum which was even more interesting and along with the Japanese text had all the information in English.

This is the route that was taken. The book is a 1799 travel guide, it describes the route, has maps and costs of places to stay (Lonely Planet).

We spent an hour and a half there taking in all the exhibits and chatting to this very kind lady who told me that every month a group of seniors get together and visit historic places and places of cultural significance. They were from the Shizouka area. She asked me how we came to be at this museum, and I told her purely by accident, the Garmin map takes us away from Highways and I had spotted the figures as we cycled by. She was very pleased that we had stopped and was interested in the history. 

There were five toilets in the Honjin,one was reserved for the daimyo (lFeudal Landlord). There were three bath tubs, the water was boiled and then added to the tub. Although there were bath tubs provided some of the daimyo would bring their own luxurious bath tubs.

This was the daimyo’s bedroom.

I was a little concerned about stopping as we were supposed to get rain in the afternoon and high humidity. It was hot but we had a good breeze, which kept us cool. Until I tried to kill my husband by pushing him in the path of an oncoming train.

A train had just gone through the area and the lights and barriers were up. Ralf had just started to negotiate the tracks when the lights started to flash, and the barriers were coming down. I thought he was going to go through, but he didn’t, and I rammed him hard. He went flying of his bike and I got hit on the head by the barrier coming down. We both managed to get the bikes away from the track before the train came barrelling through. A fella from the car got out to help us, but I had managed to get from underneath the barrier and Ralf had landed on this side of the barrier.  It was very scary.

After the train had passed we walked the bikes to the other side, and I cleaned Ralf’s arm and slathered some antiseptic cream on his forearm.  It was only later in the room that I saw the extent of the damage done to his old body.

We had about 20 kms to go but Ralf pedalled on like the brave soldier he is.

We managed to find the hotel after a couple of wrong turns and arrived 15 minutes early. We could not check in until 3:00!!  Again, the bikes are in their bags and in the rooms. The hotels do not have any provisions to store the bikes inside in a safe place.

After we had settled into the room, I went for a lovely soak in the Onsen (Ralf couldn’t use the Onsen because of his injuries).

He is going to be very sore tomorrow.

We went out for dinner, to a Ramen place that was close to the hotel. We really dislike the automated ordering systems, as there are usually more questions to answer. This one you had to tell it what you wanted, what size, how many garlic cloves, how hard/soft the noodles should be, whether you could name your first grandchild after the Ramen noodle you were going to order. Ralf was using his phone to translate, but other people were waiting. Fortunately, we were helped by two young men, and we had a lovely meal.

A few short sharp hills. The only one I couldn’t manage was at 14%.

Saturday September 27, 2025

Today was a rest day and we actually took a rest day. I updated the blog and then Ralf and I worked out the logistics for the route to Kyoto and Osaka, incorporating a train trip and still seeing the castles that I had planned to see.

After updating the blog we went for a little walk around the neighbourhood, just to get some fresh air. We are near the train station and there are several large malls. To get to the malls there are a series of underground paths with various artwork and sculptures.

Waterfall

The Rising Sun, which represents Japan. Platanus (the image of immortal vitality).

Ralf was giving me hints for a Christmas present. He was told by security that he couldn’t take photos in the mall.

The Act Tower is the tallest building in Hamamatsu, standing at 213 metres with 45 floors. It was built in 1994. The top floor has an observation deck.

When we came back to the hotel for Happy hour we noticed two touring bikes locked up outside. We joined a lovely couple from Rotorua, New Zealand. They have been cycling in Europe, after Japan they are going to Taiwan to visit their daughter. It was nice to share stories.

Friday 26 September 2025

Considering we slept on the floor on a futon mattress I had a good nights sleep. I was still awake early, but felt well rested. We got the bikes from the garage where we had stored them the previous night and then headed to the restaurant for breakfast. We were early by about 10 minutes but didn’t want to change the schedule with the breakfast staff, so we had our coffee and waited.

When the morning cook saw us at the table, he bought us our breakfast straight away. What an awesome breakfast it was. He set the two trays down in front of us. Then explained what was on the trays – The fish was grilled and it was a local Japanese fish (similar to mackerel), miso soup, salad and rice in a soy sauce broth. He forgot to tell us that there was an egg on top of the rice. I was so pleased that we had chosen the Japanese breakfast. It looked and tasted amazing.

After breakfast we loaded our bikes and headed out towards Hamamatsu. We thanked the staff, what a lovely place to stay.

Today’s planned ride was anything from 35 km to 47 km. Sometimes RidewithGPS, Garmin and Google maps have different ideas as to which way we should cycle. RidewithGPS won today and got us to Hamamatsu at 37.6 km. It was a lovely route with the occasional sections on Highway 105 which is a busy road. The Pacific Coast Cycle Route would have taken us down to the coast and then back up to Hamamatsu. As we had plugged in the address to the hotel the Garmin didn’t add the extra 20 kms to the coast.

We went through some nice villages. Ralf really likes the roof-line on these houses. He was going to suggest to Diane and George, our neighbours, that when we need our roofs replacing we could do them in this style.

I have no idea what this tree is, I loved the texture.

We passed a massive Corning Factory. It was in the middle of nowhere. When Honda built their first car factory in Ontario they built it in an area that was primarily farm land (Alliston). One of the reasons for this logic is that they have a work-force close by that is well paid and no longer farming.

Farming here, as in a lot of places is tough, and less people are following in their families footsteps and working the small farms. Most of the rice farmers in Japan are over the age of 60.

It was another hot day, with a slight cooling breeze. Fortunately we were done by noon.

Before going to the hotel we decided to find a bank to get some money. When we were in Taiwan last year, the 7/11 had ATMs with no charge or low charge fees to withdraw money. In Japan the banks and the ATMs charge a similar fee about 100 yen per 10,000 yen, so about $1.00 per $100.  We went to the bank and it would not accept Ralf’s card. We went into the bank and the kind lady offered to help us at the ATM. It still didn’t work – the card was too big!!

We went to a FamilyMart where we could withdraw a weeks worth of cash for a $5.00 withdrawal fee.

We were still too early to check-in, but the staff were very nice and gave us a map to find a good coffee shop. At 2:40 we returned to the hotel and they checked us in. Yes, the bikes are back in their bags and in the room.  Alternatively, we could have left them outside the front door. Once we were showered we headed upstairs to get all of our washing done. It is nice that a lot of the hotels have laundry facilities for the guests.

On the map of restaurants we found a German Restaurant/Bierkeller. Of course we had to try it. When we walked into the restaurant we asked in German if they had a table for two. The poor hostess looked like a deer in headlights. We laughed and switched to English, it was funny at least to us.

The beer was good, the food was good, having to order through a QR code was not fun and having the food delivered by a robot was interesting.

Watching my German husband eating German potato salad with chopsticks is something I never thought I would see.

Thursday 25 September 2025

Not a bad night’s sleep. We had a larger bed (2 twins). I was awake at 4 but was able to go back to sleep until 6:00. This place does not serve breakfast, and the café didn’t open until 9:00. We were packed and ready to go at 8:15. We headed out and had a breakfast of champions at a 7/11: Boiled egg, cheesy bread, hash brown, a banana and a coffee – protein, carbs, vegetable, fruit and caffeine what more could you need.

I had planned a route to Hamamatsu, a distance of 85 kms because it was flat and along the coast. Ralf persuaded me last night that we should continue to do shorter distances, if we must make changes to the itinerary so be it. We are supposed to be enjoying the ride.

Map of this section of the Pacific Coast Route

The Pacific Coast Route, which is the general route we are following is a bit hit and miss. Sometimes it takes you on a busy Highway and other times it takes you along a lovely coastal route. We are using a combination of Ridewith GPS and Google maps. It seems to be working and is keeping us away from the busy highways. Often the route directs you down paved farm roads, which makes if far more interesting than having to concentrate on the traffic.

We had found a traditional Japanese guesthouse to stay which was about 50 kms from Yazui so that is where we were headed.

The route was lovely today, we cycled along the coast and saw surfers, we cycled inland and saw rice being harvested and we cycled up a slight hill to see a large smelter plant with huge slag heaps surrounding it. We did have a head wind today.

Surfers

Not sure why Lady Liberty is here at the surfing beach. As we cycle along the coast we notice a lot of the flood protection and Tsunami gates that are in place.

We also met and chatted to our first touring cyclists. They were from Brazil and on a two-year world trip. I got the feeling that they were not enjoying Japan. They had started in Hokkaido and Lari indicated that there were a lot of bears. I had read recently about a few bear attacks on hikers. Lari and Jean were a really nice couple. It was nice to chat to touring cyclists again. I invited them to stay with us if they decide to cycle across Canada. We shared blogs and YouTube info.

Lari said there seems to be several Japans. The north is beautiful and remote, with smaller population. Tokyo is Tokyo!! And the south is big city after big city and too much noise, population. They have also struggled with the lack of English spoken.

We arrived at our Japanese Guesthouse about half an hour early, I was expecting a small house, but it is quite a large complex. We were allowed to check in and the lovely lady working suggested we could leave our bikes outside or in a large garage. Ralf investigated the garage, and we were able to leave them safe and sound in the garage.

As this was a more traditional guesthouse, I had mentioned to Ralf that he should take his shoes of at the door. Ralf asked if he should take his shoes of at the door. No, she said O.K. here. She checked us in early and with the help of google translate and the camera translating text, we were able to work everything out. It is a traditional Japanese room with tatami mats. We roll out a futon and have linens and a quilt. It will be interesting to see how I sleep tonight. The Guest house does not have private bathrooms, there is a room with sinks, toilets down the hall and public bathing, which I thought would be an Onsen but is actually a large hot tub. There are instructions on how to use the public bathing pool. Remove all your clothes, and store them in the locker provided, shower and wash everything thoroughly, soaps and shampoo provided, then you can get into the hot tub. It seems very odd not to have a private bathroom, but we thought we should try at least one traditional guesthouse

It is a very peaceful place. There is soothing music in the common areas, everything is very clean, and the hot tub was wonderful.  This place is not in a major city or even a town it is a bit out of the way. There is a restaurant on-site, but it wasn’t open tonight. Fortunately, they have various ramen noodles and rice and curries available for purchase and a microwave and hot water.  Not an evening meal for champions, but it was o.k.

Tomorrow we have the option of a western breakfast or a Japanese breakfast we opted for a Japanese breakfast. No idea what we will get, life is an adventure.

Wednesday September 2025

I am not getting a good night’s sleep, I keep waking up at 4:00 and struggle to get back to sleep. I should be sleeping like a log with the fresh air and exercise I am getting. This morning I was ready to get up and moving at 6:00 a.m. at home I must set an alarm to get out of bed at 8:00.

Ralf opened the drapes, and we realized that we had a stunning view of Mount Fuji from our hotel room. What a beautiful site.

View from the hotel room

The provided breakfast at the hotel was excellent. It had everything from cereal, croissants, boiled egg, to miso soup, fish, salad hot beef sauce and everything else you could possibly think of.

Breakfast buffet

After breakfast we rebuilt the bikes and were ready to leave. An older Asian gentleman was very interested in our bikes, and we told him we were cycling from Tokyo to Hiroshima. He appeared impressed and gave us the thumbs up. He might have not been so impressed if we told him were only doing 50 to 60 kms per day.

Last view of Mount Fuji for a while

RidewithGPS found us a nice route out of Fuji and almost all the way to Yaizu. We went through a traditional Japanese Village and then GPS tried to direct us on to the Highway.

Map of walking trails

Village photos

Ralf spotted some stairs and from looking at the map realized there might a temple, so off he went up the stairs to check it out.

Temple photos

We followed the East Coast Route Sign but got a little confused as it took us down to the highway and indicated that we cross a busy four lane highway. First, we had to negotiate the train tracks then press the pedestrian traffic light button, which would stop the traffic on busy four lane highway so that cyclists could safely cross the road.

Crossing the highway

Doug Ford would have a heart attack – he just recently said that bicycle lanes should be removed because they are dangerous to cars.

The traffic was busy in areas and the route was not as scenic as yesterday, but not too bad really. Then we got Mochimune, we were stopped by a postie who told us the road we were going on was not passable. The tunnel had caved in two-years ago and was slowly being rebuilt but we were not able to go through it. We had to go over the big beejesus hill that we had wanted to avoid.

This meant another 22 km ride and over hills again, we had already done 49.5 kms. I noticed that we were near the train station. We went to have a look and there was a train going to Yaizu.  We asked a young fella if he could help us buy tickets while he was also packing his bike to go on a different train. We packed the bikes into their bags, packed the panniers into the blue bag and lugged the whole lot onto the train. Of course, the platform for the train to Yaizu meant that we had to go downstairs and then back up again, fortunately there was a lift. Those ruddy bags were heavy, but we managed to manhandle them all onto the train and off again at the next stop.

We rebuilt the bikes and got to the RePort Hotel and settled in.

The RePort Hotel is a really cool place. It is a converted Fishing gear warehouse.  The owners have converted six of the storage areas to rooms. The ground floor of each space is the shower and toilet facilities and a place to put our bikes, and the second floor is a large space with beds, table and chairs, a fridge and a kettle. It could do with a couple IKEA chairs. It has an industrial look to it, but very cool looking.

Photos of RePort Hotel

The front of the building houses a reception area and a café. There is a Food Court with various restauranteurs sharing the space and providing different foods on different days and times.  There is also a co-working space. Approximately three private office spaces with all the equipment that can be shared – photocopier, printer even paper and inks. This is where we could get wi-fi which allowed us to find a place to stay for tomorrow and Friday/Saturday in Hamamatsu.

Back to the room to drop the computers off and then out for dinner. But….. Ralf told me not to come upstairs!!!!! There was a large spider on the wall. I have arachnophobia, I can barely look at a spider on a screen let alone have one in my room. I am getting better, if I see a small one in the garden I deal with it, if I see a web and a spider I don’t scream. However, when I see Ralf trying to find something bigger than a coffee cup to catch it in then I begin to panic. I stayed downstairs, I could hear Ralf talking to the damn thing – hell you are a big bugger, wow you move fast etc. Then bang with his slipper, then three more bangs, and its dead and he sends it out of the window. He had tried to relocate it, but it wouldn’t co-operate, so it had to be killed. I am not posting a picture of this beastie. Ralf has one on his Facebook page.

We left and walked to the restaurant that was recommended to us by the owner of the hotel and was only a three-minute walk-away. It was busy, the staff was very friendly but spoke limited English a fella at the next table helped.

We had Tuna Jaw, which is a specialty at this restaurant, freshly caught. They have a limited supply it was really good, cooked in a soy and ginger broth.

Enjoying dinner

When we got back to the room Ralf checked to see what kind of spider it was. Yep a Huntsman, they have them in Australia, we didn’t see one when we were there. If I had known that this monster was here in Japan, it might not have been on my bucket list.

Tuesday 23 September 2025

The rooms at this hotel were supposed to be soundproof. I am guessing if you were in the front of the hotel you would not hear the trains. However, if you are overlooking the train line as our room did you heard the trains. Another poor night sleep for me.

Room with a view – Train tracks and the bullet train leaving

The breakfast was served from an adjoining coffee shop. We choose a Croque Monsieur and a coffee. We had to have two of them because the half croque monsieur was not going to be enough for our ride to Fuji today.

We left our panniers in the locker area and started to rebuild our bikes outside of the hotel. The new person at the reception told us not to leave our panniers in the storage area. Ralf very firmly told him we would move them after we have rebuilt our bikes. When Ralf says something very firmly even I do as I am told.

Locker Room – plenty of room for the bikes to have been stored here

While we were rebuilding our bikes a fella asked if we were on a bike tour. This is the first person who has spoken to us on this tour. His English was very good, well it would be, he was from Vancouver. Wouldn’t you know it the first person to chat to us was Canadian.

We knew today’s route was going to be a challenging start. A 5 km long hill with grades ranging from 7% to 14%.

“Der seine rad liebt der schieft” If you love to ride you love to push. Today started with the push. We took our time and by the time we had walked and pushed for 5 kms we were at the top and had downhills all the way to Fuji City. Fortunately, the wind was in our favour and on the push up the hill we were in the shade.

After the hills the route took us along the coast and we had a lovely tail wind. We had nice views of Mount Fuji along the route.

Fuji is a very industrialized city. As we passed the various factories we could smell paper pulp, steel smelters and rice production, what an assault on the nose.

These statues were part of a stonemasons yard.

We got to the hotel earlier than the three o’clock check-in. We were not allowed to check in early.

This hotel the Nishimura had some very strange rules, but the staff were nice.

When entering the hotel, you had to take your shoes off and put them into a locker, then put the provided slippers on – no shoes past the green carpeted area or in the room. All wheels on the luggage had to be washed – wipes were provided. Of course, we couldn’t take the bikes into the room unless they were bagged.

When we did check-in, the young staff were very helpful. One of them showed us where we could leave our bikes – in an open parking lot or underneath the hotel canopy for Y500, ($5.00). We didn’t bring our heavy-duty locks, so that was a no go. Back into the bags they went. The staff did allow us to use the luggage trolley to take all the gear upstairs in one go.

The afternoon staff spoke quite good English and provided the Information Sheet to us in English, one of them also gave us a sheet of recommended restaurants.

The room was the first room that had separate shower, toilet and wash basin. It was a bit crowded with all our stuff in there.

After showering we walked to a Japanese Ramen restaurant close by. We walked in and the waitress pointed to a Board with the menu, you ordered what you wanted and paid and then sat down. Of course, we couldn’t make heads or tails of it, even using google translate. We asked a young man if he could help. He pointed to the top three things and said Special of this place. O.k. then that is what we ordered.

Mine was pork ramen and Ralf’s was pork ramen with extra pork. It was so good. On the table there was a selection of condiments including chilli oil, garlic (cloves), soya sauce, red radish. I had noticed an older couple adding the garlic, there was a garlic crusher provided on the table.  When in Rome….. we added two garlic cloves and it was even more delicious.

Back to our room and ready for bed. Although the staff at the first hotel were rude and we started our day by pushing the bikes, we had a good end to the day.