Day 9: Gero to Fujimi

We woke early this morning from our onsen-induced comas and set to work doing all the chores that we just couldn't be arsed finishing the night before. Foremost of these, was getting the day's routes reviewed and finalised in Google MyMaps, and uploading them to the GPSs. By 9:30am we had the bags packed and on the bikes, and with no breakfast on offer at ryokan Ramuneya we were ready to go.

Ryokan Ramuneya in the light of day.

There was just one more thing to do before we left Gero, and that was to buy a present for our host for this evening, Noriko's mum Sachiyo. We sauntered up the road to the souvenir shop and soon the purchase, and several others, was soon made. By 10:00am we were finally on the bikes and heading out of town.

About to leave Gero.

Our planned route for the day was to take us from Gero to Ena and the famous gorge there, up the Kiso valley to Shirojiri and then down the Chuo freeway into Nagano and our destination the tiny hamlet of Fugimi.

Today's route from Gero to Fujimi in Nagano Prefecture.

It was significantly colder this morning compared to further south and we found ourselves padded out with our thermal under layers and glove liners. Once on the road we were greeted with some of the autumn leaves that we had seen coming into Gero the previous day. To be honest though, the ride down to Ena was pretty uninspiring. We passed through a bit of urban, a bit of suburban and a bit of rural countryside, but nothing too spectacular and no great motorcycling roads.

Continuing in the same vein, Ena gorge proved to be a bit of a disappointment. The were some trees, and yes there was some water, and even a statue of some dude with a halo, but nothing worth writing home about. On the Turner attractions scale, Ena gorge gets 2 big yawns.

Ena Gorge. Uninspiring.

From Ena gorge we saddled up, still not having eaten even though it was now after midday, and headed east to a small postal town called Magome. This town, along with several others in the Kiso region, was historically situated on the old Nakasendo road (middle road) which linked Edo (Tokyo) and Kyoto.

Magome, one of the famous postal towns on the ancient Nakasendo road.

The town was very interesting, with some rustic buildings, souvenir shops and the like, but we only had eyes for food. Starving we descended on the first thing we saw - a shop selling dango. These are basically balls of sticky rice (mochi) shoved on a stick and coated with a sweet sauce. No sooner had we arrived at the window to the store, than a film crew descended on us. You can see them in the photo below filming Richard and Lucas ordering at the window.

Ordering mochi on a stick (dango) in Magome, watched by TV crew.

With dango in hand, we three were asked to stand together and eat while they filmed us. Three uber cool biker gaijin self-consciously eating dango? Sugoi! We managed a oishi (delicious) as we finished the sticks. The footage will reportedly be part of a programme going to air in November. One of the guys gave us his card, so hopefully I will be able to get a hold of the video and post it here - stay tuned! In all the rush I didn't even get a picture of our dango, or us standing eating like gimps. Damn.

One dango stick doesn't go too far, so after our brush with fame we looked for something else. What we eventually settled on was a couple of oyaki, one with eggplant for Lucas and one with "forest vegetable" (that kinda tastes like sweet spinach) for me. Richard satisfied himself with supermarket bento fare.

Eating Oyaki in Megome.

Having finished our meagre lunch we climbed back on the bikes and headed north up the Kiso Valley. Although the route (19)  provided little in the way of corners or other motorcycling excitement, the valley vista itself proved spectacular. Autumn leaves were even more in evidence than in previous days, and as we progressed farther north, the Minami alps became visible as an ever-present backdrop. As we travelled the temperature steadily dropped from 16 degrees to Megome to 12 degrees, to 10 degrees closer to Shirojiri.

Riding Route 19 in the beautiful Kiso Valley.

We continued up the valley on route 19 until we reached one of the most famous postal towns in the region, the town of Narai. Narai is comprised of one long street, maybe 800 metres long and looks like the set from a Kurosawa samurai western. Amazing stuff.

Narai, an amazingly impressive postal town.

We wandered the town, checking out some shops and appreciating the autumn trees all around us. I topped up with another dango as we walked along. Not really substantial enough for a whole days riding in the increasingly cold air, but needs must in a pinch.

Eating dango again, this time with picture.

Narai - one of the finest examples of a Nakasendo road postal town.

Beautiful Kiso Valley autumn leaves, seen from Narai.

More autumn leaves in Narai, as backdrop to the local temple.

Narai's famous wooden bridge.

With time ticking down and sunset fast approaching, we pulled on our thickest of thermal inners, jumped back on the bikes, and burned rubber up the remainder of the Kiso valley to Shirojiri. Here, while the Nagano alps loomed large on both sides of us, we were able to transfer to the Chuo expressway for the final stage to Fujimi.

We arrived at Fujimi at 5:15pm, just as the last rays of light were fading. We were welcomed by Sachiyo into her beautiful log cabin home and sat down to a beautiful meal.

Beautiful dinner with Sachiyo in her home.

With eyes drooping, we got the route planned, took a bath and crawled into bed exhausted.