Day 11: Nagaoka to Hakone

We woke in Nanzanso Onsen this morning to a hammering on the roof and a blowing at the windows. After 7 gloriously sunny days on the road it was finally raining buckets. Fuck. Obviously it had to happen sooner or later, and to be honest it couldn't have happened on a better trip day.  

Nanzanso Onsen internal garden in the morning rain.

With only an hours ride between Nagaoka and our destination in Hakone, today was the shortest distance between accomodation points for the whole trip. Today's original plan was to ride the Nishi-Izu Skyliner and then back roads to the south western coast of the Izu peninsula. Once there we would then ride around the southern coast of Izu and then join up with the Izu Skyliner for the ride back north to Hakone.

Unfortunately, sitting at breakfast and watching the water run down the windows, these plans were summarily rejected as folly, and a new plan - get to Hakone as quickly as humanly possible - was instigated instead. We slowly packed up our crap, uploaded the new route to the GPS, wrapped ourselves in our rain gear, and finally came down at 10:00am to mill around the lobby. I felt like the Michelin man what with the thermal midlayer, the motorcycle suit, the suit's inbuilt rain liner, and the outer wet weather suit over that. The sweating started almost immediately, and I was itching to get on the bike and get some airflow. Amazingly, by 11:00am we were still in the lobby but even more amazingly, the rain had eased to the point that it was almost non-existent!

Nanzanso Onsen, showing the rooms spread over the hill behind.

With all the bags on the bikes, and the engines warming, we made the snap decision to ride the Izu Skyline north to Hakone. Lucas asked a Japanese dude from the hotel to program his GPS to get us to the foot of the Skyliner which was nice of him, but unfortunately as it turned out, a waste of time.

Bikes packed, ready to leave. Oh, let's do the Izu Skyliner.. 

The GPS went loopy early on in the journey so it was with a combination of common sense and directions from various toll booth operators, we slowly zigzagged our way to route 12 and hence to the Hiakawa Interchange, midway along the Skyliner.

The final route for the day - wet weather, warts and all.

Manned toll booths - no ETC, but a wealth of good advice with a smile.

At the beginning of the Skyliner the rain stayed slight, and we headed up towards the first pass - the Kameishi Pass - at relatively slow speeds but in high spirits. Visibility was pretty good on the road, and the significant amount of water on the road was the only thing of any real concern. It was immediately apparent to us why this road is so famous as a motorcycle destination in Izu. With long sweeping corners, a 50 km/h speed limit (fast!), a beautiful paved surface and supposedly awesome views (that we couldn't see) this road could easily have been our best ride yet.

Heading up to the Kameishi Pass on the Izu Skyliner

As it was, we plodded our way up and up, finally reaching the Kameishi Pass where we stopped for a toilet break and a little caffeine to focus the skills (and stop the shakes :P ). I took the opportunity to grab a coffee in a can - only one of a handful I've consumed on this trip. I really do love their sweet, milky, caffeinated goodness.

Michelin man in rain gear at the top of the Kameishi Pass

Mmm hot coffee in a can.

Back on the bikes we climbed yet higher towards the next pass - the Atami Pass. Unfortunately, we soon climbed high enough to reach the layers of low cloud enveloping the mountain range. Almost immediately, the rain came back and the cloud reduced visibility to next to nothing. The rain wasn't torrential, but steady enough to reduce visibility on the visor significantly. With nothing else for it, we plodded on, averaging 40km/h. As we reached the pass the wind howled and blew the rain in all directions, but we were quickly over and heading down the other side.

Heading up towards the Atami Pass on the Izu Skyliner

After an hour of wet riding, we finally descended into Motohakone and the rain finally abated. With only 9 km to go to our destination, but with a GPS that wasn't cooperating at all, we were desperate to stop. We pulled into a car-park for a sausage restaurant (no kidding) and decided to go inside for lunch. Turns out there was actually a Katsu place next door, but we ended up eating bratwurst. In Japan. 

Large Tori gate over the main street of Motohakone.

Perfect place for a Motohakone sausage fest.

Climbing back on the bikes and coaxing the GPS back to life we rode the last few kilometres to our accomodation - "Hakone Tent" in 20 minutes. Unfortunately "Hakone Tent" turned out to be a backpackers place full of wanker hipsters and no decent parking. Still, we had a traditional room booked and it seemed ok once we had our riding gear off and drying. After a rest we looked for a place to eat. We found a place called the "Gyoza-Centre" specialising in Gyoza and had a nice meal.

Dinner at the "Gyoza-Center"

Toasting our last night out on the bikes

We toasted the end of our trip with a round of Lemon Shochu and wandered back to the hostel. We need only to plan our route back to Tokyo tomorrow and have a wash before bed. The weather is looking better for tomorrow, so fingers crossed!