Day 10: Fujimi to Nagaoka

We woke this morning to the sounds of nature; the birds singing in the trees and the bubbling brook to the side of Sachiyo's beautiful Oregon log cabin. It's another bright blue day, with a bit of a chill in the air, that promises some more amazing riding. We walked around the property a little, through Sachiyo's award winning garden, and admiring the Nagano alps towering in the distance.

Sachiyo's log cabin in beautiful, rural Nagano.

Breakfast was a lovely combination of toast, ham, eggs and salad all washed down with fresh coffee and chai spiced tea. There really is nothing like a home cooked meal, and many thanks to Sachiyo for going to so much effort for us! Sooner than we would have liked, it was time to leave. We packed up our panniers, loaded up the bikes and said our goodbyes.

Goodbyes to Sachiyo and then on the road!

The plan today is to head south back towards Fuji, passing the mountain to the west and climbing the southern face via the Fuji Skyliner. In the afternoon we'll run the second Fuji Skyliner further south and then on to Nagaoka in Shizuoka Prefecture, in preparation to tackle the Izu peninsula tomorrow.

Our intended route towards and around Fuji-san.

The first part of our ride saw us fuel up and take to the Chuo expressway for a burn down to Kofo. As we rode, Fuji-san could be seen in the distance ahead of us - growing steadily larger. At times the mountain would disappear behind a bank of clouds only to reappear larger and more impressive.

Riding the Chuo Expressway with Fuji-san growing steadily ahead of us.

From Kofo we took to the heights again, traversing the line of mountains that stood between us and Fuji-san's base. This was some of the same ground we covered on our first day of riding and the change in the scenery was dramatic. It's amazing what changes a week can bring. Many of the hillsides and valleys that had been solid green a week ago now burst with autumn colours; oranges, reds and yellows were now all around us.

Riding Motsu-michi (route 139) towards Fuji

Coming down out of the mountains, we began to work our way down the east side of Fuji-san. With a mind on our bladders, we pulled into a roadside establishment only to be met with the sight of a busozuko gang all lined up in the car park. Whether it was boldness or ignorance none now can say, but we added our bikes to the line and proceeded to check out the gang's awesome bikes.

The bosozuko boys and Fuji-san 

The guys didn't seem to mind us poking our nose in and around their bikes, and even seemed to appreciate that Lucas knew quite a bit about their old model Kawasakis, Hondas and the like. We snapped some photos, and taking it as a good sign that no comment was made, we snapped a few more.

Bosozuko bikes with their characteristic additions.

At one stage while we were wandering around, one of bosozuko boys took his bike for a very loud spin around the carpark, only to be stopped by one of the glowing-baton-wielding parking wardens. We could'nt make out the exchange, but soon other bosozuko boys were making their way over there to lend their support.

We took this as our cue, and got ready to leave. As we did so the leader of the gang came over and asked us where we were from and where we were travelling. He seemed genuinely interested in our trip and enjoyed Lucas' re-telling of his brush with the law on the Doshi road. Overall a very positive encounter.

Banana chairs are typical Bosozuko style.

We continued on our way down the west side of Fuji-san, and soon took a turn to the left towards the mountain and the Fuji-Skyliner. The Skyliner represents the last 13km of the traverse up the side of the mountain from a height of 1000m to the 5th station and 2400m. Surprisingly the road to get to the Skyliner was  an amazing ride, filled with long sweeping curves and lined with more beautiful autumn foliage.  By the time we reached the start of the Skyliner we already had broad grins from ear to ear.

Riding towards the Fuji Skyliner was beautiful and exciting.

The Fuji-Skyliner itself was a more challenging ride, comprised of many, many tight switchbacks. Towards the end of its 13km length it passed through the cloud layer that surrounded the mountain and we slowed down to (ahem) just over the 40km speed limit. The handlebar warmers were cranked up and soon we had breached the cold damp ring of clouds. Coming through the other side, we were blinded by the bright sunshine and clear blue sky above.

Fujinomia 5th station at a height of 2400m

The boys conquer fuji-san. Well, the Fuji Skyliner anyway.

5th station is above the cloud layer we passed through.

With Fuji-san conquered and our lust for amazing riding sated for the time being, we gunned it for our nights lodgings - a 100 year old onsen in Nagaoka. The remainder of the ride there was uneventful and uninspired. The second Fuji-Skyliner turned out to be a bit of a nothing; a couple of turns and not much more; costing us 360 yen for the privilege. The automated toll gate, signposted all in kanji, caused us a few minutes consternation but in the end we *think* we worked it out.

After the Skyliner it was a straight shot to our destination, through rural farmland for the most part, and an expressway bypass over the industrial city of Mishima.

Nanzanso Onsen in Nagaoka.

We finally arrived at Nanzanso Onsen - a very old; and very interesting ryokan. The room we were given was huge - 12 tatami mats in the main section, set up on the hill looking over the complex (and the carpark),. The way it is set out is just bizarre. The place is a maze of stand-alone corridors and stairs that snake up the hill behind the front foyer, with rooms situated on many, many split levels as it goes back. Unfortunately, their rotenburo was closed for maintenance but even to find the indoor onsen took a map of the corridors to locate. All things considered, this place must have been quite a posh and impressive joint in its day.

Our most impressive traditional room to date.

We unpacked the bikes and readied ourselves for dinner and bath. Suddenly Lucas announced he had lost his wallet. Not a great situation, but after some furious searching the wallet was located in his bike jacket (phew). A few minutes later, though, Lucas announced that he had now lost his keys. This was a matter for more concern, and when the keys didn't surface after the first 10 minutes of searching we turned the room over, and then the hotel over, looking for them. After more than an hour of searching they still hadn't been located and we were all beginning to worry.

At 6:30pm we went down to dinner, the keys still not located. Dinner was good, but still pondering the mystery of the missing keys I can't say I really tasted it.

Another Japanese dinner. I'm gonna miss them.

Back to the room and another search of ever nook and every cranny, every piece of luggage and every article of clothing turned up nothing. In the end Lucas even called Japan Bike Rentals to see what might be involved in replacing them. Long story short, one more search of his bike pants located the keys down in the lining at the very bottom of his leg. Crisis averted! We al breathed a very heavy sigh of relief, and were able to go to our nice hot bath knowing that we could actually leave tomorrow. Phew!!

Day 4: Shinjuku to Shimobe Onsen

After a very late night attaching various cameras to our bikes, syncing GPS's to headsets, refining and downloading routes and finally packing/re-packing our panniers, we woke up to the alarm at 6:30am and said goodbye to N.U.T.S Shinjuku. Our first day on the bikes actually begins!

Ready and keen to get going.

By 7:30am we were on the road and heading for Hachioji and the Chuo Expressway. The first step was to jump on the famous Shuto expressway that circles Tokyo, and thereby link up with the Chuo. We descended into the bowels of the earth and roared through the Shuto's endless tunnel. Problem is, the GPS doesn't work in the tunnels, does it? No it fucking-well doesn't. By the time we missed our exit and got out of the endless tunnels we were heading for Yokohama.

The long-dark of the Shuto ring road.

Long story short, through dint of basically Brownian motion we ended up on the Tomei Expressway, heading back into the city. As luck would have it, our path took us over the Tokyo Rainbow Bridge on what was fast becoming a beautifully sunny and clear day. Spectacular! Here's what it looked like from the bike..


When it appeared that we were almost back to Shinjuku, we stopped at a layby on the side of the Expressway, trucks and other traffic roaring past us, as we 3 stood trying to revise the route that the GPS had obviously screwed up in google maps.

*Gulp* Google Maps on the side of the roaring Tomei Freeway.

After much deliberation, we decided to continue on the Tomei, (many tens of kms out of our way) until Atsugi, and then up the 412 to the Doshi Road - our original intended route. The 412 ended up being quite a nice ride in the end, so although we cost ourselves a bit of time, we finally made it to the Doshi Road with a semblance of a smile.

Turning on to the Doshi road we proceeded to ride out through the high wooded valley, filled with trees that were just starting to change colour. At times Mt Fuji peaks it's head between the valley walls directly ahead of you. In the end, the road comes out to the north east of Mt Fuji and is a beautiful ride through farmland and tiny villages, following a fast flowing stream for much of it's length. Trouble is, the speed limit is 40 km/h for its *entire* length. Jesus it's hard to ride a bike for long stints at just 40 km/h.

Riding on the Doshi Road towards Fuji.

And so it came to pass that Lucas (leading at the time) was waved into a layby by a gaggle of police officers for doing 58 km/h. With an innocent face and a mouth that butter wouldn't melt in, he was let off with a warning and we were finally able to continue on our way. Chastened and having learnt a valuable lesson on the possibility of actually being caught speeding, the rest of the Doshi Road continued at a slower than snails pace.

The Millicents caution Lucas on his 58 km/h Doshi speedfest.

Requiring a quick rest stop to feed and water the horses, we stopped for a few minutes in Wade village on the Doshi Road for a drink and toilet break. There was actually nothing there but a toilet and a single store (plus ubiquitous vending machines) so after a coke we were back on the road.

Quick stop at (tiny) Wade village on the Doshi Road.

From Wade we rode straight to the Mikuni pass, a popular Fuji viewing position. From here you get a nice view of Fuji-san across lake Yamanaka. We snapped a spectacular, if a little hazy, view of Fuji. Unfortunately the sun was in the wrong position to get ourselves in the photos, but they still came out pretty well.

The view of Fuji-san from the Mikuni pass.

From Mikuni we continued around the north end of lake Yamanaka on route 729 with views of north-side of Fuji-san. Even from the road the views of Fuji were amazing!

Great views of Fuji-san from route 729 along the lake.

With some time lost in the morning, we forwent lunch (added to no breakfast!! ) and kept on past some of the points we had planned on seeing. With these changes to our route, came more routing and GPS challenges, but a few hits and misses later we soon found ourselves at the north side of lake Motosu and route 300. Here, still on the north side of Fuji, we were able to snap some more amazing views of Fuji-san across yet another lake; helped by a cool Japanese biker who was more then happy to snap a group photo for us. Turns out that this view is the exact view of Fuji that appears on the 5,000 Yen bill.

Japanese bikers are cool people, and so are we.

The 5,000 Yen view.

It was then only a relatively short hop to Shimobe Onsen - our destination for the night. With Richard and Lucas running on fumes, we traversed switchback after switchback on route 300, descending into another deep valley covered on all sides by the first hints of autumn colours. A really amazing ride.

Our ryokan "Daikokuya" at Shimobe Onsen.

Finally we found ourselves at Simobe Onsen just before the sun went down. Our destination was a really beautiful traditional ryokan "Daikokuya" (大黒屋) with its own onsen. With no food all day we were desperately hungry and couldn't wait for dinner. At 6:30pm, yukata donned in eager anticipation, we finally sat down at the dinner table for an amazing Japanese meal.

Food at last! After 12 hours on and off the road.

In these ryokan yukata we look like jersey cows.

With full bellies, and as the well-planned end to a wonderful day, we hit the onsen for a long hot soak. A very welcome and relaxing end to the day.