[Sora]

Hi everyone,

this is the thread for travelogue of my solo tour. Yes, I write it in e-WADACHI.com, but live report is not in English. So here I try to wirte in English as possible as I can.
Any comments will be welcome but my reply may be late, because I'm not sure when I can access internet!

[Sora]

Seeing weather forecast, I got on Shinkansen "Nozomi" Super Express from Shin-yokohama. I got off at Kyoto.
When I was setting my bike in front of Kyoto Sta. couple from Holland talked to me, "Can you speak English?". They are interested in my Rinko-bukuro, "Where can I buy it?". As I thought, it is hard to get Rinko-bukuro in overseas. I wrote "Rinko-bukuro" in Japanese on a piece of paper and handed it to them. They said, "Thank you" and left.

The keyword of this tour is "follow wind". How far I can run and where I can reach?, I'm not sure. Only the sun and the clouds know.

Day 1(April 30, 2006):
[Yokohama -(Shinkansen)- Kyoto --(Route 1)-- Kusatsu(Shiga)]
(横浜-(新幹線）-京都-草津）

Just after Kyoto, it is a little climb but not so hard.

Distance: 40.53km
Time: 2h 33m 28s
Average: 15.8km/h
Max.: unknown
Difference of altitude: 120m
drink at a bar in Kusatsu untill 2:00AM.

[Sora]

Hi,

after 3 days run, now I am in Matsumoto (Nagano).
Yesterday I climbed up to Shiojiri from Nakatugawa.
The trafic was so crowded but there were few trucks because of Golden Week.
The mountain scenery was beautiful, I ran with comfort.
In the day time, here high land is warm as Tokyo. But after sunset it is very cold, in the hotel there was a heater.

Today I head for Ueda. It is also mountain route.
I have to go now.

Bye.


Day 2(May 1, 2006):
[Kusatsu(Shiga) --(Route 8)-- Maibara --(Route 21)-- Sekigahara --(Route 21)-- Gifu]
(草津-米原-関が原-岐阜）

Very flat road and you can run fast. Just around Sekigahara was a short climb (about 200m hight), but not so hard.

Distance: 113.24km
Time: 5h 24m 27s
Average: 20.9km/h
Max.: 49.2km
Difference of altitude: 180m
drink at a bar in Gifu untill 3:00AM.

Day 3(May 2, 2006):
[Gifu --(Route 156)-- Seki --(Route248, 21, 19)-- Nakatsugawa(Gifu)]
（岐阜-関-中津川）

Road to Seki is hill climb. In fact I headed for Shiraka-go(白川郷), but I found it is a hard way. I gave up to go there. The way to Nakatsugawa was a gradual climb up slope.

Distance: 107.42km
Time: 5h 56m 45s
Average: 18.0km/h
Max.: 43.3km
Difference of altitude: 225m
drink at a bar in Nakatsugawa untill 1:00AM.

Day 4(May 3, 2006):
[Nakatsugawa(Gifu) --(Route 19)-- Tsumago --(Route 19)-- Shiojiri(Nagano)]
（中津川-妻籠-塩尻）

All roads were climb up little by little. It got over 900m hight, so you need getting warm.

Distance: 119.50km
Time: 8h 03m 06s
Average: 14.8km/h
Max.: 37.9km
Difference of altitude: 660m
drink at a bar in Shiojiri untill 1:00AM.

[Sora]

Hi,

I'm already home. All was over.
The last part of the tour was the Japanese Romantic Road (Japanische Romantische Strasse 日本ロマンチック街道). It is the road connecting between Utsunomiya(宇都宮) in Tochigi and Ueda(上田) in Nagano. I have already run from Nakanojo(中之条) to Utsunomiya in 2004. So this time I ran from Ueda to Nakanojo to complete the Romantic Road.

Day 5(May 4, 2006):
[Sjiojiri(Nagano) --(Route 19)-- Matsumoto --(Route254)-- Kakeyu --(Route254,152)-- Ueda(Nagano)]
（塩尻-松本-鹿教湯-上田）

From Matsumoto to Kakeyu there was a Misayama tunnel(三才山トンネル) . It was over 2,500m long. In spite of it is a toll tunnel (50 yen), it didn't have bike lane or pedestrian road. It was most dangerous time for me in this tour. The way to the tunnel was terrible steep slope, all the way is 8% slope. I don't recommend you to go the way.

Distance: 79.02km
Time: 5h 20m 44s
Average: 14.7km/h
Max.: 35.8km
Difference of altitude: 625m
drink at a bar in Ueda untill 11:00PM.

Day 6(May 5, 2006):
[Ueda(Nagano) --(Route 144)-- Torii Pass --(Route 44)-- Haneo --(Route 145) Nkanojo(Gunma) --(JR train)-- Toritsu-daigaku(Tokyo) -- Yokohama(Kanagawa)]
（上田-鳥居峠-羽根尾-中之条-(JR)-都立大学-横浜）

The road to Torii Pass(altitude 1362m) was very steep slope. I climbed up little by little.
At Agatsuma(吾妻), very close to Nakanojo, I saw a sign of Japanese Romantic Road. Gee! I found that the track I ran from Ueda to Tsumagoi(嬬恋) was not the route of Romantic Road. I was so exhausted that I could not go back.
I have to run one more time to complete the Japanese Romantic Road.

Distance: 82.45km + 18.89km = 101.34km
(because my cyclecomputer was broken at Toritsu-daigaku, the below data is for first 82.45km)
Time: 5h 24m 21s
Average: 15.2km/h
Max.: 48.7km
Difference of altitude: 1045m
drink at a bar in Jiyugaoka untill 2:00AM.


TOTAL DATA:
Date: April 30 - May 5, 2006
Distance: 561.05km
[Yokohama(Kanagawa) -(train)- Kyoto(Kyoto) - Kusatsu(Shiga) - Gifu(Gifu) - Nakatsugawa(Gifu) - Shiojiri(Nagano) - Ueda(Nagano) - Nakanojo(Gunma) -(train)- Toritsu-daigaku(Tokyo) - Yokohama(Kanagawa)]
(横浜-（鉄道）-京都-草津-岐阜-中津川-塩尻-上田-中之条-（鉄道）-都立大学-横浜）


The detail travelogue is here in e-WADACHI.com. (uploaded on June 2nd)

[Thomas]

Very impressive tour, Sora-san. Thanks for sharing it with us!

Very sorry to hear about your cycle computer though.

Many thanks for the pictures as well. You still haven't told us the secret of that magic hat you were wearing on the tour...

[Sora]

Originally Posted by thomas

Very impressive tour, Sora-san. Thanks for sharing it with us!

Very sorry to hear about your cycle computer though.

Many thanks for the pictures as well. You still haven't told us the secret of that magic hat you were wearing on the tour...

Okay, I write about my magic hat.
It is not only for a monk but for outdoor people in old days in Japan, like farmers, fishers, travelers, etc..

I had been wishing to try to wear one in my bike tour and I found it at Tsumago post town(妻籠宿). Two women were making the hats.
DSCN1778.jpg
I bought it as soon as I found it. It had so good ventilation that good for outdoor activities. Will you want to try?
No, I don't recommend you when you wear it on bike, because the resistance of wind is terrible.

[Newton]

Sora-san !!

so exiciting ride !!
I want to do the same.

[Sora]

Hi,

after 5 days run, now I am in Furukawa (Miyagi).
This time I have had too many things to see and to do, so I ran very slowly.

Tomorrow I will head for Naruko Onsen (鳴子温泉).
See you!

Bye.


Day 1(Aug. 5, 2006):
just move from Yokohama to Sendai by Shinkansen.

Day 2(Aug. 6, 2006):
[Sendai (Miyagi) --(Pref. Road 8)-- Iwakiri --(Pref. Road 35)-- Tagajo --(Route 45)-- Shiogama (Miyagi)]
(仙台-岩切-多賀城-塩釜）

It was a very hard run because of hangover. In fact I had a very long nap at Yakushido (薬師堂) in Sendai.

Distance: 39.39km
Time: 2h 53m 48s
Average: 13.5km/h
Max.: 34.2km
Difference of altitude: 55m
drink at a bar in Shiogama untill 1:00AM.

Day 3(Aug. 7, 2006):
[Shiogama --(boat)-- Matsushima --(Route 45, Pref. Road 27)-- Ishinomaki --(Route 45, 342)-- Ichinoseki (Iwate)]
（塩釜-松島-石巻-一関）

If you have a chance to go to Matsushima from Sendai. I recommend you to take a boat from Shiogama. Of course, you can ride with your bike.

Distance: 107.42km
Time: 5h 56m 45s
Average: 18.0km/h
Max.: 43.3km
Difference of altitude: 225m
drink at a bar in Ichinoseki untill 2:00AM.

Day 4(Aug. 8, 2006):
[Ichinoseki (Iwate) --(Pref. Road 19)-- Hiraizumi --(Pref. Road 19)-- Ichinoseki (Miyagi)]
（一関-平泉-一関）

In fact I was in Shinkansen for Tokyo for job. I went and back from Kanto.Today, I had a very little time to run.

Distance: 52.55km
Time: 2h 50m 36s
Average: 18.4km/h
Max.: 43.1km
Difference of altitude: unmeasured
drink at a bar in Ichinoseki untill ?????.

Day 5(Aug. 9, 2006):
[Ichinoseki (Iwate) --(Pref. Road 19)-- Hiraizumi --(Pref. Road 19)-- Ichinoseki --(Route 47, 108)-- Furukawa(Miyagi)]
（一関-平泉-一関-岩が崎ｰ岩出川-古川）


Distance: 95.93km
Time: 5h 26m 42s
Average: 17.6km/h
Max.: 43.6km
Difference of altitude: 100m
drink at a bar in Furukawa untill 1:30AM.

[Sora]

Hi,

I am back to Yokohama. As I wrote in the before post, it was a very slow run.


Day 6(Aug. 10, 2006):
[Furukawa (Miyagi) --(Route 108, 47)-- Iwadeyama --(Route 47)-- Naruko --(Route 47, Pref. Road 28)-- Natagiri-Pass --(Pref. Road 28)-- Obanazawa (Miyagi)]
(古川-岩出山-鳴子-山刀伐峠-尾花沢）

Northern side of Natagiri Pass was under construction because of landslide.

Distance: 100.71km
Time: 6h 34m 23s
Average: 15.3km/h
Max.: 44.3km
Difference of altitude: 505m
drink at a bar in Obanazawa untill 11:00PM.

Day 7(Aug. 11, 2006):
[Obanazawa --(Route 13, Pref. Road 279, 111, 24)-- Yamadera --(Pref. Road 111)-- Tendo --(Pref. Road 22)-- Yamagata (Yamagata)]
(尾花沢-山寺-天童-山形）

Yamadera has over 1000 of steps.

Distance: 81.78km
Time: 5h 08m 12s
Average: 15.9km/h
Max.: 44.0km
Difference of altitude: unmeasured
drink at a bar in Ichinoseki untill 3:15AM.

Day 8(Aug. 12, 2006):
[Yamagata (Yamagata) ---- Ooishida ---- Shinjo (Yamagata)]
（山形-大石田-新庄）

terrible rain from 12:00PM to 2:00PM.

Distance: 80.26km
Time: 4h 57m 48s
Average: 16.1km/h
Max.: (113.8km !!)
Difference of altitude: unmeasured
drink at a bar in Shinjo untill 12:00AM.

Day 9(Aug. 13, 2006):
[Shinjo (Yamagata) ---- Furukuchi --(boat)-- Kusanagi --(bus)-- Furukuchi (Yamagata) --(Shinkansen)-- Tokyo -- Yokhama]
（新庄-古口-草薙-古口-東京-横浜）


Distance: 40.87km
Time: 2h 24m 25s
Average: 16.9km/h
Max.: 34.0km
Difference of altitude: unmeasured
drink at a bar in Tokyo untill 0:00AM.

Day 10(Aug. 14, 2006):
I found my bankbooks and stamp were stolen from my apartment.



The detail travelogue is here in e-WADACHI.com. (uploaded on April 28th, 2007)

[Thomas]

Originally Posted by Sora

Day 10(Aug. 14, 2006):
I found my bankbooks and stamp were stolen from my apartment.

First of all congratulations on accomplishing your tour successfully!

I am very sorry to hear about the burglary! How did they enter, have they broken into your apartment?