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Getting used to Japan

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Let’s first start with a correction. In my first blog post for the trip I attributed the quote on why we are doing this  trip to a quote from  Gullivers Travels . It was actually Jupiters Travels. Mr Gulliver  apparently wasn’t really into introspection of this sort! 

Secondly an acknowledgement. I am not set up to ride and take photos from the moving bike at the same time. 
That would be taking multitasking too far - even for a male! So most of the photos in this blog come from Diana on the back. She has got taking photos from a moving bike down to a very fine art and Is now very skilled at it. I download  some of her photos each night. Under copywrite rules of course ! 

So back to our overnight at Nozawa- Onsen. The hotel had individual Onsen in each room. “Individual” is the key word here. Here is a photo of our in room Onsen. Think of it  as a flower pot Onsen ! 




Once I got in I almost had to do a Houdini act to get in and out!  It was not a pretty sight. However whilst in  the hot water was soothing and apparently there was a full bells and whistles traditional Onsen downstairs in the hotel. 

Now route planning. Contrary to normal practice on these trips  I am just planning one day at a time at the  moment until I get used to Japan and it gets used to me!  The whole 215km we did today was all at a maximum allowable speed limit of 50 Kph. Yes I was doing 60kph at some points in time but also only 40kph in the villages. So our 215 kilometres today was still a seven hour day. But I have to say a relaxing one and the slower speed is growing on me. I thought of the contrst of barrelling along at 130 KPH for hours on end in the Outback  of Australia. 

Route planning is done with a bit of “Maps.me “ ( which is pre downloaded and therefore does not need internet ) Google maps ( which of course does ) and Mrs Garmin  GPS. Here was  the plan of action today 




We went a bit further than shown here but not a huge amount as Takenoya did not seem to exist - either that or I blinked. 

Saw a rice planting machine today for the first time. I wondered how they got their newly planted rows so straight and regimented  and assumed the farmers all had all used theodolites to do it !  However the rice planting machine explains a lot 




We had a very nice  mixture today of rural village life 

And mountain passes  Must be deep snow to warrant snow poles that high! 





And we arrive at a town called   Aizuwakamatsu-Shi for the night. We try a different type of Japanese restaurant. Think of it as DIY  Teppanaki !




And having helped cook dinner I retire a happy man










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