Departing Nikko took us on the Japanese Romantic Road and up higher into the alps. I will break it down into the past few days to try to do it justice.
Nikko to Yumoto
This is a definite highlight. We ascended into the alps. It was an amazing day. We stopped at Chuzenji-Ko lake, saw Kegon falls, Ryuzu falls, and Yudaki falls. We pedaled into the little Onsen village of Yumoto where it was evident it was a popular getaway in the region. It is a ski area in the winter and the campsite is at the bottom of one of the ski runs. We had our first onsen experience where we went into the men and womens sides. We ended up being alone in each of our sides which was nice because you are completely naked.
Yumoto to Takayama Village
We will call this a day of challenge and generosity. We left Yumoto to complete the climb up to the Konsei pass. It was very rewarding to pass through the tunnel at the top and know we had completed biking a pass in the Japanese Alps!!! On the way down we stopped at a roadside stand with vegetables. We met an older gentleman who spoke no English but was very curious about our bikes. After we bought a few things, he ran after us to give us a big bag of tomatoes for the road. Next we stopped at Fukiwari falls, named as the 'Niagara Falls of Asia'. There were stunning. Very serene and atypical in their set up as they flowed for what seemed like a kilometer with lots of conversions and dips.
The road we were on was getting busy so we opted to use the GPS to take some side roads. After a while a lady stopped to presumably tell us we were about to head into dead end, which we found out an hour later...but she wouldn't let us ride away without giving us apples, candy and bento boxes with full meals in them (they were a great dinner after we backtracked and found our way back to the main road). We eventually found our way to a cute little campground outside of Takayama Village. When we signed in to camp, we tried to buy a beer to split with our bento boxes but the camp ground attendant wouldn't let us pay and rather gave us two local beers from the back of his apparent own stash.
Onward
We are currently heading towards Matsumoto and hope to be there by tomorrow at some point. We are actually just in a roadside stop and have met out first other cyclist, from Vancouver.
Nikko to Yumoto
This is a definite highlight. We ascended into the alps. It was an amazing day. We stopped at Chuzenji-Ko lake, saw Kegon falls, Ryuzu falls, and Yudaki falls. We pedaled into the little Onsen village of Yumoto where it was evident it was a popular getaway in the region. It is a ski area in the winter and the campsite is at the bottom of one of the ski runs. We had our first onsen experience where we went into the men and womens sides. We ended up being alone in each of our sides which was nice because you are completely naked.
Yumoto to Takayama Village
We will call this a day of challenge and generosity. We left Yumoto to complete the climb up to the Konsei pass. It was very rewarding to pass through the tunnel at the top and know we had completed biking a pass in the Japanese Alps!!! On the way down we stopped at a roadside stand with vegetables. We met an older gentleman who spoke no English but was very curious about our bikes. After we bought a few things, he ran after us to give us a big bag of tomatoes for the road. Next we stopped at Fukiwari falls, named as the 'Niagara Falls of Asia'. There were stunning. Very serene and atypical in their set up as they flowed for what seemed like a kilometer with lots of conversions and dips.
The road we were on was getting busy so we opted to use the GPS to take some side roads. After a while a lady stopped to presumably tell us we were about to head into dead end, which we found out an hour later...but she wouldn't let us ride away without giving us apples, candy and bento boxes with full meals in them (they were a great dinner after we backtracked and found our way back to the main road). We eventually found our way to a cute little campground outside of Takayama Village. When we signed in to camp, we tried to buy a beer to split with our bento boxes but the camp ground attendant wouldn't let us pay and rather gave us two local beers from the back of his apparent own stash.
Onward
We are currently heading towards Matsumoto and hope to be there by tomorrow at some point. We are actually just in a roadside stop and have met out first other cyclist, from Vancouver.
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