The way out of cities is often filled with stops and starts and can be a little frustrating on a bike, but the way out of Kyoto was a biker's paradise. Less than a few kilometers from our accomodation we hopped on a river side trail that took us all the way to our planned lunch stop in Nara. We actually planned to go to Nara because it was about 50km from Kyoto and we knew there was a big park, apparently with loads of deer roaming around. We figured it would be perfect for a picnic lunch. What we found was indeed a park filled with deer but also a huge temple complex featuring the world's largest wooden structure enclosing a massive buddha. The translation came out as the "Buddha's Den" and it was really quite impressive. The kind of thing that makes you wonder if your eyes are tricking you because the scale is so enormous and the likelihood that this was actually constructed seems impossible.
After leaving our awestruck experience in Nara, we headed onwards towards Koyasan. We altered our route to include this little town as it meant we could reach for ferry Shikoku without going through more urban areas west of Kyoto. One catch, it meant another day of climbing as Kyosan sits in a basin in the mountains. The night after Nara, before our climbing day, we had found a campsite that was our target midpoint, unfortunately as our directions lead us there and we got more into a suburban neighborhood we knew no campsite would be found, we were right. With dusk setting in we looked for a hotel without one nearby. Finally, we decided to try to make it to the next Michi no Eki or roadside stop, akin to En Routes in Ontario. All the blogs we have read say that cyclists can camp there overnight, something we had yet to try but figured we might be out of other options for that night. It was only about 9km away but it was now completely dark (but only 5:45 p.m) and the road was getting busier. We got about halfway when we spotted a roadside hotel, we decided we would take it. What it was was quite interesting, leopard print wallpaper and lace bed canopy, maybe meant for a couple's getaway but for us perfect for a good night's sleep before the climb.
The climb was as tough as we have done. The thing is that it was also the most beautiful ride we have done so it was hard to hate it. The reward was the cute little town of Kyosan. It is a Buddhist pilgrimage town with lots of temples and a beautiful cedar filled cemetary with huge headstones for prominent deceased Buddhists. We stayed at a campsite just outside of town, even though it too was also closed, at least it existed. This morning we headed towards the ferry at Wakayama to head to Shikoku.
We continue to love the freedom of traveling by bike but finding accomodation has proved to be more challenging that we thought. It is always a stressful part of the day so we are working to plan for that a little more. This sounds easy but when you aren't sure how your legs will feel or if you find a place 20km out of the way it is not quite reachable when it gets dark at 5:15 p.m. Right now this is really our only complaint as it is really fun to be active and outside all day and we get to see such off the grid parts of such a beautiful country. We think the pros far outweigh the cons and might just have to sleep in a few more closed campsites or shady hotels to make it work.
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