By ‘ones’ I mean mountains – and by ‘big’ I mean the Alps.
Not the European Alps (we avoided those somehow on this trip…), but their Japanese cousins which whilst not quite as big, have provided quite the adventure in many ways over the last few weeks, since we left Kyōto at the end of September.
This post will take us up to our unexpected four night stay in Hirayu, an onsen town in the mountains not far from Takayama.
So what has cycling and camping in the mountains in October entailed?
It suddenly got cold! Leaving Kyōto and wending into the alpine foothills
After months of heat and humidity with the occasional epic quantities of rain we were wondering if we would ever be cold again.
In Kyōto the temperature was in the thirties during the day (not normal for end of September we have been told). The double whammy of temperatures adjusting to the average at the beginning of October, and going into the mountains, meant that we all of a sudden found ourselves needing to layer up in the evening and at night, making full use of the down sleeping bags with overnight temperatures dropping to 3°c on occasion. Merino was suddenly back in vogue, as well as leggings, buffs, gloves purchased with some foresight in Kyoto and latterly long-sleeved warm t-shirts and ‘heat tech’ socks, purchased in UniQlo in Takayama. We have even been loaned blankets at some of the campsites, which we have been very grateful for
We were also suddenly acutely aware of the darkness in the evening which combined with the cold meant that from around 5.30pm everyone has been wondering if we might as well just get into the tent, and therefore into bed.
Foothills? Surely that means little climbs only?
When we plotted a rough route from Kyōto to Tokyo, via the mountains, it added up to a lot of climbing. At various times on this trip we’ve talked about the ‘golden ratio’ – which Matt invented for cycle touring and equates to all cycling-things being well when we are climbing 10m for every kilometre over the course of a day’s ride. Or putting it another way, if we’re cycling 100km including ups and downs, doing 1,000m of climbing over the whole ride. Whilst a bit crude, this feels about right, particularly when weighed down by our stuff.
The route plotting on Komoot suggested a much crueller ratio of c.2,000m for every 100km which it turns out wasn’t just reserved for the really big mountains but meant quite a bit of climbing on a daily basis from the foothills, to the big ones, and down again.
In real life, this has translated into quite a lot of climbing at a gradient that I don’t really care for, when fully laden. BTBT (Before The Big Trip) I was OK with climbing at a 10% gradient or more. Now that I am not only lugging my own weight, but also my heavy steel bike, plus all my belongings – cycling at 10% and over for several kilometres is just not cool. Somehow we’ve done it though – and it’s (mostly) been worth it.
Thatched cottages are not reserved for Norfolk and the Cotswolds only
We intentionally planned our route to take us north into the Hida area, which is well known in Japan for its traditional thatched houses or ‘Gassho’. In true Japanese style, the most famous village at Shirakawa-go features more tour buses than thatched cottages – but we were lucky enough to have time to go further north and make our way to the much quieter village of Ainokura, deep in the mountains – and handily with a campsite only 1km from the village.
But there aren’t this many tunnels in Norfolk, or the Cotswolds
Whilst we haven’t since equalled the longest tunnel ever (on Shikoku) we have confirmed that epic feats of Japanese engineering and infrastructure really are everywhere in Japan. Even up in the mountains we have frequently cycled through ridiculously long and deep tunnels, and admired/been bemused by the liberal use of concrete to hold up mountains, stop rock falls, control enormous rivers and so on. Of course whilst it’s impressive it’s all a bit… sad. Yes there is a lot of untamed wilderness in Japan but there’s also a lot that has been fully tamed, maybe a bit too much.
Dreaming of hot showers
On the topic of Japanese infrastructure – we have been pleasantly surprised by the quantity/frequency of campsites, and on Honshū, despite the cold/dark at this time of year in the mountains – the happy fact that they are still open!
HOWEVER, Japanese engineering and ingenuity doesn’t seem to have extended to the provision of hot water at said campsites, in any form. This has meant needing to boil water for washing up (or just using cold water…) and in nearly every case over the last month there being no hot shower (or indeed any shower at all).
We have two theories on this:
(1) Part of the appeal of camping in Japan is that it is a ‘back to basics’ type experience – where you leave behind city comforts and enjoy roughing it (nearly always for one night only, with all of the camping gizmos imaginable packed in your car).
(2) The onsen culture in Japan means that often enough there is an onsen within a shortish drive from the campsite (or sometimes even closer).
Sadly for us, we left city comforts behind quite a long time ago and are actually interested in not roughing it at campsites (give me all the facilities, please!). Plus, a shortish drive can often be an hour round trip by bike which however good the quality of the water at the onsen is, is just not worth it.
This has meant (confession time) that there was a run of six nights where we did not shower. I think the longest I have ever not showered/bathed in my entire life. We did ‘wash’ where possible (boiling up water again, our gas usage has ben through the roof!) but when we finally got to a campsite with an onsen only a short bike ride away (irritatingly back down the hill we had just climbed up to get to the site – but beggars can’t be choosers) – we celebrated with an epically long scrub and soak.
Takayama and hotel time!
Despite the onsen scrub and soak, we were really ready for some hotel time when we rolled into Takayama – a small city which is famous for its Spring/Autumn matsuri (festival).
Somehow we timed our visit for the days of the autumn festival (just sheer fluke). Unfortunately, showery weather meant that the main events involving big historic wooden floats being paraded around the city were cancelled, but we were treated to some traditional performances and absolutely loved just strolling around the historic streets of this beautiful little place. (Plus the big bed in the hotel was actual heaven!!)
Waiting out the weather in Hirayu
Departing Takayama we were headed up a big climb to the onsen town of Hirayu, nestled in the Alps. Our original plan had been to stay at the campsite on the edge of town for just one or two nights before rolling onto Kamikochi, an end of the road village nestled right in the central Alps. However, the weather had other ideas.
The Kamikochi plan was based around tackling the highest paved pass in Japan (Mount Norikura) which we wanted to do on a clear day (or at least not in the rain). We knew a big storm was going to pass through at some point, so after much deliberation (maybe a little bit too much!) we ended up staying four nights in Hirayu to wait it out.
The temperatures really were cold up there but we were saved by the Hirayu-no-Mori onsen being only a 10 minute walk away. This onsen was really really good – hot (sometimes too hot!) sulphuric water, inside and outside baths as well as a couple of big tatami matted rooms where you can chill out before and after bathing. We made the most of all of it, visiting the place on all four nights, staying until closing time at 9pm, surreptitiously charging our devices behind a fire extinguisher and (again surreptitiously) enjoying snacks and beers on the last night whilst giggling at the Japanese tourists having a post onsen snore-filled snooze on the floor!
Having been slightly shy of onsen-ing on arrival in Japan (Matt less so, he has no issues with nudey-ness) I am now a complete convert to them and there is officially no better way to warm up before climbing into a cold tent up a mountain.
The storm did pass through eventually but we were fully prepared having moved the tent under an un-used open air kitchen area which meant that the torrential rain didn’t get into the tent as it had a few nights earlier as mentioned by Matt in his 4 Ls post.
Snug as bugs (with some bugs) and excited for tackling the really big ones at hopefully just the right time for Japan’s famous autumn leaves – or momiji 🙂 🙂
A P.S. for the food lovers
Don’t worry, we have been eating. Mainly due to needing to carry food for a couple of days at a time on occasion, our diet has mainly consisted of porridge when we can get it, and either noodles or spaghetti for dinner. There have been some excellent Japanese snacks/biscuits and a real highlight of bacon sarnies on Matt’s birthday… what better way to celebrate?
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