Never ending story - Part 3: Chichibu

As I wasn't able to drive my bike back to Tokyo on the last trip, I had to go get it back. I picked the next available weekend (meanwhile I had been in Portland on business trip, so this took a while) and tried to remember the name of the station where I left it, hoping it's still there...

After 1,5 hours in the train I found my bike where I left it in perfect condition - and even more important, without a parking ticket. I didn't park it where it in an obvious "no parking" area, but somehow I have a feeling that in Japan everywhere where parking is not explicitly permitted, it's forbitten.

Of course I didn't want to go directly to Tokyo but use this chance for another nice tour outside of the city. Chichibu, one of the mountain side areas close to Tokyo, was near anyhow so I dedicded to go there first and head towards Tokyo later. The first part, the road was mildly crowded, but it was really beautiful. It meandered along a river, creating some really nice curves as well as a great view.

After a while, I left the river behind and took a turn into the mountains, driving on the mountain pass to the next valey. Here, I was completely alone on the street with the curves, the landscape, the view on the valey below, the trees with the beautiful changing of the colors and more curves. And the cold. Even though the sun was shining, temperatures, especially in the mountains, were rather low so finally on the other side of the mountains and having done a small detour to visit on the dams here, I decided to call it a day.

So I looked for a suitable train line and a parking space for my bike and found both in Yokoze. So I left my bike behind and had a comfortable 1,5 hours train ride back to Tokyo...

(Considering 1,5 hours versus 1,5 hours, I did a really poor job bringing my bike home. ;) 

Kan'nagawa with low water level (dammed up)

Kaki (persimmon fruit)

Arakawa river when it's still very small - from very high above.

View from Urayama dam on Chichibu 

Never ending story - Part 2: Nikko

So Monday, the national holiday, was the only day left for the whole supposed fun part and the return to Ikebukuro. I started rather quickly and was in Utsunomiya on the bike, ready to go before 10 a.m. 

The first part through the city was great (but city).

The second part, leaving the city behind and going towards Nikko, was ok - the road was really nice, trees line the street, but too much traffic to really enjoy it.

Finally reaching Nikko as first interim goal, it was terrible. Whole Nikko was a traffic jam! I see green traffic lights as far as I see, but nothing is moving. I am fighting my way through the crowd, driving wherever no barrier blocks the way, using sidewalks, shoulders, ditches...

Finally, I reached the area of the great temples, the goal of many and the end of the non moving avalanche of steel.

Having passed this, I had free road ahead of me for the first time on my trip. I entered the iroha-zaka quickly, a famous ascent with about 22 serpentine curves. As it has two lanes and goes to one direction only, the cars on the road didn't matter too much. That was at least true as long as the cars where moving, at curve no. 14 there was... traffic jam!

Of course the area around Nikko, the high moor, the waterfalls and the pretty lakes are really beautiful, especially as the turning of the leaves had already started. As you can guess not only I knew this - so even after having left the traffic jam at iroha-zaka behind, streets were always crowded. What didn't help were two signs I saw pretty everywhere on this trip: "speed limit 40km/h" and "no overtaking". There was always somebody who was driving 40, behind him some cars that didn't overtake so I only had the choice to stick to 40 or to drive like a "Drecksau"... 

Still the sightseeing part was worth the drive and some curves, I had all for my own (after doing the driving like a Drecksau to pass the slowly moving obstacles).

Lake Chuzenji

Ryuzu Falls

Ryuzu Falls from above

high moor of Senjogahara

nice road but with too many cars... :(

Yu no Taki

Yu no Taki from above

Lake Yu no Ko

Some relaxation in the Onsen (hot spring)

Onsen Tamago (Eggs boiled in natural thermal water)

So finally I was on my way back to Tokyo. Having left Road 120 - the Romantic Road - I found myself again in traffic jam, only this time not produced by too many tourists but by too many people wanting to go to Tokyo (pretty normal condition, there are just too many people on this island. And everybody has a car...).

Even with the bike, using every small gap and every centimeter between the roadside ditch on the left and the rear view mirrors on the doors of the cars on the right, I wasn't able to go really fast.

The watch said 7:00 p.m., the speedometer said 17km/h and the road sign said 117km to Tokyo... the result of a quick calculation was 'I'm in trouble'. I needed a new strategy if I didn't want to stay on the bike until 2:00 a.m. (which I didn't!).

Or I could reuse a strategy that was proved, like leaving my bike in Utsunomiya the other day. So I found the nearest station of a major line going with direct connection to Tokyo, left my bike somewhere not too close to the station and went home by train... As there was no traffic jam on the railroad tracks, I made it back home in 2 hours.

Yet my bike tour was still not over as only I, not my bike returned to Tokyo. 

Therefore 

to be continued...

Never ending story - Part 1

Timing would have been everything

Monday a national holiday, a 3 days weekend. Recently the waves are not that great and I have my new toy, the motorbike, so I decide to take a ride.
With my sleeping bag and air mattress I plan to stay where ever I roam. My target: the highmoor at Nikko. A vast and beautiful plano alto with hot spring, waterfalls bringing water from the nearby mountain and, most important, nice curved roads.
Google Map tells me that the overall distance is 380km, something that could be easily made in Germany within one day, so I guess 3 days is no problem even if the Tokyo traffic is involved at the beginning and end of the trip.

All the preparation go well, I'm ready to go. But then: RAIN. I wait until it gets better and go anyhow, assuming that it won't be that bad.

It is that bad. It is worse. I wait in the traffic jam in Tokyo being rained on, I drive behind trucks being sprayed on, I try to advance as quickly as possible sneaking to the pole position at red traffic lights, overtake everywhere where's more space between cars than the width of my handle. The roads in central Tokyo are great, 3 lanes in every direction, but as soon as I leave the center, the roads become smaller with the same amount of traffic on it.
Road No. 4 leads from Tokyo to Utsunomiya which is close to Nikko, so I imagine everything will be better once I reach that road. It isn't. Road No. 4 packed, has huge cart tracks (even the newly built parts!). And the rain is increasing ever since I left Ikebukuro.

Always raining I wasn't too motivated to stop to take pictures. The only picture I took was at the only place where it didn't rain.

I continue driving until Utsunomiya, crossing 4 prefectures: Tokyo, Saitama, Ibaraki and Tochigi. I am soaking wet. My clever plan of staying somewhere where I could find a roof - not an option any more. I look for a hotel but 50 Euro is the minimum and they don't even offer parking for bikes.
So I decide to go back to Ikebukuro to stay the night in my own apartment... but not another 4 hours drive with the bike in the rain, I take the option to go 1,5 hours with the train. A train round trip is cheaper than a hotel anyhow. So I park my bike somewhere where I hope it will be ok and go home.

Not only did my skin feel like leather, it also took over the color from the leather bike wear that was completely wet.


The weather forecast for Sat said it would rain and I thought I wouldn't be that bad and went anyhow.
The weather forecast for Sun said it would rain and I thought I maybe should believe it this time - but it turned out to be not bad at all. No rain, even sunny from time to time. But when I realized that, it was already too late to go to Utsunomiya to continue the ride. Instead I enjoyed the Yosakoi Festival in Ikebukuro (the original plan was to go surfing, but than I wasted too much time taking pictures of the festival for you... coming soon so stay tuned! :P )