Much Awaited 'Journey to the East'

May 25-28 - four riding days partly on the Japan Alps bike route as we made our way from Kyoto to Tokyo.  The day out of Kyoto started with an early steep climb out of town, passing amongst other things this attractive shrine... ...before descending to the shores of Lake Biwa which meant no hills for the rest of the day. It was nice to be riding again with Juergen and Brigitte Willrodt with whom we have already done three previous TDA trips. A couple of good coffee breaks at lakeside places.. . The next day we headed into the hills with an immediate 1000 metre climb over the first 18 km - here Ursula going through an attractive village on the way up into the forest. After the climb, a steep descent out of forest and into valley. The afternoon was only very slightly uphill on average, but it still seemed like a lot of work as we were pretty tired from the morning climb. Some amazing Japanese gardens at homes along the way...    ...and a really attractive cafe that unfortun...

Yesterday (May 24) was a rest day in Kyoto, the old capital of Japan until 1868.  We did a leisurely 20 km bike ride along with Brigitte and Juergen whom we know from previous TDA bike trips, first to the Sanjusangendo Buddhist Temple that houses 999 Buddhas - no photos allowed so you have to take our word for it that we were there - then to the Fushimi Inari Shrine, that dates back to the eighth century honouring the Shinto god Inari.  The shrine is also known for its vermillion torii gates, numbering over a thousand, which straddle the trails that lead into the woods of the sacred Mount Inari.  Near the hotel was the Nijo castle that we passed by without visiting. We're avoiding things that require a lot of walking as Rae's knees object rather strongly to walking.  The previous evening before we went to the downtown Gion district where there are lots of small restaurants in narrow streets - indeed, while there are several wide (6 or 8 lane) major avenues, all the s...

May 20-21-22 - three days on Shikoku Island before the next rest/bus day to Kyoto, riding mostly through hilly wooded terrain with a variety of villages... ...rice... ...tea plantations... ...recreation... ... temples and shrines...   At least half the time every day we were definitely off the most travelled tourist routes, instead being on single-lane quiet backroads.  One day when we were already en route, the support vehicle discovered that the intended route was closed for construction but our translator negotiated with the construction crew to permit passage of the bikes (and it was all done with very friendly waves and encouragement (by which you can assume it was on one of the steep up-hills). I shudder to think of the difficulty had they not let us through - it would have been many many kilometers of backtracking and re-routing and re-locating the lunch stop. We had several tunnels - this one, the light at the end of the tunnel is 3 km away, seems so close and yet so f...