Tokyo

 June 1-5 - we leave Tokyo behind. First a bus transfer to get away from Tokyo's traffic with a stop at the Nikko Tōshō-gū Shinto shrine built in the 17th century and dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate. Together with two nearby shrines, it forms the Shrines and Temples of Nikkō UNESCO World Heritage Site, containing 42 structures, five of which are designated as National Treasures of Japan.

...and another variation on taking the dogs for a walk...

The next day we set out in pouring rain through what would have been beautiful forested hillsides... this was about as nice as it got that day...  

...until reaching the hotel in the Samurai city of Aizawakamatsu...

Better weather the next day with immediate hill-climbing out of the town...

 ...up through ski resorts which looked pretty bleak in the off-season and perhaps also suffering the COVID slow-down...

Most of the roads once again were narrow and only very lightly travelled giving us wonderful descents in the forest - too bad the we had to climb up so many long hills to get those wonderful descents. A beautiful lotus pond on the way down, a family of monkeys first at the pond then on a nearby roof-top. 

The descent continued into Fukushima with rice and orchards continuing right up to the edge of town. Not sure what fruit on these trees, but it is a lot of manual labour that goes into putting these little paper bags that we presume provides some necessary protection.

On into town where the bicycle parking lot beneath an elevated roadway gives evidence of the extent to which bicycles are heavily used here. 

Fukushima is the capital city of the Fukushima prefecture which gained fame a number of years ago when one of the Fukushima nuclear power plants was flooded by a tsunami. The powerplant is located on the ocean about 100 km distant from the city. We didn't travel near the site.

Onward the next day to the town of Tendo, again lots of steep hills. The routing these days had already been changed due to landslides associated with weather earlier in the year. We were riding the long hill up to the right side of the dam that you can see behind the town when we got the surprise that the road was going to close at 0930. We got to the closure point exactly at 0930, no problem getting through on the bikes as the closure was for a Sunday bike race. 

Behind the dam was a substantial lake and after that, more climbing.

Further along, evidence of the landslides that were affecting this week's routes.

Where it wasn't forested, it was cultivated giving us great scenery to cycle through...

...and eventually arrive at the hotel...

The next day route had to be hastily completely changed due to road closures. That meant a bus out of town to where we could start the new routing at Ginzan Onsen meaning 'silver mine hot spring', a charming village that now caters to tourism.

Then once again hills to climb with views of snow-capped mountains and lush farmland.

Even the manhole covers in one town were attractive...

The day ended with a very steep climb for the last two kilometers to an absolutely lovely hotel. Not only has it a normal full onsen (meaning hot and cold pools and sauna), it even has a private hot tub in each room and the toilet does everything for you... if you don't flush it yourself, it knows when you get up and leave and it flushes itself and puts the lid back down.