Day 1: from Osaka to Omihachiman

Finally today we start cycling.

After the usual good breakfast we take our luggage with us, drop the key of the house and walk to the pick up place, where Gareth from Globalwheels has prepared our bikes.

It's at walking distance from the guest house, and in few minutes we are there. Gareth has the bike ready for us, and we need just few adjustments to fit them: saddle height, panniers, installation of the handlebar bag and deposit of the baggage, gently agreed by Globalwheels.

Gareth guides us to the bridge on the O river, from where we start our trip. The sun is shining in the sky, and the river banks are full of people doing any type of sport: baseball, running, football, badminton and of course also cycling. We find out that today is something like the national sport day, and of course the Japanese are celebrating it.

The cycling path following the O and then the Yodo river is nice, away from the traffic of the city which is just in the background after the river banks. The only annoyance comes from the way too frequent barriers installed to prevent devices other than bicycles to access the path. They are made in such a way that we have to get down and lift our bikes to pass them, since our panniers prevent us from bunny hopping them.

When we reach the panoramic terrace on the Uji river we leave the cycle path and move into the city to reach lake Biwa. We stop for lunch in a small park, where we eat our onigiri with the only company of several mosquitoes and a little boy on a small bike who try to catch something in the grass while not giving away his curiosity toward us.

We get back on the bike and move on. Until now the road has been pleasant, but as soon as we leave the river we have to find our way among cars, trucks, roads not allowed to bikes and quite unpleasant landscapes. There are not so many path we can take, therefore we cannot be picky.

We somehow manage to reach route 1 to Otsu, but there we have no choice than share the road with the traffic. There is an accident ahead, and the vehicles are almost still. Since we have to go uphill for us it is almost a blessing, not having to worry about cars and trucks speeding few cm from our elbows. On the other hand we get to breathe the exhaust from the queue.

When we finally descend to Otsu we are glad we can fill our lungs with fresh air. We have got a first impression of Lake Biwa by watching the NHK episode of Cycling around Japan, but being there in person is another story.

For a while we proceed along the coast, where there are a lot of people either fishing or barbecuing, then we head inland when the sun is starting to set. Since we had told the hostel that we would have arrived around 6 p.m. we try to find someone who can call them for us.

We stop at a combini and I try to nail the few words of Japanese I know to ask if they can call the place and tell we are late. If only I had reached the part of the Japanese class where they taught that the Japanese word for telling 6 p.m. is not the same 6 as in the number, I would have been quicker. But at the end the guy at the counter manages to understand me, and calls the place.

The landlord tells us it is ok, and just wants to be sure we know the way. It's still 15 km to reach there, and we will arrive with darkness. We reassure him and get back on the saddle.

The road now goes mostly straight through an infinite theory of fields, with here and there some large buildings. The last few kilometers are again on the coast, the dark lake on one side, the countryside on the other with just few cars driving by. When we finally reach the place, the hostel is on the side of the hill, enveloped into complete darkness and with only crickets and frogs filling the night.

We park our bikes and get a shower just in time for dinner: the dishes are freshly prepared with local ingredients and everything is really tasty, and together with us there are three other guests.

The building of Hachiman Youth Hostel is more than one century old, and the wooden frame seems to be breathing memories of a distant past. After dinner we take a walk to the combini close by, where we buy an ice cream, a beer and the necessary for tomorrow breakfast. Then, while the chilled beer relaxes our legs, we sit on the patio, enjoying the fresh air of the night with our eyes wandering in the darkness, broken here and there by some distant light.

We then head upstairs and sink into the futons, getting some rest for tomorrow. The crickets outside quickly fade away into our sleep.