We get on the bikes and start our ride, together with many students getting on their way to school. As soon as possible we leave the main road and take the cycle route taking us along the small Sainoko lake, where several old people are fishing. They look quite surprised to see us when we greet them.
Our first goal is Azuchi castle, but before we reach it we notice a small problem on one of the bike: the rear tire is twisted, and we get in touch with Globalwheels to ask for advice. They suggest us a couple of shops which can fix the tire for us, and we head for the closest one, even though it means we have to go in the opposite direction.
On the way we stop to visit Kōmyōji Temple, which is still empty due to the early hour, then when we search our way in the village we have the chance of practicing our Japanese asking for directions to two elderly men. We have happen to surprise a small kid on his way to school with his mother, who apparently has never seen two foreigners on bike. From the smile on his face he must have been pleased by the surprise.
When we finally reach the bike shop, we wait until they fix the problem and use the break to plan our route ahead. After Azuchi castle we will also stop at Hikone castle, and, considering the time we are losing with this unexpected break, we will then take the train to cover part of the road until our destination in Machino.
Once the bike is fixed we get back on the road, and in short time we reach the ruins of Azuchi castle. It takes some time for use to realize which are the remains among the vegetation, but then we understand the size of the castle.
After getting lost among the rice fields, we manage to reach the lake coast, and from there proceed in the direction of Hikone. The villages we cross along the road seems to be empty, and several houses are clearly abandoned. It all gives the impression of a place which is lively during summer months, when the lake is a touristic destination, but then deserted for the rest of the year.
When we finally reach Hikone, at a crossing we ask for direction to an old lady. She tell us to follow her, and start running in the direction of the castle. For being an old lady she runs pretty fast, and we have to keep a steady pace to not lose her, even though we are on our bikes. She stops next to the bridge crossing the castle moat, and tell us to proceed further. We thank her for the guidance, and we venture into the castle park. I am sure that if we would have been in the opposite situation, with her running behind us, the police would have been glad to ask us some questions.
There are quite some people visiting it, and we find a salary man, having his lunch break there, who can speak a good English. He tells us that it's not possible to climb on the castle with the bikes and that the visit takes at least 1 and half hour. We decide to skip it, and we sit in the park to have our lunch.
After lunch we proceed to Nagahama, where we want to take the train. Our first surprise there is to see a lot of boards and signals in Portuguese. Apparently there is a large Brazilian community, which explain it. When we finally reach the station we have about 20 minutes before our train departs. We have the rinko bags, supplied with the bikes, but we have never attempted using them. Gareth explained us, but apparently we didn't listen well, because after ten minutes, during which I am pretty sure we look like a couple of Donald Ducks fighting (and losing) with a plastic bag, we still haven't managed to wrap the bikes.There is always some part of the bike sticking out of the bag!
One of the two guys at the ticket counter is probably moved to mercy and, after having found in on the internet, prints the instructions and help us packing the bikes. We are really grateful for his help, and we finally manage to reach the platform few minutes before the train arrives. We take it and during the trip have some chat in a broken mix of English and Japanese with a Japanese man, who asks us about our trip. He works in something related to organic chemistry, I assume, since he lists the first hydrocarbons, and he is also an amateur radio operator, from what we see on the business card he hands us.
He gets down with us at Makino, and from there we greet each other. We mount back our bikes and head to the metasequoia avenue, a famous road, few kilometers long, with about 500 dawn redwoods planted along it. We reach it when the sun is about to set, and there are plenty of tourists taking pictures, even right in the middle of the road.
We also take some pictures, and then move toward the minshuku where we are spending the night, Shanshui House. We are the only guests for the night, the landlord shows us around and offers to take us to some restaurant nearby, but we prefer to buy some food from a combini. After the shower we get back on our bike and reach the nearest combini.
It's few kilometers away and the road is pretty dark, but not particularly complicated. On the way back we first hit a swarm of mosquitoes (luckily our mouths where shut, else we would have had our daily dose of proteins), then we see a night train running through the night: the row of lights traveling fast on the dark countryside, reminds us of the train in Spirited Away.
We have our dinner in the living room of the pretty big minshuku, then we watch some TV: tomorrow the forecasts tell rain, so we have to deal with it. But for now we a roof under which we can sleep, and the crickets are singing outside the window. All is fine.
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento