• Nakasendo travel diary No. 10

• Nakasendo Bike Travel 10th May 27th－June 1st,2018

Course name: Bicycle Nakasendo Road 69th Kyoto. Hosokute-juku 150km from Shimosuwa-juku.

Shinjuku Station(7:25)－Shimosuwa station(10:38)－Shimosuwa-juku－Shiojiri-juku－Seba-juku－Motoyama-juku－Niekawa-juku －Narai-juku－Torii pass－Yabuhara-juku－Miyanokoshi-juku－Fukushima-juku－Agematsu-juku－Suhara-juku－Nojiri-juku －Midono-juku－Tumago-juku－Magome-jukuOchiai-juku－Nakatsugawa-juku－Ooi-juku－Jyusann Pass－Ookute-juku－Hosokute-juku From Tajimi Shimosuwa(17:38) by bus to Shinjuku(23:00)

I cycled Nakasendo road from May 27th to June 1st for 6 days. A lot of things happened this time. Changing the schedule from the first day, the bus on the way back was full and I could not go home. On the way from Ochiai-juku to Nakatsugawa-juku, suddenly both the brakes of the bicycle (front and rear) do not work abnormal phenomenon occ1urs, I got a reservation for the bus leaving on June 1st on the 31st. For that purpose, I must arrive at Tajimi by 17 o'clock on June 1, I decided to use 2 trains from Mitake to Tajimi. Since we arrived at Mitake station half an hour ago, I prioritized our return trip, and I took a stroll around Mitake-juku next time. However, I got on the train one before the schedule and arrived at Tajimi at 4:38. When I reconfirmed the arrival and departure place of the bus, I found out that it was not on Tajimi station but on expressway, Using Navi, I aimed for UNIQLO near the highway. I heard a bus stop at a UNIQLO clerk. The clerk accompanied me to the terminal on the highway. I was able to get to the terminal 10 minutes before the scheduled time. I gave thanks to the store clerk and broke up. Already a single lady was waiting, when asked if it was a bus to Shinjuku departing at 17:38, she told me that it was so, I was relieved. Now I can go home today.

This time around Nakasendo, Kiso Road was the main body. It was mountain and Kiso river and road. The Kiso river overlooking the eyes was in a very deep place. I was very frightened that there is a 2 meter wide promenade on the right side of the Kiso river, the left is a cliff, on the right side of the 2 lane road. Naturally, the bicycle will run on the promenade, but the roadway is on the edge of the cliff but there are many places where the boardwalk extends beyond the cliff, that is, there is nothing under the promenade, Looking into the Kiso River, the Kiso River flows just under 80 meters. There was a place to be relieved with the feeling that it could be sucked in. Besides, the traffic of cars is intense, but I almost never meet people. It was a very dangerous solo travel. Narai-juku is a very quiet city that makes time slip back in the past. Around 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the cityscape crowded with foreigners, 6:00 am, very quiet townscape with no people, I loved both. In addition, explanation in English was overflowing in town. There was a free teahouse at the pass of Magom-juku, and the master said that he had interviewed the British BBC broadcast. Then He told me that foreigners came here. That 76-year-old master seemed very happy when he was dealing with only the next two phrases.

Where are you from?
Where are you coming from and where to go

Since the Donation box was placed, I put 500 yen in it.Tea drinking while talking about various things was also exceptional. Tumago-juku is a road that is 2 meters long on the slope from the beginning to the end and is maintained and about 1 meter half of it. I ate “Gohei Mochi” here, but the type is different. I know " Gohei Mochi " often comes out as "half, blue" of the NHK continuous TV novel. However, "Gofira mochi" here was a dumpling type. When asking the shopkeeper, " Gohei Mochi " has a dumpling type and a straw type. It is exactly what I know is the type of straw. “Gohei Mochi” is located in the mountains in the Chubu district (Kiso, Nagano Prefecture, Ina region, Gifu prefecture Tojin - hit area, Southern Toyama Prefecture ). “Gohei Mochi” was served at Ryokan Hanaya was a straw type. I have become to like it.

There was a thirteen pass between Ooi-juku and the next Ookute-juku, which was a road of about 14 km, but as I said that "There are seven extras at the thirteen pass". In other words, it was a violent place where there were heavy ups and downs. Moreover, it is a place unsuitable for running a bicycle with stone pavement. Kiso has a sound of water flowing anywhere and I do not need to bring water, but here there is no sound of water flowing. There is no water to drink.

I also wrote at the beginning, but the most problematic point of this time is that the brake of the bicycle became inoperable with both the front wheels and the rear wheels. In this way I have to get off the bike and push it. It was on the way from Ochiai-juku to Nakatsugawa-juku. I believed that there should be a bicycle when entering Nakatsugawa-juku, and decided to push a bicycle until then. I asked two people the location of the bicycle shop in Nakatsugawa. Two people did not know. Those who asked the third person kindly took me to the shop. It was not a bicycle store but a Suzuki bike shop. Can you repair a bicycle brake? Shop owner can do it said to me. There is almost no brake plate left on the front wheels. The rear wheels are OK with adjustment. In this case please change both. The shop owner changed both brake plate Brake repair cost is 4,320 yen in both. My bicycle is now revived.

This bicycle is 50 km in Kagoshima, 150 km in last Nakasendo, and 100 km this time, totaling 300 km. The bicycle I normally ride has never replaced the brake plate. Because it runs from a flat road. The road of Nakasendo here is very steep, it is a 2 hour brake from the Wada Pass to Shimosuwa. Alternately using front and rear brakes, there is no engine brake like a car. From now on, add 1 set of bicycle brake plates to the stationary items. Up to now the only stationary items were tire tubes and pumps.

In this schedule, I finished all the pass which I should pass. It is likely to reach the Kyoto Sanjo Ohashi bridge in one more process.I want to finish it as soon as possible. The end will be a fight against the heat. The weather was sunny 2 days, cloudy 2 days and rain 2 days. Any weather is okay with this, but I want to avoid only typhoons.