Wednesday, 20th May - Fresh Air

This really was an amazing night. I slept right through and did not even wake up once, unlike in the youth hostel. My alarm sounded at 7am but I snoozed for a while until 7.30. They I made breakfast, egg sandwich & tea, to give me strength for the journey ahead. Despite getting up early I did not leave before 9am. It took me five minutes again to get onto the R41 from Takayama to Toyama, getting onto the R471 at some point which would take me onto the R360, apparently closed for traffic (as the photo shop proprietor and someone in a kombini told me). I stopped at a petrol station and a friendly lady gave me a hand drawn map of the local area which showed the road block and how to avoid it. I thought that this should be cool and continued onto the R360.

Little did I know that this was to be the most spectacular riding day, ever! The road took me through small villages and past farms where the cows and humans alike enjoyed classical music via loudspeakers while grazing on freshly cut grass. This was not a bad life for a cow I thought. The smell of the air in this area was amazing. I simply did not want to stop breathing this fresh and sweetly scented air in (and how could I have anyway). There were lots of white and purple flowering trees. R360 on the other hand would quickly show its true colours (pictures). A steep and narrow road over 3 mountains, all over 1000m high. I continued my journey uphill as I saw some cars parked on the road. I did not think much of it and continued. And there it was - the road block. A huge gate fenced off the whole road and must have done so for quite a while as the gate looked worn down and some plants started to creep up on it. Completely blocked off? What did I see there? A narrow opening on the left hand side between stone wall and gate seemed just big enough to squeeze through. And it was big enough. From here onwards there would be no cars, no people and just me, the mountains and the lovely air - I thought. The road was blocked off for good reason as I would discover, because during heavy rain or snow regular earth/ mud slides would occur destroying everything in its way. The road uphill was the steepest I have ever been on. In addition to the many slopes (serpentine) the road did, I had to go up in a slalom style just to be able to cycle upwards. After every 30/ 40 m I had to make a stop to catch my breath and enjoy the scenery which was really amazing. Old pine trees mixed with those white and purple flowering trees, partly jungle and many mountain streams paved the way uphill, far and further into the mountains. At some point I ran out of water and the blasting and unforgivable sun made my mouth so dry that I had to take water from the streams, knowing that it was ok to drink from some travellers I met on the road. I filled up my water bottle and continued. After 12 miles I thought to have reached the top. The hard shoulder was replaced by ropes and sometimes there were just bags of sand indicating not to go near the edges as the road was instable.

What did I see there, white, glistening in the sun? SNOW, it actually was snow (picture right). I had to get off the bike to take a few handfuls to rub over my hot face and put in my neck. This was unbelievable. There were at least 20 °C and the snow would still last. I was very happy and continued further uphill onto a big parking space with no cars and non-functional toilets... I knew this was the top at around 1400m and that it was time to attach the camera to my front bag and to rock n roll downhill. After the first corner where 3 men were laying on the road reading, what it seemed, newspapers and magazines. They worked on fixing the road and were on their lunch break. I had a quick chat and then raced down the R360 on the other side into Shirakawago. The road downhill was just as slopey and up and I could only get to high speeds of 40 mph as there were too many sharp bends and curves. I stopped to see what my breaks were doing and I could not touch the rim of my rear wheel as it was very, very hot. I was very happy to have changed the tyre because the road downhill was sometimes plastered with stones or only hart partially applied road surface. The old tyre would have definitely gone bust here. I made my descent into Shirakawago spotting the Gassho houses (wooded houses with stee, straw decked roofs) on my way down. Not long before the huge tourist busses would come up the village road. I stopped in Shirakawago on the R156 to get some food and drink. An excellent local restaurant would dish up lots of vegetarian food (root vegetables, mushroom, cold & hot tofu, miso soup and a good bowl of rice). I filled up my water bottle and continued my way to Kanazawa, I thought. The next 20 Km zoomed by and I made good headway. There were huge dams, large bridges and nice scenery with plenty of old villages. Then the R156 became R304 which did not look as bad on the map as it actually was. A steep road uphill into Nanto with a huge tunnel, at least 3km long. I was already very exhausted having done over 60 miles already and R360 really drained me. My muscles were hurting and I felt I had not enough energy to put up my tent.

In Johanna (Nanto-shi) I spotted my camp site in a Buddhist shrine but continued driving into town for a supermarket. Camp was next to a rice field with what seemed myriads of frogs. I had a huge pot of stew with veggies, beans and tofu plus the obligatory bag of peanuts before collapsing onto my sleeping bag after nine hours on the bike including one hour for lunch. I would dream about the exciting race down the hill on the R360 with the wind in my face, the sweet smell of the mountain air and frogs wanting to tell me stories...