Day 0 - Osaka to Kyoto and on to Lake Biwa
Our original plan was to have the bike boxes couriered to the hotel on Lake Biwa. On that plan, today would have been a day travelling relatively light on trains. A number of online reports of problems with getting bike boxes accepted by the transport companies at the the airport and a general nervousness about trying to start a cycle tour without bicycles, if they were lost in transit or delivered late, laid that plan to rest.
On paper, a relatively short cycle from downtown Osaka up the Yodogawa, Katsuragawa and Kamogawa rivers as far as Kyoto looked like an excellent low key first day of cycling. With the route going virtually past the front door of an old friend, the chance to cycle together on part of the first day was a bonus.
Route
The reality check set in early. The result of deferring bike setup from last night was time taken this morning inflating tyres, reattaching handlebars, screwing pedals back on, setting saddle heights and attaching various odds and sods. The plus side of having functional bikes again is the trip back to the station was over in a blip. The negative side is the bikes needed to be packed back into rinko bags for train travel. Each of us had to carry the bagged bike and two panniers through the ticket gate and up to the platform.
Departing the train at Sakuranomiya, we met up with our friend who we haven’t seen for so long. By the time we rolled down onto the riverside bikeway, a sum total of maybe 500 metres, her rear tyre was flat. Noting the valve was still open from being inflated that morning, I assumed (hoped) that was the problem and pumped it back up and we headed off. For another kilometre and a bit at least. A newly flat tyre indicated other problems. After a standard puncture repair we were on our way again.
Whilst the Yodogawa riverside park sports a cornucopia of very pleasant bikeways, the bollards designed to keep recalcitrant moto riders off them are a bane for touring bikes sporting a couple of panniers. It was necessary to lift the bikes over each bollard. I lost count of how many we traversed.
After lunch the steady headwind we’d been battling all day really started to whip up. A minor navigational error saw us kicked off a golf course access road, requiring a short retracing of our route to pick up the correct thread. All in all it was a much more physical day than anticipated.
With the late start our planned arrival into Kyoto was closer to 5pm rather than 3pm, placing us squarely in the start of rush hour, and the tourists, and the school kids. Oh the joys of packing a bike into a rinko bag with an audience and carrying a bike and 2 panniers through a crowded train station. The crowded train soon thinned out and we could sit and enjoy the ride up the Western edge of Lake Biwa and the evening views of Japan's largest lake.
Stay and Eat
Arriving at the Imazu Sun Bridge Hotel after unpacking the bikes in the chill wind and the short cold ride from the station was like arriving in an oasis. Let’s be clear this hotel is no spring chicken, but she’s not showing her age. Everything is sparklingly well maintained, it’s only the wall to wall marble, glass, chrome and dangly light fittings that hint at the old girl’s age.
The staff here are also old school attentive. While a lot of flash hotels might turn their nose up at grubby cycle tourists, here we were met with open arms. There’s a bike rack in the foyer but the concierge offered us the option of keeping the bikes in the room or having them put in the secure lockup for us.
We had an absolutely cracking cutlet set meal in the in-house restaurant. It was served with a wee mortar and pestle to freshly grind some sesame seeds to add to the cutlet sauce.
The included breakfast was also served in the foyer restaurant. Rather than the usual buffet fare, we were presented with a tray each of pickled vegetables, local fish and the rice was served and possibly cooked in a little kamado pot - a traditional rice cooking dish. The rice was fragrant and kept warm to the last grain.
The restaurant at Miho Museum provides simple food executed superbly. We had a set of nigiri with a side of vegetables and house made tofu served with just a self applied sprinkling of salt. The richest and creamiest tofu I have ever enjoyed.
Dinner on our second night at Biwa was at a Taiwanese restaurant (Fukuryuuju) a few blocks from the hotel. A gargantuan ramen set was inadvertently ordered. The full size bowl of ramen was accompanied by rice and a meat dish that would have served as a generous meal in its own right. That’s before mentioning the side of fried gyoza, salad and a coconut jelly. All of it was delicious. If you come here, don’t eat lunch.
See and Do
Miho Museum is quite intentionally not in a convenient location. It is however, well worth the journey. From the top of the lake it was an hour’s train ride down to Ishiyama station where the bus to the museum departs from. The bus quickly leaves suburbia behind and winds its way up mountain roads. From the Reception Pavilion there is a short walk up to a tunnel and then a suspension bridge. You emerge into a new space, separated from the rest of the world.
It’s a strong collection, but the architecture housing it is worth a visit in its own right. The location up in the mountains secluded in its own valley, surrounded by dense forest is used to great effect. The temporary exhibition when we visited covered thousands of years of glass working evolution with great exposition and stunning pieces.
