Day 14 - Mamurogawa to Jumonji

Japan is not renowned for its public conveniences.  It's much better than my first visit in the 90s when public toilets were almost non existent.  Nevertheless, on our journeys this trip, much reliance was placed on the pervasive network of convenience stores for comfort stops.  As a rule that network, while extensive, is generally constrained to urban areas.  What's a cyclist to do when nature calls way up in a mountain pass?  Your fall back dear gentle reader is the Japanese rail system.  Not all, but a good many of even the smallest, most remote stations will have a sparkling clean toilet and with many of these stations no longer staffed, no one to cast sidelong glances at non passengers using the facilities.

Route

The scenery on the Yamagata side of this ride is absolutely charming. Lots of views down mountain valleys with steep layers of green and small villages nested in valleys.  The climb up the valley was gentle with just a few sections making me look for a gear or two.  There were no steep pinches that had me looking for all the gears.

The tunnel at the top of the valley has a dedicated cycle path which is just wide enough but not a lot more.  Midway in the tunnel we passed from Yamagata into Akita.

The descent into Akita was awesome.  Not steep enough to require any breaking, just clean descending for about 5kms.  I think only 2 or 3 cars and a single truck passed us on that descent.

The remainder of the afternoon is descending, but more of the easy pedalling type of descent.  Our route kept us off the main roads and on farm roads between rice paddies being levelled or planted. A bit dull compared to the Yamagata side but a pleasant ride nonetheless.

Stay and Eat

We arrived too early at the spot I'd picked for lunch so we continued our descent into Yuzawa. With the forecast of rain in the early afternoon, a lunch of convenience store nigirii sufficed to fuel the afternoon's ride.

Marufuku Ryokan looks to have been recently renovated in a modern classic style. The hosts are a hip younger couple.  Arriving early to beat the rain, we'd parked our bikes across the road in the parking area.  On arriving back after a shopping outing we were greeted in the car park and bags magically moved to our room and offered the use of the undercover garage to park the bikes.  At reception we were greeted to jazz playing from a turntable and escorted to our spacious 12 mat room.

Dinner was served in our room and was spectacular. Both Beloved and I agreed it's the best meal we've had this entire trip. I'd travel to the edge of Akita Prefecture and stay here again, just to eat here again.

See and Do

As we flew by on our descent, I noticed a sign advertising a silver mine museum. We were past before there was time to discuss making the 700m detour.  Other than that, I'm not aware of anything much to see and do.