Day 5 - Kahou to Toyama
Today we are Toyama bound with the promise of a rest day off the bike to explore the city and surrounds. It's the first place we've stayed where there seemed to be enough to see and do on the rest day. Once we started planning our stay, we came to the conclusion you could happily spend a number of days in Toyama.
Route
A longer ride with a bit of a sustained climb over the ridge from Ishikawa into Toyama had us expecting a tougher day in the saddle, particularly as it's our 5th day of cycling in a row.
With clear and calm weather, cycling along the coast would have been much more pleasant than yesterday. As it turns out, the Ishikawa cycleway north from Kahou is not beside the beach, but beside the expressway. Not the most scenic option, but a dedicated cycleway nonetheless, with a much better surface than the Komatsu cycleway and more protected from the wind.
At Imahama, we turned East just before the golf course, seeking out route 300 and Himi City. We loaded up with bakery goods and drinks (let's call that second breakfast) at the Family Mart before tackling the climb of the day. This was actually a really nice climb through farmlands and forest on quiet roads with no steep sections to contend with. The roll down of the ridge in towards Himi was interesting and peaceful, punctuated with a stop at Heart and Green bakery. Let's call that first lunch.
Hitting the coast at Himi we picked up the beginning of the Toyama Bay Cycleway. There are some dedicated cycleway sections but most of the time we were on shared roads but with good width and courteous drivers. This route is extremely well signed with both on road markings and sign posts to guide you on your way.
Stay and Eat
Heart and Green bakery is a must stop if you are in the area. I can personally recommend the Cocoa Melon Bread - crispy chocolate melon bread coating with soft fluffy bread and a chocolate custard filling. Beloved enjoyed the spicy version of the curry bread and also opted for the sweet potato danish.
Inari Kosen is self described as a business onsen. It's certainly not your style of onsen that's catering to the luxury stay crowd. Everything here is practical and no frills. Our room was in the shiny new building. We had the family room with a tatami sitting area and western style beds which is the pick of the rooms if you can get it. Breakfast was served in the dining room and was on brand in terms of being no frills but served a tasty traditional Japanese breakfast. The onsen is right next door to the hotel and included in the hotel stay.
I flippantly kept saying we needed to have a meal at a Bikkuri Donkey during the trip planning as I kept seeing them when poring over maps and the name (Surpised Donkey) amused me. Maybe Amazing Donkey might be a better translation? Anyway, the joke became a mandate and now here we are. Japanese family restaurant chains tend to be a pretty reliable, if not inspiring choice. The hamburger set meals were all pretty good but the salted caramel pudding parfait was the most popular selection made that evening.
See and Do
Just after crossing the Oyabe and Sho rivers, we went hunting for somewhere to grab lunch (second lunch) and instead came across a group making preparation for the local festival or matsuri. They had the doors of the building where the festival float is stored open so we could see the enormous, gilded vehicle. After taking a few photos they directed us to where there would be a practice for the lion dance. We grabbed a few things from the convenience store across the road and watched the practice while we ate. All through that little town we had to dodge and weave around street performances as part of the build up to matsuri. The things least planned are often the most interesting!
We could as easily navigated around the back of Toyama Port, but as soon as I saw the suspended pedestrian/cycleway under the Shinminato Bridge, there was no way I wasn't going to check that out. Access to the Ainokaze promenade, as it is known, is via elevators at each end of the bridge. The great disappointment was that you are not allowed to ride your bike, you have to walk it. Still, amazing piece of active transport infrastructure.
