Day 8 - Joetsu to Nagaoka
A day of ups and downs, literally and figuratively. In the literal sense, North of Joetsu, Mt Yoneyama falls directly into the ocean making the coast road climb where the pinch between mountain and sea is the narrowest. After clearing Kashiwazaki there is a non trivial climb to clear the ridge and hop over into Nagaoka on the Niigata plain. In the figurative sense, the roads are very busy and often there are no options to avoid the major roads. But then we found a charming coastal village to wind our way through. As I say, ups and downs.
On a lighter note, we accidentally gate crashed a marathon. Coming into Kashiwazaki, our planned route took us away from route 8, looking to hug the coastline on quieter roads. Surprisingly, the traffic on the local streets was even busier than the main road, but we could see signs for something, so assumed we had stumbled across a local festival. The next intersection was closed and police were directing traffic onto detours. They weren't sure what to do with us on bicycles and eventually decided it was OK for us to ride the footpath on the closed road. It was at that point we started to see runners and understood why the road was closed. Us on the footpath, runners on the road went fine until we got to a tunnel and the footpath was occupied by race officials who bizarrely directed us off the path and onto the road with the runners. We awkwardly pedalled along beside the runners trying to keep out of the way as best we could until we could make a graceful exit. But we were clearly approaching the finish line and the footpath was getting more and more crowded. Eventually we found a side road and extricated ourselves, but by that stage I think we were within a few hundred metres of the finish line. I imagine the debrief session for the organisers contains an action item on updating procedures to keep crazy cycle tourists off the course.
Route
The northern outskirts of Joetsu offer nothing much of interest. We tried as much as possible to stay off route 8 but the traffic was still significant. I'm not sure if this is usual or was a function of a fine Sunday prompting everybody to head for a coastal drive. Where we had to use route 8, the traffic was constant.
Just past Yoneyama there was a bit of a climb up to a tunnel on route 8. A number of map sources suggest there is a road that avoids the tunnel, but that road, if it ever existed, is buried under prolific vegetation. The tunnel entrance shows on street view as having a narrow but rideable (just) pedestrian/bike path. On that basis we decided to brave the tunnel. The path peters out a few metres inside the entrance and we were forced to drop onto the road and mix it with the traffic. Horrible experience. Definitely a 'down'.
We had a respite from the traffic meandering through the little seaside village of Kasashima. Probably the only enjoyable part of today's ride. One of the 'ups'.
Route 8 eventually spat us out on the outskirts of Kashiwazaki after passing innumerable closed restaurants and shops. Not sure if they are just summer only businesses or victims of COVID. Regardless, don't expect to be fed and watered on the coast road.
We traversed the northern outskirts of Kashiwazaki and picked up Route 8 again heading for Nagaoka. The tunnel at the summit of the climb had a usable bike lane. The climb was not long and didn't have any really steep sections. From there it was a steady descent into Nagaoka and on to our accommodation.
I don't recommend this route if you don't need to get from Joetsu to Nagaoka. If you do, unfortunately I couldn't find any better options. In particular the options to get up and over the ridge into Nagaoka invariably ran into long, narrow, bike incompatible tunnels.
Stay and Eat
A sit down lunch option didn't really present itself today so we made do with a rolling grazing of convenience store offerings. Really, a 7-Eleven strawberry sandwich is a pretty good thing!
Jihou Onsen is our refuge for the night. It's your suburban style, no frills, bring your own towels type of ryokan. The building is clean and new and the staff welcoming. There's a bike rack out front, but with rain forecast the team offered for us to move the bikes inside the genkan. The ¥2,500 option for dinner was fabulous.
I'm beginning to think these no frills family/business onsens are my jam. Sure, your famous/popular onsen with the timber for miles and hot and cold running everything are a lovely thing and good for the occassional treat. When you are typically rolling in just before dinner, rolling away again straight after breakfast and all you need is somewhere to park your bike, a good feed, a hot soak and somewhere to lay your head, the affordable onsen is perfect.
