To Kamikochi and Back: Part 1

Google maps is doing my head in, so if anyone has a
better way of mapping and showing you guys my route, let me know!

19/04/27 - Day 1

First day. Almost didn't happen on account of absolutely torrential rain all morning. I kept popping my head out, hoping it would go away, but it just kept coming. Came to about 2pm and I decided I just had to risk it, or I wouldn't get to Lake Nojiri before it was dark. I encased all my camping stuff in plastic bin liners and set out into the maelstrom, ready for the worst. However 30 minutes in the rain slowed down to a drizzle and eventually petered out. Thank the heavens for small mercies.

Most of the way, I snook up a little side street, but about halfway up I had to join the 18, a fairly major road up to the ski fields. Now what you don't notice when driving up in a car, is that it really is "up". You separate the bits of road, not by climb and flat, but by climbing and climbing a lot. Its strange being half way down your gears, chugging up a mountain, thankful for the rest, because you're only slightly having to fight gravity. I knew it would be a challenge with a fully loaded bicycle, but I don't think I appreciated before I got going how annoying it is to be dragging a whole other person's worth of weight up mountains.

As I got to Myoko Kogen, I started to realise that my toes were freezing. I had some pretty durable shoes, but the tops were canvas, so the whole inside was soaked. There is nothing worse than wet socks. Went past a sign that said it was about 5 deg. C. Then it started full on snowing. Thankfully with all the climbing I was doing, my upper body was like a furnace in my rain gear, but my toes...  Oh lordy. Finally made it to Lake Nojiri, which is beautiful, but I had absolutely no energy to look around. About half way up, I'd realised how bad the weather was, so I knabbed a last minute hostel near the lake half way up. They even had an onsen to defrost the remaining toes I had left. Ate a huge pizza, had a beer, now I'm writing this, but exhausted, so I'm just gonna go to bed. So glad I managed to get started today after everything. Hoping for an early morning tomorrow, cause I have to detour a bit and cut through Nagano city to see about getting some shoes a bit more waterproof than today's pair.

19/04/28 - Day 2

Lake Nojiri in the morning

What a day. Had a brilliant breakfast at the guest house before setting off nice and early. From Nojiriko to Nagano city, it was all down hill. Except I couldn't enjoy it so much, cause in this part of the country what goes down must come back up. Nagano city sprawls out in a river basin sandwiched between mountains on either side. The road in is spectacular, as it runs through hundreds of apple orchards. Although sakura is all the rage in Japan, turns out apple blossoms are pretty gorgeous too. I stayed mostly on the outside of the city with the levy road looking down to the river, but nipped in for lunch and an extremely successful trip to Sports DEPO. After yesterday's close call with toelessness, I thought it would be a good idea to get some waterproof shoes. I also wanted to get my bike checked.

For those of you who haven't ridden a bike in years, the front three gears are the main ones, while the back gears let you alter your speed within the limits of those front gears. Yesterday I discovered, predictably while on a fairly steep hill, that I couldn't push down into my lowest front gear for some reason (which is an absolutely terrible place to discover such things.) Got to Sports DEPO, and had a guy have a look at it. Turns out there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. I just need to stop being a wimp and pedal faster. You have to be turning your legs at a certain speed for it to work, particularly hard to do half way up a hill. Secret is to go all the way down to bottom gear as soon as you sniff an incline coming.

I also had to take care of my feet. There was this absolutely beautiful pair of orange wide fitting waterproof "GUARENTEED" shoes. I need wide fitting cause I have fat feet. This has no effect on my other body parts, only me feet are... chode-y. Anyway, they didn't have any in my size, so I had to settle for the same shoe in a strange lavender color my mum would love. It's been sunshine all day, but I'm sure they'll be a worthwhile purchase.

After lunch I faced the mountains. I kinda knew it was coming, but didn't quite imagine how climbing 800m in 11km would feel. Every time I saw the 10% slope sign I died a little more inside. There was definitely a point quite near the start where I didn't think I'd make it. Instead of packing in and heading home I just took a ridiculous amount of breaks, and tried to look like I was having a good time for all the incredulous faces peeping out at me from the passing cars.

Group Photo

3/4ths of the way up, I went round a corner and stumbled upon a golf course and clubhouse, all the way up in the mountains. I'd lost the last bit of my pride around the 10th break, so I decided to go in and fill up my water-bottles. I have never felt so dirty, or received so many dirty looks in my life. Finally made it up to the campsite, only to find I'd forgotten my ground sheet at home. Thankfully its nice and dry, but I'll have to try and find a stand-in during my free day in Matsumoto. I'm knaked. Night.

19/04/29 - Day 3

I wrote way too much yesterday, so gonna keep it short. Come on Richard, no one want's to hear about shoes!

The least cool pair of shoes I've ever bought

As a reward for day 2's climb, I followed a couple of canyon and river roads to Matsumoto, for the most part downhill. Got to the Guesthouse at 1pm, way before check-in, but they let me in early cause I know Japanese and smile a lot. Took a well needed shower, washed my clothes, and had an extremely satisfying 2 hour nap.

I was thinking of taking a rest day tomorrow, but instead I'll rest this afternoon and skip it. The 158 up to Kamikochi looks absolutely savage, so I want to get as far up it as I can to break up the climb.

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Sorry this post isn't as well edited as usual. I'm writing on the go. Still working out how much detail is really necessary when I do a daily log instead of my usual one-a-year post. Bear with me while I get the balance right. Next installment is the make or break of the trip, climbing another 1000+ meters to Kamikochi. Wish me luck.