Today can best be described serenity. Not only because the farms, plains, mountains, and the lake surrounding me were all beautiful and peaceful, but I stopped in to purchase two spare inner tubes so I was mentally at peace as well! Today I discovered the true peacefulness Japan’s countryside has to offer, seemingly leaving civilisation altogether.
This morning started out quite calm. Unlike yesterday I had gotten up early enough to stop into Lawson to buy a quick breakfast and stock up some water for the ride, a lesson harshly learnt before. There was no rain, but the sun wasn’t burning down either so I was looking to a rather calm ride without needing to worry about the weather too much.
I set out back down the country road I had come in on yesterday and found myself back on the Biwaichi path at the same point I had departed at. I’m making a conscious effort to return to the path at least where I had left so that by the time I complete my ride I will have completed the entire path without any points missed.
I follow the path back along the lakeside and already had my first place to stop in mind. I wanted to purchase some replacement inner tubes for the bike because after losing my spare yesterday I was anxious that I would get another flat but this time I would be stranded, and this could happen when I’m nowhere near a town to get it fixed.
As I was heading towards Hikone, the next big town, I started seeing signs for the Hikone Castle and thought it might be nice to start stopping into places along my ride rather than just travelling between towns and not seeing anything. I rode into town, following the signs into the castle and was surprised that the road went into the castle walls and I could ride within the walls, it was pretty surreal.
Boy, the climb up to the top of the castle which sits at the top of Hikone was absolutely worth it, but I spent the whole way up praying this was case because the legs are starting to tire and they weren’t happy. I got some nice photos of the castle and of the landscape surrounding and it was all so pretty seeing the big town and the mountains and lake surrounding.
After the castle I went and picked up my tubes from the local bike shop. The guy there was really nice and wished me good luck on the rest of my ride.
Back onto Biwaichi there wasn’t much along the rest of the journey. The towns, the people, and civilisation had started to disappear as I started to reach the depths of the countryside of Japan. Little did I know at the time but this would be the last time I would see a konbini without making a detour from the path. The rest of the ride was rather meditative and filled with either silence or me just singing some absolute bangers to myself.
It was about an hour and half of just farms, the lake, and some small villages along the way. I eventually made it to my guesthouse for the night, but before checking in made a 10-minute ride to the nearest 7-eleven because I worry sometimes they lock guesthouses and I might have a nap that takes too long. Luckily I have the whole house to myself where I’m staying so I don’t have to worry about this, also there’s no lock on the door anyway.
It’s cozy here, and I think that’s how I’d described most of the day, at least after leaving Hikone. Tomorrow I look forward to a shorter ride, and I think I travel though some more parks and greens-paces.
