Date

2022-10-15, Saturday

Distance

26.76 km (181.93 km in total)

I would have waken up to the splendour of a spectacular sunrise had it not been cloudy at dawn. The panoramic view from the top of the hill is truly spectacular: you can see the mountain range from afar and the town beneath it. By the time my friend woke up, there was a bit of sunny break. We went up the hill to ring the bell that is supposed to bring us good luck and wish for a safe travel.

As we were biking to see the famous Shikisai no Oka (四季彩の丘) located in Biei, which claims to be the most beautiful town in Japan, both Google and Komoot suggested us to take unpaved gravel and sometime rocky roads. We got sick of it that we eventually biked on bigger roads.

Entry to Shikisai no Oka is free from October to June during the off-season. Many people still come to see the beautiful hills that are alive with breathtakingly vibrant display of many flower varieties. The scenery is so beautiful in October that I can’t imagine how much more so it would be in the summer with all the flower blossom.

Then we bike in the direction of Aoi Pond (青い池). It’s all the way uphill with some short sections at 7-8% and even 10% of incline. But overall the ride was feasible even with heavy load if we go slowly.

Upon our arrival at the roadside station that is just 2 km away from the pond, we were told that all camping facilities were closed for the season and it’s forbidden to camp at this station. The staff suggested booking an onsen hotel 5 km away. However, we decided to call this place our home for tonight because we saw several stationary camper vans on the site — one of them was even setting fire! If cars are allowed to stay here, bikes should be so as well, we thought.

This roadside station is a fairly big one with well-equipped shower, washing and drying machines available until 4:30 pm. We took a quick shower, ate hamburgers as dinner while waiting for the station to close at 6 pm. By that time it started raining — this is the first rain we encountered on this journey — but the rain didn’t last long. First we set up our tent in between the camper vans but another camper came to speak to us. With a mixture of Japanese and English, we understood that this spot was reserved for cars and reservation was required. So we moved to another area near the washroom. No one came to bother us again and we called it the night.

The full take — 35 more photographs from this day