Travel on Nanikore

A Short Camp with the Hunter Cub

Sat, 29 Nov 2025 10:25:28 +0000

It’s been a while since I’ve been camping - a couple of years perhaps, but I was ready, and it was time to not just take a short camp, but a short camp off the Hunter Cub! Short is the correct word - one night. Still, one is better than none.

I decided not to go too crazy, and so I booked a night at the Baird Brewery camp site - yes, it’s a real brewery - in the middle of the Izu peninsula, near the small tourist town of Shuzenji.

Day One

I didn’t leave too early since I’d decided that since I was going to be on local roads as a by-product of being on the 125, so traffic was going to be traffic. As it was, I shuffled off with a song in my heart around 6.30am. I planned to have breakfast in Yugawara, though as it was it was a slightly late breakfast. I was taking it easy by any stretch of the definition - up the old Route 732 past Odawara, which is twisty, and steep in places, before coming out at the lake Ashinoko. From there I rode over to the Anest Skylounge, but it was overcast, so no view of Fujisan, and then it was down my beloved Tsubaki line, and finally some breakfast.

From there I was planning to take some farm roads to the west and link up with the 135. It was a beautiful area with farms, some Summer houses and relaxed roads. However, it also had roads which were now private due to a golf course, and my old favourite, roads on a map which are not roads in real life.

However, we’re on a bike, have fuel and the weather is good, so there’s nothing to be concerned about. Even when real roads are closed. Honestly, this is quite normal for rural Japan riding, so it was just a case of circling back and trying a different route.

Eventually I did hook up with the 135 and could then twist to the west, through Izunokuni to the north west coast of the Izu pensinsula. That’s always a beautiful ride - forest and cliffs on one side and an elevated view of the Pacific Ocean as Suruga Bay and Shizuoka Prefecture.

Eventually the coast drops south and I followed that for a while into the early afternoon before turning East and heading towards Shuzenji and the camp site. More twisties. I haven’t stated that enough. This is pretty much all twisties.

Shuzenji

Shuzenji is a small tourist trap focused town, though I went slightly out of season - summer foreign tourists were scant, and the local tourists drawn by changing leaf colours of Autumn had not yet arrived.

There’s a kind of track to follow around the town, crossing the small river which cuts through it across via some nice red bridges. There’s a bamboo street, which is really a fairly small grove of tall bamboo trees which is short but picturesque and there is a place to sit. There’s some nice shops, temples, a washi paper shop, and quite a few cafes to eat at and in front of.

I decided to sit in one cafe and have a peanut butter milk bobo tea, which was actually very nice, despite it’s rather lengthy name. It was also quite relaxing just watching the few dedicated tourists milling around, and whilst there is a huge debate in Japan about the impact of tourists, most here seemed quite decent, and the trust is, if they weren’t here then I’m not sure Shuzenji would be clinging on as it is.

Also, I did manage to find a gap to park the Hunter Cub at the odd shaped corner of a car park, so the gentleman who owned the car park did me a deal on the space. Shuzenji does not have a lot of parking space near these tourist areas.

However, I couldn’t loaf around all day, partly because there were roads to ride, but also because I wanted to get to the camp site, check in, check out the facilities and still have time to get the tent up.

Baird Brewery Camp Site

The Baird campsite (aka " Camp Baird") is literally next to its brewery building. There is a bar on site, but is closes early, around 7pm and doesn’t do meals. However, with your booking you should get a free beer.

The site itself was clear, with cars having their own car parks, and I could park my bike next to the building. That’s wasn’t a requirement for me, but if it was raining it’s a small amount of shelter, and if you have a heavy bike, it means there’s less likelihood of it being unstable. Horses for courses.

The pitch ground was flat, save for some stones, and though the ground was quite compacted, it was easy to get the pegs in, even using a rock, because I’d forgotten the tent hammer. But that’s why rocks were invented.

I was using my relatively new 1-2 person DOD riders tent, and whilst it’s not a small tent in its sack, it fits fine on the bike, and it’s one of those single cord pull to put-up tents, so it only took a few minutes to be ready to relax on the Thermarest with my ancient Snugpak sleeping bag. I brought the top box inside, though it would have been fine in the vestibule to be honest.

It was great, its well designed and did a good job of not being stuffy inside, and yet keeping warmth in.

As you can see, I travel a little light. For this trip I only needed to cook a couple of meals, so why make it complicated?

The site does have some clean showers, toilets and washing areas which is always nice, and since it was out of the heat, there weren’t many insects, though I did see a couple of snakes around dusk as I was walking around with my head lamp.

Day Two

I was up fairly early to make some breakfast, and a have a couple of cups of tea, watching the rest of the world wake up on the other side of the river. Definitely one of the best parts of camping.

Breaking camp was easy given my minimal approach, but I did become very aware of how dusty the area was. Oddly, even though I saw a few people in the bar the previous evening, and there was another, more sizeable, tent, I neither saw nor heard anyone before I headed out the next day.

Offroad Time

It was back on the road, with a little action on Route 59 before heading south again on Route 414 which runs down the spine of southern Izu. I’d come this way for two reasons. The first one was to try the old Amagi Tunnel road. I’d been told it was a bit rough, so better for the Hunter Cub than the Tracer and oh, was that the truth! After about a hundred metres the asphalt ended and it was almost all gravel, with rocks, branches and potholes to contend with. Sure, I could have gotten the Tracer down it, but believe me, it was a lot more fun on the ‘Cub. Anyone on that road would’ve heard me laughing in my helmet. Fun times.

At the entrance to the north end of the tunnel it opens up into a wider space, where there’s some toilets and a kind of small rest area.

When I arrived there was an older gent (yes, older than me) on his Honda Africa Twin with all the add-ons of an experienced rider. It turned out he hailed from Okayama prefecture, which is all the way on the west of the main island of Honshu. We spoke for a bit and oddly he said he wasn’t going through the tunnel but was heading back the way I’d come and would take the regular road.

That was a little concerning.

Anyway, I bid him farewell, fired up my fog lights I’d added after the coast to coast, and headed into the tunnel. It’s a classic old Japanese tunnel - classic shape, narrow and for one old vehicle, a lot of water dropping, and were we not all enlightened adults, we’d suspect the tunnel could easily be haunted.

The south end was a welcome sight, and if anything the road (trail) was even rougher, which of course means even more fun!

After riding and laughing along for a while I was actually a little disappointed to see asphalt again, and rejoined the 414 going south.

This portion of the road is known for the architectural genius (and not complete eye-sore) of the Kawazu Nanadaru Loop Bridge, which is a helter-skelter of a bridge more designed to lower altitude rather than actually going anywhere. It’s fun listening to the navigation system repeating “turn right” for a couple of minutes.

After hitting the south coast at Shimoda (famous for where Perry landed) it was another right turn and lunch at the excellent South Cafe.

From there it was over to the west coast briefly, and then north again, hooking up with the Route 1 just east of Mishima, and some more familiar roads to the east, although these roads are frequented by a lot of commercial vehicles, which is when you’re very aware of going uphill on a laden 125cc bike!

It was a solid couple of days just riding around, stopping in at Michi no Eki, taking random photos of torii (the Pi symbol looking gates), temples and just beautiful scenery.

As a bike, the Hunter Cub had no problems with this brief tour, and even with the camping gear and my well-fed frame, it still hit 45 km/l. On the subject of fuel, the place where I stopped to top up was staffed by a really friendly chap who recounted his 80s Suzuki Katana which he still has, and is simply waiting for the green light from his wife to bring out again.

This is why I like being out on the bikes, you get to really feel and see the environment and have chats with people you might not ordinarily have and probably not in a car either.

Ride on!

2025-10 Camping trip

Top Box on the Hunter Cub

Sun, 14 Apr 2024 14:31:53 +0000

I wanted to add a bit of storage for my Hunter Cub, but not something which would get in the way when I wasn’t using it, and not something which would make it awkward when I’d be wearing a backpack, or getting a tent on the storage plate when needed, between me and a box.

After trawling container websites, I went for a 20litre folding box from local company Captain Stag. I even found one in black to sort-of match the bike. It folds down to about 7cm high, is quite thick and durable, and has latches on the top to stop it flying open.

Installation

I made a template sized to the bottom of the box made from a couple of sheets of paper taped together (no expense spared), and marked on the 4 * M6 / Pitch 1.0 positions.

box-template1.jpg" alt="" caption=""

I then taped this again to the bottom of the box and then slowly drilled the holes. By a stroke of luck, none of the holes impacted the thicker support struts and in the end were pretty much spot on which surprised me - the most I was out was about 0.5mm, so I slightly widened the hole, which wasn’t an issue.

siliconemat1.jpg" alt="" caption=""

I then cut a silicone mat to fit the interface size of the box to the plate, to try to prevent any scratching or vibration, and marked the screw holes in it too. After the above photo I trimmed the top part to stop it hanging down anywhere near the exhaust. I then mounted the box and mat, and it all lined up!

I used the 30mm M6 screws with a cut piece of silicone as a washer between the plastic box and the 25mm M6 steel washers to try to avoid the washers biting in the the plastic.

For the bolts, 30mm seemed to be about the correct length, since from the bottom of the internal storage area, to the actual bottom of the box was about 15mm. I’d previously tested tested that the side-walls could swing with the bolts in place since I’d seen a forum post where someone tried a similar thing with zip ties, and in that design they couldn’t collapse the box easily.

boxscrews1.jpg" alt="" caption=""

I’m mostly happy with the outcome, and it should work fine with a 20L dry bag for smal lgrocery runs and camping supplies, so objective completed.

box-folded1.jpg" alt="" caption=""

The one obvious issue is that the four holes are more central, being designed for something taking up the whole plate, but it seems to be pretty sturdy and in some testing over the last weekend, didn’t seem to have any issues or vibration, so I’m going to mark this as DONE.

siliconemat1-1.jpg" alt="" caption=""

box-template1.jpg" alt="" caption=""

boxscrews1.jpg" alt="" caption=""

box-normal1.jpg" alt="" caption=""

box-folded1.jpg" alt="" caption=""

One Second a Day - October 2023

Thu, 09 Nov 2023 04:23:15 +0000

After another long gap - four years this time - I did a new ’ One Second a Day’ video for October, in and around Tokyo.

What’s different this time? Well, this one was done on my DJI Osmo Action 4 which I’ll be doing a quick review of soon I hope, so it’s all 4K, wide view. I think the last one was mainly from my old GoPro 7 Black.

Also new this time is I uploaded a # shorts version, which already has more hits. I see why people like shorts. Anyway, here’s the regular version:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/VwjiQ2fldao

One Second a Day 2023 - In and Around Tokyo.

Current Cameras

Mon, 29 Mar 2021 02:18:00 +0000

I thought I’d do a very quick post about my current cameras. This blog did used to have more ’technology’ posts, but many of those are now private (or on brightblack) as over the last few years I’ve tried to focus more on outdoors and motorcycling here, though I thought for a change today, I’d do something about my current cameras.

Let me be up-front here though - I’m not a photographer, I just want to take photos to remind me of times I’ve had on the road, or wherever I happen to be. I’ll be honest - I have hundreds of photos of my bikes in front of beautiful vistas.

The ’larger’ camera

For many years I had entry-level Nikon dSLRs - a D40, then a D3200 - and I really liked both of them. I amassed a kit 18-55mm lens, an f1.8 35mm prime and a 55-200mm telephoto lens for them too. They were great value for money cameras and lenses.

Then in April 2020, I moved over to an entry level Fujifilm mirrorless camera system, the X-T200. I like taking photos but my skill level and disposable income for cameras doesn’t justify huge expenditure, so better to get a cheaper body so I can afford a few lenses down the road. So for the Fujifilm, I have the small and light kit 15-45mm, then a 23mm prime lens and a 16-80mm travel zoom I bought used. When possible I sell off old gear via online auction or more recently to Fujiya Camera, which is where I got that used 16-80mm Fujifilm lens.

As it’s a small APS-C based system, I find these don’t add much bulk or weight in a backpack or my topbox, so on days out I actually enjoy stopping, getting the camera out and looking around. And drinking tea.

Why the X-T200?

The X-T200 is light and small. It’s takes great photos, and like all Fujifilm mirrorless, has great colour and film simulations in JPG which is what I mainly shoot in. It also does very good video, which my previous dSLR cameras didn’t. The X series of cameras is being actively developed and I could move into weatherproof bodies going forwards, and there’s also plenty of weather sealed lenses - including two of the ones I have - which might not be a bad idea given some of the places I end up.

The Action Camera

My first action camera was a GoPro Hero HD2, which I thought was great, even with the required case, as it was a camera I felt safer mounting to helmets or taking snowboarding. After quite a few years, I sold it and got a Hero 5, then a few years later sold that when I got a Hero 7black as a gift. The 7black is great for video, especially it’s amazing stabilization. The downside was it was very buggy on launch (mostly fixed), and can be temperamental in sub- and near zero temperatures if care isn’t taken. I often use it for time lapse too, and I find it actually takes decent photos with a bit of patience.

Why GoPro?

Their hardware seems mostly well thought out and durable, which I think is where they lead cheaper brands and is mainly why I’ve stuck with them - I’ve never had one really fail on me. Their software and other business strategies seem to be all over though, which is concerning since I see action cameras as a niche and declining market as people just use water-resistant phones, or put the phones in waterproof covers. For example, their idea of charging 50USD to use an external mic is my favourite example of trying to make money where a lower margin would likely drive more sales. I even did a post about it. Again, well built cameras and better image quality if that’s really a factor.

The Smartphone

Yes, the best camera is truly the one you have with you. I don’t buy high end phones unfortunately, but I use whatever I have if I just need to take that photo. I used to have point and shoot cameras, like the small Canon Ixy range, but ultimately found I used the big camera more, and then the phone or the GoPro if I had them with me. Eventually the point-n-shoots never got replaced when they wore out. Currently I have a Google Pixel 4a, and yes, very happy with the photos.

A more flexible option?

Pricey, but I know a few bikers who swear by the Sony RX100 range, pocket sized cameras which take great photos and videos. There’s similar ones such as Canon G5 range that perhaps could be an option in the future. Who knows!

In Summary

Basically then I don’t have a massive number of cameras, but fairly specific ones I suppose, and I do like to take photos even if they may not be ‘good’ photos, I treat them very much as a way to trigger memories, or a way to share them with people - usually they’re a great aid when explaining something. So for example, when explaining how I stalled my bike on an inclined curve, and had to slowly lower it to the asphalt, I can describe the road, but I think this photo makes it a little easier to understand:

My Kiva in 2020

Thu, 10 Dec 2020 23:10:56 +0000

It’s been five years since I last talked about Kiva.org, the microfinance / underwriting website I’ve been a lending through for the last 11 years. By the end of 2015, I’d lent about 300 USD. So how is my Kiva in 2020? I see I’ve lent 675 USD, so that’s a nice doubling but off an investment pool of 105USD, which I don’t think I’ve added to in a while.

I’ll be honest, my biggest issue with Kiva is that I forget about it. They do send me reminders when I’ve been repaid enough money to take part in another loan (usually 25 USD), but for some reason, I just don’t log in and review loans which are currently available to be funded. That’s something I need to get on top of, along with adding to my pool, so I can begin getting more loans in rotation.

If you haven’t heard of Kiva, then go and check out their about page, but in essence, it’s a microfinancing site meaning that lots of people (like crowdsourcing) contribute a small amount of money like 25 USD to loan a person in, say, Viet Nam, 1000USD to improve irrigation on their farm. They then pay the money back. You don’t get interest on the loan, and due to FX and local conditions, you may not get all of your money back. In the years I’ve done it, I’ve not lost much at all. This is not a for-profit investment vehicle though, it’s more about philanthropy.

It can be more complicated than that though; in some situations, you’re underwriting the loan, rather than making it, and the local lending partners may make some interest to cover running costs, but broadly, you’re helping loan money to people in parts of the world where loans may not be simple.

As I noted in 2015, it now also seems to have a lot of US based entities. I’m not against it still, but since the US has an established financial loan system, I still focus in developing and troubled parts of the world for my loans, but that’s one of the strengths - you can choose where your money goes.

Forbes has a couple of nice articles on how Kiva often lends to refugees who are generally outside of any traditional lending framework, but who can work with organisations and then with Kiva to get loans to rebuild their lives. It’s not something we really hear much about.

Anyway, take a look if it sounds interesting, and perhaps help with some loans yourself.

Original Comments

Comments from the original WordPress blog post.

Touge — 2020-12-10

Good stuff. Will check it out.

gurahamu — 2020-12-10

It’s an interesting idea, doesn’t cost much and there’s some interesting stories out there. I’ve also helped fund some motorbike transportation ideas too.

Tracer Top Box - Givi TRK46N

Sat, 20 Jun 2020 13:58:58 +0000

I travel light on the motorbike, and even when doing multi-day trips, I put the bare minimum in a dry-bag cargo netted or strapped down on the passenger seat, but after a few situations where I wanted to pick up heavier shopping, run errands, or where passengers wanted to carry something, I decided it was time to get some proper luggage on the Tracer.

Why a top box?

First off: This Is Not a How To Guide or a full review. It’s my observations of installing it, and Day 1 thoughts. Other people do far better install guides.

I won’t go into the full decision making process, but initially I wanted soft panniers, and decided against those mainly on a lane splitting/filtering width concern, and so l went looking for a top box. I reviewed quite a few models by a few different manufacturers before settling on Givi, and then within Givi, found a way I could afford the Trekker 46 litre model through a combination of hunting around for discounts online, and deciding to fit it myself.

Preparation

It wasn’t quite that simple though; before I could choose a top box, I had to make sure there was available mounting hardware for my 2016 MT-09 Tracer. Fortunately there was and it goes by the memorable name of the SR2122. That is the sturdy steel bracket which attaches to the rear sub-frame and via the Yamaha luggage mounts on the side of the bike. Then to that, I needed to buy an M7 mounting plate, and then to that I can attach and remove the box itself.

Givi really have a gift for naming by the way. Monokey is the slightly more ‘premium’ line for larger boxes for heavier loads. Monolock is lighter fare for scooters and small day loads. My Trekker 46 litre (TRK46N) plastic/aluminium box is considered Monokey. Maybe it’s because I don’t really follow the world of luggage, but those two names sound quite similar, and share a theme, but you could waste some time and money if you don’t get the right pairing, though the websites do try to help.

For some reason, information on Givi’s gear seems spread over various sites. Some info is on the givi.it site, some on giviusa.com for example, and vice versa. Cross referencing gives you pretty much all you need to know, although no one really wants to talk about how heavy the top boxes and brackets are.

I went to my local motorbike spares and accessories shop ( NAPS), but the chap there admitted they didn’t sell Givi much for the sports touring market, and most of what he sold was for scooters and such. He did pull out a catalogue though, but didn’t seem too sure on the bracket, so specced a full top box and pannier one, as well as a decent fitting fee.

Since I had an idea of what I wanted, I decided to email Givi Italy and confirm my understanding was correct, and to their credit, they responded in a couple of days saying that yes, the SR2122, plus the M7 would be fine for the Trekker 46 on the 2016 Tracer. Excellent!

Some Things To Note in Instructions

Whilst waiting for the kit to arrive, I went to look at the very few SR2122-on-Tracer install guides on the interwebs, and none mentioned a couple of small brackets mine came with, which required all the side seat fairings to be removed. Even some of the SR2122 PDFs don’t mention them - only ones which are explicitly for ‘2015/2017’ it seems. Interesting.

The Givi instructions also don’t mention how to remove all these bits of plastic either. OK, it isn’t difficult to figure out, and it brought into play the always helpful Haynes shop manual I purchased soon after getting the bike. You should always have a shop or service manual. Just in case you have to do some work on the bike, or to get an idea of how difficult something is before you embark on it.

Part one of installation for me then, was to remove the rear grab rails, the Yamaha luggage mount bracket, the rear side panels (including disconnecting the seat latch), and then fit these two small brackets, which I suspect are some kind of reinforcement to the rear light bracket on to which some of the Givi bracket will attach.

Anyway, whilst it took time due to all the plastic stud fasteners, it wasn’t too difficult, and soon I had all the panels back on, and was ready to mount the steel SR2122 frame directly. There’s three main components - two arms which go through the side luggage bar mounts , and then an ‘S’ lip which comes off the top of grab rail mounting bolts. The M7 then screws into the lip and arms with 6 bolts.

It’s not complicated, and broadly the documentation is OK, but there are some comments I have on these.

Firstly, There isn’t much coverage of any torque values. The Japanese text document does cover torque by size of bolt, but not really by specific bolt, or if there really is any solid requirement. Also, there’s going to be bolts left over which are included for some other optional parts I didn’t buy. It’s not wholly clear which are which, or which bolts will be re-used. They’re referenced in some of the instructions, not in others. Even though the sheet had a fairly accurate ruler printed on it, none of the illustrations are to any kind of scale. Also, there’s odd overlaps in documentation for the M7 which are kind of confusing as they seem to refer to other mounting plates for other Monokey units.

Let’s face it, this isn’t specifically a Givi issue - everything from IKEA up could do with a little more time on instructions, and I got everything installed successfully (as far as I can tell), and it wasn’t difficult at all if you’re methodical and organised. I think I was.

Current Thoughts on the Trekker

So after all that waffle, how is it? The mount and top plate feel very sturdy indeed, with no play in them at all, and they fit in well with the Tracer’s rather angular, Pacific Rim Jaeger aesthetic. With no box on, the whole thing still looks very neat.

The box itself is heavy, and rigid. I got the brushed aluminum finish as I want to be more visible, so I skipped the black version for that reason, and saved some money into the bargain. The lock comes with a spare key and all moving parts seem very well constructed. Hinges look well made and move smoothly. This box also allows just the front of the lid to be opened, as the unit could also be mounted as a (fairly huge it would seem) side pannier. The smaller opening mechanism might be useful in the rain for example. Speaking of that, the unit is meant to be somewhat waterproof, and I’m interested in seeing how well it holds up, especially that secondary hinge. I hope it can at least keep water our during a sustained rain storm.

The box connects to the top plate via two slide-in groves, and a locking connector which requires a bit of force to push down initially, even with the button pressed on the box. Once on, it feels very secure on there, with no movement. Removal means pushing that same button and raising out.

So there we are, just Day One installation observations, and it’ll be at least 6 months before I’ll venture any kind of review. I know, but personally I like reviews on things that’ve been kicked around a bit, so to speak.

So far so good, and out of the box it meets expectations. There are cheaper systems for sure, but since I’ve been saving for a while (aka procrastinating on researching options), and the box will store some of my bike gear in the house, not to mention that I really do ride in all weathers year round, I thought I’d invest a bit. Hopefully that pays off, as I know failed luggage can be a real pain.

Ride Report: West Izu

Sat, 09 Nov 2019 07:53:49 +0000

I know it has been a long time since I wrote up any ride reports. In truth, the first half of 2019 was bad for ’long’ rides for me for some dull medical reasons which I’ll skip here as it’s not an exciting story. Anyway, it was late July 2019 and the road was calling.

Since it had been a while since I did anything more than running some errands, and I was planning to go a little over 350Km., I went over to Kurviger, and started to plan a route. I had a look at a route TougeExpress had put together a few years back, and merged it with some roads I wanted to check out, along with some actual expressway riding up front, since I don’t especially like it, but it is a necessary skill and I avoid it perhaps too much.

So there I was, a whole day booked off work, and a gpx route all ready to go on my phone. That is a solid start to a day. On the map above, have a look at the altitude graph at the bottom - from sea level to 1Km high, and back again, several times.

I left the house just after 6.30am, so not super early, then made my way on to the Tomei Expressway west bound, away from Tokyo. Traffic wasn’t heavy and it was warm, so it was a nice easy bimble to the exit I needed, 7-2 Susono, and head into the Izu pensinsula, initially via route 337. Before that excitement though, let’s just stop and take a minute at the Family Mart for the obligatory onigiri (rice ball) breakfast. That morning’s was barley, beans and cheese - a first. It wasn’t bad.

The road from there starts nice and gentle, then suddenly turns into one car width twisty inclines, which isn’t too bad when you’re expecting it.

It wasn’t long before I was on the Ashinoko Skyline, a toll road which climbs to the ridgeline of some small mountains, and has several stopping areas for people to take in the views. Cloud had moved in though, and visibility was way, way down. Still a great road, but care was taken since my visor was getting covered in droplets, so I had to open it. It wasn’t much better with it open and now my face was getting wet instead. Fortunately there wasn’t much traffic and the road as far as I could see for about 40m was great. Fortunately I roughly remembered where the toll gate was, because it emerged from the mist seemingly right in front of me!

Fortunately that mist began to clear somewhat as I headed south on the venerable Izu Skyline, and then jumped off to a local forest road a kilometre or so from the southern exit to head west on the Ito-West Izu road until I hit the coast, through wonderful rural farmland, then a left turn south, to take in the mostly commercial fishing areas. I was planning to get some fuel on this stretch, but oddly, the JA station I’ve often used was fully closed. I’m not sure whether it’s closed for good, or being refurbished, but it definitely looked out of use when I passed. It wasn’t a concern, as I had a backup fuel stop, so it was East again for a short while, and back into the farmland.

On the 410 eastbound there are sections of steep winding turns, and I’ll confess that I had a misshap. I love this road, but for reasons beyond explanation I came to one corner, stalled and ended up dropping the bike. Yes, very low speed, bordering on stationary, but kind of embarrassing, as I should know better and took a terrible line. I picked it up, uttered quite a varied selection of profanity at myself, and as there was no traffic either way (and I had only seen a few cars for quite a while), I walked it to the other side of the road and had a nice cup of tea.

After a bit of a rest, I decided it was time to be off, but easier said than done. The flat area at the side of the road I’d chosen to take the break at, was covered in moss, which was incredibly slippery on such a humid summers day, and with my riding boots on it took a few attempts to get on the bike. Finally, I was off again, and was reminded about how much I really do like this part of the world - it’s a lot of uphill fun. I do like uphill roads.

Up on to the 411, that’s a pretty fast winding road at elevation, which has great views, though there can be road water if you’re riding after a lot of rainfall, which transitioned into the 127 for more of the same, before a turn again, back down to head to the coast.

One the way, I stopped in at Kurura Heda no Eki. To very quickly recap, they are rest areas which aim to promote local produce and sights, and generally I find them to be fun little places to chat.

It being late July, down by the coast was hot - quite a bit hotter and more humid that it had been during the more mountain stretches, so it was nice to take a break and have something to drink from my water pack.

This is one of the newer ones, and inside were the usual selections of local gifts and food, some images of local comedians, and a brief exhibit about local fishing, and certainly there was a sea faring theme to much of the place. Further down the road, I got the fuel I needed, and had a short chat with the owner about bikes - it’s amazing to me still how many people used to ride bikes, or have a bike still but dont get out, and work at petrol stations. Get out and ride!

As suggested at the Michi no Eki, I took a stop down by the quayside to look at the boats which were a collection of small inshore fishing vessels and a few pleasure craft. The place was pretty much empty, so I stopped and got some looks from a nearby workers cafe as I took pictures of the bike.

The road from there to the north western corner is narrow and winding, but a procession of beautiful views over the ocean on one side, then hills and trees on the other, passing through small village communities, some tiny beaches with local families on then, and the odd convenience store.

You can have enough of a good thing though, and mountain twisties were calling, so I turned inland once more, and climbed back up, before heading east for the last time on the 18, crossing the peninsula, and it is a great traverse, passing some local attractions, some farming communities and passing through the city of Ito, as it hugs its river. The town is quite nice and itself has been a tourist draw, meaning the roads are quite tight, and unforgiving if you miss a turn.

Then it’s back on these wonderful sweeping roads, passing golf courses, solar panel ‘farms’, and a few other bikes. Usually I would take the 80 down to the eastern coast, but if you take the real 80, you end up doing an fun, steep, narrow, declining road through a lightly residential area, under the train line, before seeing the ocean again - it’s more fun that the more relaxed other 80. Then it’s that usual ocean view ride, before indulging yourself in the twisty goodness of 75 near Hakone.

Overall, a great day, and for me, after 6 months of being limited to short hops, it was nice to ride for a couple of hours without stopping.

(As ever, it’s worth remembering that petrol stations are often closed, and it’s a bit of a gamble sometimes, so make sure you have a backup plan!)

Twistybutt 8 - Coast to Coast 2018

Tue, 19 Jun 2018 21:04:19 +0000

TL;DR: An awesome 500Km TwistyButt run across Japan, having a great time on bikes with friends before food and beer. No bad way to spend a day.

“This is not an easy ride! You will be on the road for the best part of daylight and maybe more than 12 hours with little time to just cruise and zone out. It is a true feast of twisties that even gluttons have trouble swallowing.”

Touge Express

The Coast to Coast Twistybutt is an informal event put on each year for bikers in Japan by the Touge Express site. We would be riding from sea level at Odawara in western Kanagawa prefecture by the Pacific Ocean, all the way over the spine of Japan to 2,172m on the highest national road in the country, and then on to Joetsu in Niigata prefecture, on the Japan Sea coast.

This was my second attempt at the 500Km route, having clocked in a 15 hour time last year, rolling in tired and wet to the hotel at 8pm. I loved it, I was hooked.

This year I had a few goals - to ride better, to ride smarter, but overall, to be better prepared.

I’d trimmed my gear down from not-so-much, to downright minimal, so that instead of a waistbag and a camping drybag, I was just using a jacket pocket and one of my bicycle’s panniers, down to puncture kits, tools, fasteners, safety kit and a change of clothes. I’d spent more time really understanding my navigation app ( OSMAnd +), and understood how gpx GPS tracks worked on it, and spent a few hours in Kurviger.de making a track from the ‘official’ route.

This year I was riding with an old friend (CS), who has been riding far longer than me, but this was his first go on the C2C. We woke around 3am, got prepped, got that all important cup of tea in, and with gear safely strapped to the bikes, we set off into the dark, under that weird illumination of a full moon.

The few other bikes we saw en route were all fellow twistybutters it seemed, and rolling down the coast road to Odawara we were all waves and enthusiasm.

We met at the base of a toll road as it has a small but convenient car park, which we promptly filled with just over 80 motorcycles, from 110cc SuperCub copies, to elegant and classic Kawasaki’s, to big BMW 1200GSs and pretty much everything in between.

It’s a totally international field of riders as well as the machines, and everyone took photos, exchanged last minute tips, realised flaws in their plans and eagerly awaited the off. After a reminder from the Touge Express team about road etiquette and safety, at around 5.15am we set off with a mere 500Km of twisties ahead.

I again found the first 50Km awkward as I was navigating for the two of us, and generally I don’t ride following a route, so I had to remember to check my turns and not disappear along a beautiful road, but which wasn’t the specific beautiful road I should be on.

(It also became apparent from the profanity levels at stops, that my riding partner’s Google Map / Smartphone system was not working for him at all, so it was looking like I’d be leading the whole way!)

Bounding along on my Tracer with CS’s Triumph Tiger 1200 Explorer’s familiar lights in my mirror felt good in the brisk morning sun, as we twisted towards Fuji, and I had to keep to a point I’d made: I wasn’t going to stop for photos every few kilometres early on like I had the previous year. It’s a difficult promise to keep as many of the views we’d pass by are stunning, and at one point we skirted Fuji, with low cloud barreling down a valley towards it looking like a wave lapping up on a beach. OK, maybe I should’ve have gotten that picture.

(I should also say we were riding with another chap, EP, but for reasons unknown he took another route, but thankfully he made it to Joetsu! )

The roads on the south end of the route were decent as some are well travelled tourist roads, so we made good time as at this early hour there were just a few cars around, mainly photographers looking for that early morning Fuji shot.

After the initial barrage of turns, as we neared Kofu, we traversed a kind of valley bottom between mountain ranges, and you’re reminded that there exist flat, and even straight roads, which suddenly feel wrong. It wasn’t many kilometers though before we were back climbing up into new mountains and more touge, meandering through small villages.

We really only stopped for fuel or for a quick snack, drinks and to stretch our legs around every 100Km. At the 200Km stop for refreshments (and for CS to get caught with his trousers down again, adjusting his knee protectors), we encountered probably Japan’s most minimally stocked convenience store. It was like some homage to late eighties eastern bloc shops I remembered seeing - empty shelves, and half of what products they had were local wines and other alcohol. The staff though were two very friendly old ladies who chatted with us, and made a point of bringing out their personal rubbish bin when I was trying to find somewhere to throw some rubbish.

This kind of interaction seems normal when motorcycling here in Japan, everyone in the mountains just has time for people, and if you’re on the road, then that’s a talking point. When we took on fuel around 300Km, we had a good chat with the old gents running the place about why we were on the road, where in Japan we had set off from, how long it had taken, and where we were going. In fact we were quite appreciative as we’d passed a few petrol stations which were either closed for good, or closed for the Golden Week holiday which had just started. (Oddly, I really start looking for fuel when I’m down to half, even though half would still likely get me ~ 150Km.)

We bumped into a fellow Twistybutter just a few kilometers later when we were looking for some more refreshments at a large Seven Eleven, and he was relaxing with a cigarette, his CBR600 parked up, and with that riding position for a few hundred kilometres, I can see why you’d be stretching out. We exchanged tales of the ride thus far, and other riders we’d seen.

One thing we’d both seen was another biker on a big BMW coming the other way with his pannier wide open at the back. I remembered as I was waving at him and pointing at the back of my bike and him. I don’t think I got my point across.

One reason for that is the ‘biker wave’ - we wave at each other as a salutation as we pass, to say hello, or to pass on information, but sadly I don’t know what the correct gesture is for ‘your side box is open and I think everything has fallen out’. I think he just interpreted my motions as sheer enthusiasm.

It has to be said though, as the day went on, the road quality started to get patchy. Or indeed non existent. We had a stretch of about 100m of basically gravel and stone downhill where they were looking to put asphalt down at some point. Going down this wouldn’t have been much of an issue for either of us, except that there were a couple of cars coming up who apparently had to be in the centre of the track, and would not negotiate, so we were left to get through the rough side sections. It’s all good practice.

I should say at this point that there isn’t much traffic on most of this route, and the vast, vast majority of cars on twisties will move to the side and wave you past. These were the exceptions to that.

We went over some quite badly maintained roads, down through some valleys where there was plenty of debris on the road, as well as the required tar snakes, ripples of asphalt and general subsidence leading to significant drops from mountainsides.

It’s part of the deal - we have great mountains and thus touge and twisties because of Japan’s location on the rim of fire, and the typhoons and long deep winters take their toll. Indeed this year there was a change of route due to one road being closed for nearby volcanic activity. That’s the trade-off - not all of these places can be maintained beyond adequate levels, and I’m fine with that.

We pushed on, savouring the views. At one point I got myself caught in a ragged trench running down the centre of the road when I was looking to overtake a farm vehicle, and had to wrestle the front wheel out of the rut and get back into a lane before anything came the other way, I managed it, but it made me a lot more wary of passing in that area.

Almost the only photo stop we made was at the snow walls on route 292, not far from the highest national road in Japan sign, and a truly beautiful view to see, and something of a tourist attraction, and after several hours of there not being much humanity, it’s a friendly reminder. I have to say this is my favourite section I think, riding between banks of snow, awesome vistas, small streams of melt rolling across the road, and the dedicated skiers getting the last runs of the year in before strapping things back to their cars and heading down, whilst the hotels reconfigure themselves for cycling and hiking season.

Winding down into the next valley, and cutting through a small town it was getting into later afternoon, and we were about to start on the last full set of twisties, which are mainly unmarked single lane farmers roads, and which the previous year I’d done in the dark, in the rain and hadn’t really enjoyed it. This time I was a few of hours earlier, it was dry, so I got to enjoy a wonderful ride down into Joetsu during the golden hours towards sunset, with the light bouncing off the fields and ponds.

We also passed a lady on a mobility scooter coming the other way. Uphill. In the middle of nowhere. The biker spirit never leaves some people it seems.

The last section is a quick highway burn into the town itself, and we rolled into the Hotel car park literally twelve hours after we’d left Odawara, with the sun just about to set.

All that was left to do was a soak in the onsen and have a few beers with the other riders, make sure everyone was safe, exchange stories and bike scars and share a few laughs before getting some sleep, to be fresh again for the next day, where some would continue to other parts of Japan, but where I would be making my way back home.

All in All

It was another fantastic Twistybutt, good times with good people. It’s a great opportunity to challenge and improve your riding skills, or recognise where you need to put some work in. It’s also a good time to learn your bike, how to pack it, how to navigate on it, and if you’re riding with other riders, how to effectively communicate, or agree beforehand how you’ll proceed.

The main thing I learned from last year’s coast to coast, which not only saves time, but boosts enjoyment on the day: knowing the route is everything.

This could be by running it beforehand, or just having a solid mental picture of the turns from studying a map of Touge Express’s route. It also includes having a method of navigation which you know and understand. For me this also included having a far better idea of how GPS tracks, routes and maps work.

Last year I had the source route (the golden master) on Google Maps, and I exported it from Furkot as a GPX route and imported it, seemingly successfully, into OSMAnd+. It didn’t work so well. OpenStreetMap and Google Maps are subtly different, and when I missed a turn my smartphone would then try to recalculate to the next waypoint, which may or may not be on the golden master route. I also didn’t fully understand some of OSMAnd+s options, further adding to route recalculation. It all added up to wasted time and missed turns.

This year I used Kurviger (which also uses OSM) to make a 1:1 track copy of the golden master, which then looked 100% correct on my phone, and I set OSMAnd+ to just use that, so if I missed a turn, it wouldn’t recalculate, it would just point to where I left the track. that was pretty much exactly what I wanted, and was the key to making the navigation portion a case of checking turns in advance, and actually in 500Km I only missed one turn as it was a fairly small hook turn in a forest, forcing us to do a U turn a hundred metres later.

Original Comments

Comments from the original WordPress blog post.

Sanjeev Kumar — 2018-06-20

Great Post Sir !!!! Really refresh those moments of C2C, This year i used Moton GPX on my iphone & it works flawless ( i imported latest route)

After C2C, i continue my journey towards Shikoku, had a great time,

I have not started processing videos, will do so soon.

gurahamu — 2018-06-25

Thanks! Glad you made it yourself too - and went off on your own tour. I’m definitely looking forward to the videos. How did you find the navi app compared to Google Maps last time? ;)

Coast to Coast Twistybutt?

Wed, 01 Nov 2017 03:16:53 +0000

At the tail-end of Golden Week this year (May 5th to be exact) I took part in Touge Express’ 2017 Coast to Coast Twistybutt, an invitational run across Japan from the Pacific Ocean to Japan Sea purely via the mountain pass roads or ’touge’ as they’re known. 500Km of turns with the occasional short local road connecting them.

If you were on a straight road, you were probably on the wrong road.

So where is the tale of this crossing? I did write one, but it’s not here, it’s on a real motorcycle website, so thanks to Chris and everyone at RideApart for bringing tales from the touge to the broader world - they’ll be all the better for it!

The Twistybutt - Japan’s Iron Butt Challenge

Bike Tour: Lakes, Tea and Senbei

Wed, 16 Dec 2015 06:46:17 +0000

It’d been quite a few weeks since I’d been out on the motorbike for a day trip, so when my old friend CS offered up the middle day of a 3 day weekend for a trip out in November, I was up for it, and so spent some time staring at my Touring Mapple book and Google Maps to see where we could put in a few hundred kilometres.

The Classy Meet Up

As I’m all about style and culture, I had decided we should meet up on the infamous 246 road before moving up into the mountains of central and western Kanagawa Prefecture. The meeting place: The Eastern Gods Truck Station. Well technically it’s the Toushin Truck Station, but the literal translation of the kanji sounds a lot better in my opinion. Yes, it’s a truck stop - a fair sized one too - with a restaurant, showers, some rooms, and of course ample parking for large trucks, and a smaller area for vans. We parked up in the latter car and van park, CS’s Triumph Tiger 1200 dwarfing some of the vans, whilst everything dwarfed my CB400.

A cup of tea and a catch-up later we were on the 246 for a little while before heading north on the 412 and then moving onto the 413 and pushing west. The 413 is a decent road - well surfaced, the odd narrow portion, with plenty of twisties to play on. For the most part you’re going along valleys, but at elevation, so expect some dampness and mist, especially on an overcast day like we were on. It was at this point I discovered the mist loved settling on my visor and stubbornly refused to roll off, so I need to sort that out.

Doushi Road

About half way along, we came across a rest area near the town of Doshi, and sailing past all those people in cars who like to queue for parking spaces, we parked up in the bike area which was packed with bikes and bikers - men, women and children of all ages, with all manner of bikes, trikes and quads. It was a good place to take a break, with people queuing for various hot snacks or grilled chicken, pork, vegetables , some tasty looking grilled fish, as well as a shop selling powdered radish roots, fresh veg and other things there was no way I could fit on my bike. In the end I had a bottle of hot lemon juice from the the vending machine. A missed opportunity in retrospect - I should have queued for the grilled fish.

Back on the road, more twisties, but then a slower section in traffic around lake Yamanaka. I always like the lakes around Mt. Fuji, especially for the novelty ferries. I didn’t take a picture, but Yamanaka had the giant swan ferry on the water as we rode past.

Another missed food opportunity here: we went past several nice local places and pulled away from the commercialized lake area,and only when we were stopping for some fuel did we decide we were hungry, by which point our only real option was the nearby Royal Host. It’s perfectly acceptable as a place to eat, but as a franchise, we’d usually avoid it.

As CS has a GPS system, he oddly likes to make use of it, and due to this, it likes to run him a merry jaunt on occasion. This time, instead of taking us to a small tea house on a mountain road I had spied on Google Maps, it decided we really wanted to sit in more traffic around the outskirts of the larger Kawaguchi lake in a market stalls area where it continued to confidently claim the tea shop was always 3 minutes away,.

After fifteen minutes, we called it out, told it we weren’t happy, did U-turns and followed my direction following my paper map. That was better. Or at least it was better for a while, since on the 137, we were to look for road 708, a svelte mountain road where this legendary tea shop would be waiting for us. Unfortunately CS was a couple of cars in front of me, and he missed the turn. This left me bombing up the road thinking I was way behind, arriving at the beautiful tea-shop and realising it was just me. Long story short, CS did finally locate the place, and it was worth it.

Tea Time

It’s called Tenkachaya (天下茶屋), as in, ‘whole world under heaven’ tea shop. They also make and sell senbei rice crackers. There’s no parking as such, and the collection of cars and bikes basically hug the sides of the road. Inside it’s all wood, modestly lit, and very relaxing. The staff were really friendly, and explained what was available in the shop and on the menu. That’s when we noticed we’d misunderstood something. They do sell tea - indeed they give you a complimentary cup when you sit down - but their speciality is a blend coffee. I had to have one, and yes, it was very good. Also, the senbei were sweet, sort of lemon flavoured, and the staff advised us to break them in their plastic wrappers before eating because they could probably stop a bullet. They do taste rather good though, so we bought some as omiyage to take away too. It’s by itself really on that 708 road, which the tunnel making it far quicker to get to and from the lake, but it is worth the ride/drive up for a rest stop and to take in the view.

After that good rest we started winding our way towards the Chuo expressway, joining at it’s southern starting point, and following it east. There was plenty of traffic - perhaps people returning Sunday night to avoid the read traffic insanity of the Monday return, so we ended up filtering for a couple of kilometres before stopping before the Hachioji junction where we parted ways. My route would take me onto the newer Ken-O extension south. I like the road as it’s not so busy, there’s plenty of distance between junctions, and even though there aren’t yet service areas, it’s a relaxing ride though I should note, there’s no street lights along some sections, so with just me on my bike, even with the headlight on, it felt oddly isolated.

The only notable thing on that final stretch was that all the auto-payment arches (ETC) were broken on my exit ramp, so I had to stop and get off my bike, get my bike seat off to give the chap on the gate my ETC card so he could manually check it through, then put it all back together. I’ve never had to do that before. Odd really.

All in all a good day out.

(An aside here: the lake is called Kawaguchiko. That ‘ko’ denotes lake [湖], and though most signs in English say Lake Kawaguchiko, it’s technically Lake Kawaguchi I think).

Bike Tour: Shouganai Dam

Wed, 02 Sep 2015 02:23:07 +0000

Imagine if there was a place called ‘such is life’. Well, potentially in Japan, there is, and it’s a huge dam. The Shouganai dam. I say potentially, as it’s a bit of a kanji joke - the name - Ogouchi - is written in kanji as 小河内, which with a liberal interpretation, could phonetically be read as ‘shouganai’, which is the Japanese equivalent of ‘such is life’. Yes, puns in Japanese can be many layered.

Anyway, getting past all that, when I found the Shouganai Dam on the map, I knew I had to go and take a look - partly for the name, partly because dams are usually impressive, but mainly because the twisty roads through the mountains to it were just so enticing to a biker such as myself.

View Larger Map

Route Planning
I planned my route similar to my previous Tanzawa / Yabitsu Touge route, because it’s accessible but fun, coming in from the south on route 246, keeping on the back roads and those mountain routes pretty much all the way up, but then planned to come out to the east through the rural roads, and then get on the Ken O expressway to come back [map at the end of the post].

On the Road
I was out of my house by seven am sharp, and the weather was fantastic - dry, sunshine, mid 20s degC., not too humid, and made my way up to the Route 246 in fairly light traffic. Some people may have seen Route 246 as a course on Gran Tourismo. In real life, on a bad day, it’s far worse, especially in mid Kanagawa, where is it one of the main free roads west. Fortunately for me, Saturday morning wasn’t too busy and I could make good time, and not have to stop at every single traffic light, every 100metres, which is sometimes the case.

A few Km down and it was time for the interesting right turn onto Route 70. Interesting for a couple of reasons, mainly the convenience store after the right, which I usually stop off at for a breakfast snack, and partly for the petrol station on the opposite corner - a great place to fuel up, but between the crossroads and the various entrances/exits for these two businesses, you have to be a little careful on two wheels.

Whenever I have to use franchised outlets for things, I prefer to at least try something new, and this time, at that 7-11 on the corner, they had a new onigiri (rice ball) - dry curry - which they even heated up for me. It was nice. It was very nice. I would recommend it. You can also chat to the many cyclists and bikers who often use the place as a meet up spot, as it effectively marks the beginning for people starting a run on the Yabitsu pass.

Route70 is a pleasure to ride - starting off with gentle curves, a steady incline, not many traffic lights, and lightly used roads. As you get up to the pass roper (as delineated by a larger bus stop, a gate, and a small bridge), the road narrows and widens, the bends are sharper, compensated for by fantastic views off one side - just beware cyclists coming the other way at speed down! I think I did a whole post on the Yabitsu Pass, or Yabitsu Touge as it’s known.

At the end of the pass there are a few ways to go, but this time, as I was heading further north, I took a left I’d not taken before, and since I was getting a little thirsty, I was looking for somewhere to stop. Then, just a few hundred metres from the junction, there was this nice Sunkus with some patio tables outside, so I bought a lettuce sandwich and an ice coffee, and watched all the various two wheeled vehicles come and go for a while, before setting off again, and regretting I hadn’t brought my CamelBak water-bottle on what was turning into a nice hot day.

Off again, from Route 64 to 518, twisting higher up into the next group of mountains, then a few junctions and up to Route 76, and over into Fujino. I wasn’t planning to, but I actually got off to take a few photos there - it’s a small almost-town where two rivers meet. It’d be very picturesque if it weren’t for the factory perched up on one mountainside. I’m going to say it’s a concrete factory, but I can’t back that up.

More uphill turns which were plenty of fun, and just great cornering out of and above Fujino, and keeping an eye out for a petrol station, since I’d hit the half tank point and I like full tanks. I missed one, a nice, small, local one which I kind of regret as there was a small group chatting on the forecourt, and so I ended up a few kilometres later on at a Cosmo - nice people though. Then I was through Uenohara, which seemed like a tranquil town save for its very congested main road, then up again into the countryside up to the dam. I came in from the south, weaving along the narrow road, but always with fantastic views, until I came to a small car park on one corner, overlooking the lake.

Actually, that lay-by had a camera club or something there, all with nice looking cameras with large zoom lenses all adorned with camouflage for some reason - I mean, they’re sat next to silver cars in a stopping area, chatting, so they’re not exactly blending in to the wilderness but I’d guess there is some bird watching to be done. One chap was also flying his drone out over the valley - I should have asked him where he uploaded to. I should have asked what birds they were hoping to spot too.

More twisties and we’re down to the level of the rivers and the lake behind the dam, and some nice small bridges. The lake is called Okutama, after the local area, and the small nearby town. I stopped to have a drink at one of a couple of restaurants nearby - both looked a little worn, but the staff were friendly, and the drinks were cold, and on a hot day like it had become, that was enough in itself.

Then it was on to the dam itself, which is a huge wall of concrete as one might expect. There’s a visitors centre, and a generous carpark too, which is free. On this day, it was pretty much empty, but given the coach spaces and the visitors centre having a lot of child friendly areas, I suspect it gets a lot of school visits.

I decided to take a walk across the top of the dam, despite the heat, and even though it is what it is, it’s still impressive to see a 100m plus drop on one side, and water on the other. I also went up one of the viewing towers, which have some basic models in them and don’t add much beyond some welcome air conditioning.

There’s not much on the other side of the dam - a shrine for the areas drowned, and presumably those who died in its construction, and a hiking route, which I followed for a couple of kilometres, but biker gear is not the best wear to go mountain hiking in this kind of heat! I’d be interested in coming back and doing it though, as it looks like a nice route.

It’s a very tranquil place all told, and I spent a couple of hours sitting and walking around it, talking a little with the staff in the towers and visitors centre, so it was a good destination, even though I was more interested in the way of getting up there.

Leaving the dam was simple enough though there are a couple of road signage oddities which clearly sent some people the wrong way, but I headed out from the east, through tunnels which varied in age from bubble era 1980s concrete ones, to ones which dripped water from their ceilings, and which I imagined had been blasted out in the early 1900s. The road out isn’t as twisty to the east and you soon get on roads which are more frequently punctuated by villages, but it’s still a nice run.

I’d taken a little longer than I planned up to the dam and at it, so I was thinking of ending the day with some expressway riding, and make use of the extension to the Ken O to Ebina and Chigasaki. It was a nice fast run, but there aren’t any services on it, so make sure you take a toilet break or have a drink before you get on! As a new road of course - and not busy when I got to it - the asphalt was beautifully smooth, and it was nice to watch houses and rice fields fly past (at the legal speed limit of course).

All in all, another great day out, and I’d go back to Ogouchi to be honest - great runs, friendly people to chat with on the way, and plenty of small places to stop and check out.

Here’s a few more pictures, which include the obligatory bike shot:

Original Comments

Comments from the original WordPress blog post.

Darryl — 2015-09-02

Looked like an awesome day out in the mountains. A well-written and enjoyable article to read, too.

gurahamu — 2015-09-02

Thanks Darryl. I definitely recommend giving it a run, but again, watch out for hikers in Yabitsu in season.

Bike Trip to Manazuru

Sun, 12 Oct 2014 17:29:31 +0000

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve been out on my bike for a run, rather than just running errands, and in fact, the last time, I just did old faithful - the Izu Skyline. This time I decided to blend the old and the new, with a final destination of the Manazuru spit, so I took my favourite ocean-side route 134 down towards Odawara, and then go up the Hakone Turnpike. It used to be called the Toyo Tires Turnpike, but now it’s the Mazda Turnpike. At the lower entrance they basically changed one cheap sign for another cheap sign. At the top, they’ve renamed the cafe area to the Mazda Skylounge, though aside from that, it’s business as usual - and there’s nothing wrong with that - a good chance to see people who love to get out on 2,3 or 4 wheels. I await a unicyclist at the SkyLounge for that single wheel addition.

Sat outside the SkyLounge, on one of the benches with a view down onto lake Ashinoko, I was drinking some tea from my flask, and leafing through my Mapple touring map book, trying to find somewhere I could do in a couple of hours, and be back home in the early afternoon. It just wasn’t going to be Izu again I’d decided. As I leafed through I noticed a small spit of land out into Sagami Bay, that just hadn’t registered with me before, I suspect as I’m usually on the coastal road, which lacks an exit near it - the small peninsula called Manazuru.

View Larger Map

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though, first I needed to get from (A) The Mazda Skylounge, to (B) Manazuru. Fortunately for me, a nice way to get there is via Yugawara and Route 75, a playful twisty something, meandering down through the mountain valleys, with plenty of tree overhangs, shade, and more corners than you can shake a moderate sized stick at. It must be five years since I last used this road, and it’s a shame because it’s a lot of fun. At Yugawara, at the base of the 75, it’s a short jaunt on that 135 coast road, but you jump off before the toll and express routes, and then in my case, headed for Manazuru station. I was wondering how these roads were going to work, as on the map there seem to me a mass of turn-offs in front of Manazuru station - and there are. However, after years of tourists, they’ve got it organised, with colour coded lanes to take you to different areas. Fundamentally, the 739 road loops the peninsula, but near the cape (as it’s called) a smaller road breaks off, but this is one way, and quite narrow, which is a good thing, as it keeps traffic flowing safely.

I stopped a couple of times along the road to watch people sea fish off the rocks, see the literally fresh fish being dried, and listen to the waves. Riding on though, and onto the one way loop through winding lanes, you finally get down to Manatsuru Cape itself, and a nice large tourist area with car parks and bus parking. From the building, you can get a great view of the bay, it’s very scenic, but I hadn’t come all this way to look at the Pacific from the top of the cliffs - I’d come to touch ocean, and see the shrine. Well, not so much a shrine but, well the photo explains it. As far as I can tell, it’s called ‘名勝三ツ石’ or Meishoumitsuishi. Literal translation - ‘A place of beauty with three rocks’.

As you descend by the steps though, there’s a nice looking cafe. I can’t recommend anything from there, as I was a little early for it to open, but it looked very inviting, perched on the sloping rocks with a grand view of the ocean. At the base of the slope are some toilets, then the pebble beach. The large rocks at the end of the spit are often cut off from the coast when the tide is high, but when it’s low, you can walk out towards them on the rock causeway. You have to be careful on the rocks, and there are thousands of beetles and such, but it’s nice to get out around the waves, and if you’re up for it, try to catch some small fish or shellfish.

The rocks themselves, between two of which are stretched some Shinto based paper streamers on a long rope (called shime 標, or even a rope version shimenawa), look quite striking against the surf, and it’s easy to see how people living near here in times past would want to make an acknowledgement to the gods of the sea. All it all, it’s quite a fetching place, and somewhere you can sit for a while and just look out over the vast Ocean. You’ll likely want that rest too, before the hike back up the steps.

The building at the top of the cliffs is nice, but it’s nothing special, if you’ve seen one tourist targeting restaurant selling local food and trinkets, you’ve pretty much seen this one, but it’s got a great view, the menus seemed OK (again, it was too early to try), the staff were nice, it had some nice places to sit outside, and vitally, the toilets were clean.

After I’d drunk some more tea on the lawn over the cliff, I could feel the bike calling me, so off I went again, giving cyclists plenty of space on the bumpy road, but actually not so far, as another building came into view, and in front of it, the Manazuru Fire Station, which is a simple building with large glass windows, showing off the single fire engine. It looked quite nice in it’s own way.

The building just behind it looks like a large converted house, in some old, and non-Japanese style; at first glance it looked almost south east Asian colonial - yes, I’m not much of an architectural scholar. In front of the house, what was once likely a large stately lawn, has been quite tastefully converted into a miniature golf course. Walk past this, through the palm trees, and again there’s a beautiful cliff-top view of the ocean. I think this is all a part of the number of hotel resort facilities in the area, for those who want to come down for several days.

There are lots of things to see on this peninsula actually - I’d quite like to come back for a full day and walk around a lot more to see more of them, and once you’re here, on foot is a good way to do it. Of course, two wheels are the best way to actually get here.

I made a Google Map link, as the image above is a grab - it didn’t want to show for some reason. However you get here though, the compactness of the area makes it worth the trip.

Isehara Camping during Rainy Season

Tue, 15 Jul 2014 05:50:28 +0000

It’s fair to say that I like to get outdoors. Although I’m not a frequent or avid camper, now that the kids are sort of old enough, I think it’s important we all get out and get some outdoors and tent time in.

We first went together in 2012, but for a pile of reasons we missed last year, and so this year we’re trying to make up the trip count. June is part of Japan’s rainy season, but undaunted I booked a spot at a place I hadn’t camped at before up in the mountains, near a river, called Yamagoya. It’s only a bit over an hour from the house, so I thought that if it turned into a complete disaster I’d just have to up sticks and it would be a short drive back.

As the date came up, it was clear it would rain at some point. On the day we drove up it was raining, and when we arrived, I expected the kids to complain, but actually they loved it, and I have to say, they didn’t complain once during the whole weekend.

The site is small, running about 100m along a small river bank. Come the real summer they’re mainly set up with family sized BBQ sites, but right now they just had a few tarps up covering about half of them. They actually only have 3 designated tent pitches. This was the first odd point - the pitches were away from the river, and broadly flat, but they’d put several layers of stones there, which may have helped run-off and drainage, but made getting the tent pegs in quite a bit harder, and of course the rain makes everything more slippery. Like the previous camp though, I set up my GoPro on time lapse, and afterwards made a video from it - the kids love watching the tent go up at high speed!

The stones could have been a bigger issue, had I not brought our Thermarests, of which I’ve become a bit of a fan over the last few years, meaning for the kids especially, they could get comfy in their sleeping bags on one of these mattresses, and get some sleep.

Once the tent was up we went in to the adjoining cafe for some lunch. They only have a small menu, very Japanese oriented, which is fine, but not much for the kids. That said, the tofu salad and udon we ordered was excellent, and we could divide it between the three of us. They also do desserts and kakigouri (shaved ice with some fruit cordial), which obviously did go down well with the kids. It wasn’t expensive, given they’re serving a relatively captive audience, but marginally more expensive than a family restaurant.

As the rain came down gently, it was actually quite picturesque, looking down the river, and off a slight cliff down the valley. The kids were happy with my decision that since they were wet anyway, paddling into the river a little wasn’t going to do any more damage, so we passed quite a bit of time just exploring the riverbank and the site.

One of the best things about camping is cooking outside though, and it’s something my kids like too. For normal meals at home they can sometimes be picky, but when it comes off a BBQ or the camping stoves, there are no arguments. The drizzle had let up a little, so I broke out our two stoves - one is my normal lightweight backpacker stove, the other is a domestic ‘cassette gas’ burner. I found one of the set out tarps which was anchored quite high up, and set up just below and to one side of it - you don’t want to be melting or setting fire to tarps - so we got some rain shelter and played safe. I do like cooking outdoors, and with two stoves, got some spaghetti bolognese going.

One thing I was glad I brought is my Gerber multi-tool - I somehow bent one of the guide lips on my camping stove, and had to gently bend it back into shape with my pliers.

There wasn’t any showers that I noticed, but the toilets were clean enough for a camp site, and part of a concrete building, so the kids weren’t too fussed about it. It’s still odd to me that the same kids who complain about a small mosquito at home, don’t seem bothered by much bigger insects when they’re camping.

Let’s talk about insects. I don’t really have a problem with insects when I’m outdoors, with the possible exception of the midges in Scotland. Insects live outside, it’s what they do. However, twice over the weekend, I must have looked like a tempting and tasty target to Yamaburi, which are Japanese mountain leeches, and I had to remove them both forcefully, but safely (well, safe for me, not so much for them). They’re hardy things I can tell you.

I should probably discuss something about the staff at the site too. They’re very nice and polite, but a little slow, and aren’t entirely intuitive. I noticed this when I booked the site as I booked over a week ahead, confirming everything down to kids ages, arrival and departure times. When my wife called a few days before to check on things (if they rented towels etc.) she got into a weird conversation that the booking was somehow not complete. Finally she got confirmation that actually it was all booked. We still don’t know what the story was there. If it wasn’t complete, why hadn’t they called the mobile number I’d provided. I wonder if they’re the off-peak part timers?

All in all then, a good, simple one night camp. I think we’ll go back later in the year, and take advantage of one of the BBQ spots, as well as the tent pitches, as that would be fun. All that remains is for me to find out how to dissuade the local leeches, or a better way to remove them (if you have any ideas, please add to the comments).

New Header Photo: Heads

Fri, 06 May 2011 17:39:18 +0000

For the first time in about six months I’ve decided to change the header image on the site. The old one was from a photo I took of some ice cubes, this one is from an exhibit at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

The photo is from an exhibit by Jaume Plensa, and is part of a much larger exhibit, both in the galleries, and outside with even more sculptures in the park itself. It shows a collection of eleven alabaster heads, subtly lit. The effect is somewhat unearthly, and face on they look much deeper than their profile suggests, and the alabaster gives them an almost organic appearance under the light.

Out on the Road (Again).

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 14:11:07 +0000

Out on the Road (Again). Or in a plane. For the first time in a few months I’m out of Tokyo on business. It’s a fairly aggressive schedule too, doing the Tokyo, Mumbai, Beijing and back to Tokyo triangle in six days. Lot’s of things to do.

Actually, as I write this I’m sat on an ANA Boeing 737-700 from Tokyo to Mumbai, and I have to say, this is a really nice plane. It’s essentially a small[ish] business jet, with only forty seats - all business class - and the bonus for me is that there’s a power socket at each seat, so I brought that extra battery for nothing, given that it’s a nine and a half hour flight. It means I can sit and watch more of my own films, rather than rely on the selection on the system, which seems to be very limited on the flights I get and read some documents and such I brought along.

Whilst I was up here I took some photos through the window on my little Canon Ixy 20 IS, which made me look like somehow like a first time flyer, but it’s a view out there which always looks amazing to me - all that planet, all that cloud and all that sky; definitely something I can’t see myself ever getting tired of.

Missing the family already though. Only yesterday we were running around the park in Chuo-ku, and in a few hours I’ll be three and a half time zones away.

South Korea

Sun, 31 Oct 2004 12:19:08 +0000

We’ve just got back from 3 days in South Korea. I’ve uploaded a few (85!) pictures in the gallery here. [ Update: Sorry, the gallery has gone. I’ll try to get around to reposting!]

It was the first time in Korea for the both of us, and with only a limited amount of time we decided we wanted to see day-to-day Seoul, some of the tourist bits, and the De-Militarised Zone [DMZ] between North and South Korea. I’m writing a full travelog to post on the Brightblack site later this week, so I’ll just put the highlights here.

Seoul is a great city - not as intense as Tokyo, but with lots to see and do, and with a lot of cool places to eat and drink. We took in some of the historical buildings, as well as trying the local teas which are excellent (I recommend the plum tea). The underground system was very cheap and efficient, and even though the trains were spacious and modern, the ticket machines were a little less friendly. We also checked out the insanely large and modular shopping district, as we had to buy a few items of clothing to meet the dress code to go to the DMZ.

The DMZ

The DMZ trip is only do-able on an organised tour, and I use the word ‘organised’ very loosely. An hour north of Seoul and you’re pretty much at the DMZ border, after a stop for lunch and a look at Freedom Bridge and the very odd fun park there, and it’s off inside the DMZ itself to the Joint Security Area [JSA] on the actual cease-fire line where North and South meet. We didn’t think we would be let into the meeting room itself, where north and south sit down together, but literally at the last minute we were allowed, under guard and only for a few minutes.

However, I can say that I’ve stood in North Korea! It’s a very quiet and very weird place. Beautiful and yet quite sinister. We were escorted closely by UN/US/Republic of Korea soldiers at all times and told when and where we could take photos. The dress code was enforced - you can’t go near the JSA in jeans, so those people had to wear ’loaners’ from the troops there.

The guides gave us detailed instructions on where to go, as we were bussed around the 3 linked camps which make up the UN force’s presence in the area. They also detailed the spot where two US soldiers were axed to death by North Koreans in the mid Seventies as they were guarding contractors who were chopping a tree down which was obstructing the view of the observation post from one of the other ones.

It’s an odd place - the DMZ fence, 2km away on either side from the true cease fire line, is all barbed wire, minefields and anti-tank blocks, but the ‘Military Demarcation Line’ is just a line of posts, and some rusted signs on the bridges, so it’s easy to see how someone could stray across, and if you did, as was pointed out, you’d be dead. As you can see in the photos the ROK soldiers look tough, they stand in a TaeKwonDo ready stance at all times, facing off against the North Koreans, who whilst we were there was one guy on the steps, rifle slung over shoulder. All in all, ’enjoyable’, but quite surreal.

As for Korea, it’s an excellent place, and well worth making the trip to if you’re in the region, and check out real gimchi (spiced cabbage) which is great. The people were very friendly and helpful, and if you speak a little Japanese and English you can pretty much get round everything (most tourists are Japanese from what we could tell). Anyway, go and take a look at the pics!

In the UK!

Sat, 17 Apr 2004 02:44:32 +0000

Well, been back in the UK for about a week or so, and it’s been a pretty busy week. We spent a couple of days in London, doing a bit of the tourist thing - went on the London Eye which I have to say was very well organised and run, and does indeed give a great view of London. (For those who have no idea what I’m on about, the London Eye is the world’s largest ferris wheel at 135m).

I’ve been based up here of my home town of Grimsby, enjoying Britain’s best fish and chips and relaxing in some very pleasant sunshine. I even went to have a look at the sandy beach of Cleethorpes - although a jacket to brave the North Sea wind is still required, though the beach is actually very clean now.

We also went down to Nottingham, my old university city, and along with some friends , we ‘killed’ a few hours watching a new British film “Shaun of the Dead” a comedy set during a Zombie attack. It really is hilarious, and if you get chance, go and see it, or rent the DVD.

So, soon back to London and a Sunday flight to Japan…

Out and About in Sydney

Sun, 28 Mar 2004 22:58:34 +0000

Well, I’ve been here in Sydney, Australia for a week now, and in the small amount of time I’ve spent outside of the office, it seems to be a really nice place. The food is excellent with some of the best steaks I’ve had in a long time - my only criticism is that a lot of places seem to close early compared to Tokyo - but maybe that’s unfair as Tokyo has about 10 times the population.

Yesterday though I went for a long walk - I started around the Opera House which is 5 minutes from the hotel. It’s a very impressive structure, though I was surprised that it isn’t actually white, but a series of creamish tiles. However, it really is beautiful, both by day and (I found out later) by night.

After taking a load of photos around it I went for a walk around the botanic gardens, which are more like a huge park, and is free to wander around. As a visitor from Tokyo, it was nice to see so much grass and trees, without concrete and tarmac around them. They have an amazing selection from all over the world, including some bat forests, palms, roses and some trees so rare they’re in a cage.

I also took a look around some museums and a few more parks before checking out some of the shops - it’s not that cheap here for some things, even compared to Tokyo, and the price for consumer electronics would even scare the British. My new digital camera was almost double the price here…

To get a taste of a city though, you need to get out of the tourist areas, and here Sydney seems to do OK too - the financial district (which, OK, is right next to the tourist area) is pretty relaxed, with a few nice bars and such. 24 hour convenience shops do take a bit of searching for, but there’s a 24hr diner right on Circular Quay which does a decent coffee at all hours.

Bridge Climb

Sun, 28 Mar 2004 05:29:26 +0000

One thing I thought I’d do whilst I was here is the bridge climb - literally you climb up one of the arches on the Sydney Bay Bridge, all the way to the top where the flag-poles are - 138 metres above the sea. It’s not cheap - AU$150-250 depending on time - but I actually thought it was worth it - over 3 hours of time spent, with a good hour and a half or more up on the bridge itself.

You set out from one of the towers, then climb up some stairs to the arches and then walk up some steps on them, cross the span at the top, and then come back to the start point, but on the arch on the other side. The weather was great when I did it, and the view of the bay and the city is spectacular. Although you can’t take cameras up, they will take some pictures which you can buy later on - it’s not a cheap thing, but if like me you’re probably on going to be down here once, it’s a good memory to have.

Oddly, the only bit where I checked for structural safety was right at the beginning when you’re on some planks about 50m above the road and then some grating over the water. Once you’re on the arches, it’s like being on a hill. The guides were pretty good, and you’re kitted out with all the equipment and a safety line, so there’s no reason to fear. On the way back, coming down the stairs between the rail and roadways, I got lucky and experienced a commuter train whizzing past about 5 feet from me…and when you look down through the grating you can see the sea about 60m below. Actually, I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone - most of us didn’t want to come down again.

Original Comments

Comments from the original WordPress blog post.

neal osborne — 2004-03-30

cool. very envious of your travels! will have to save my pennies and travel to that part of the world. saw a programme about the back packers in sydney and it seems that sexual diseases, tattoos and body piercings are the top things to do and experience!! think i will stick to the bridge walking!! glad to hear you are doing ok and will catch up with ya soon.

Dateline: Sydney

Mon, 22 Mar 2004 14:09:56 +0000

Currently, I’m in Sydney Australia on business, and I must say I feel lucky to be here, because it really is a beautiful place, especially as the summer here draws to a close, and I’m fortunate enough to have a hotel room facing the Bay Bridge (which strikes me for some reason as a cleaner version of the Brooklyn Bridge - I’ll have to find a picture of that on-line and see if I’m just imagining that).

So far everyone has been great - good food and drink too, though for some reason I’m struck by how spacious things are, but how ’low intensity’ they feel compared to Tokyo. Maybe the correct word is ‘de-compressed’. Anyway, I’ll be snapping pics as best I can - especially over the weekend, and try to get something in the gallery ASAP.

Travel on Nanikore

A Short Camp with the Hunter Cub

Day One

Shuzenji

Baird Brewery Camp Site

Day Two

Offroad Time

Top Box on the Hunter Cub

Installation

One Second a Day - October 2023

Current Cameras

The ’larger’ camera

Why the X-T200?

The Action Camera

Why GoPro?

The Smartphone

A more flexible option?

In Summary

My Kiva in 2020

Original Comments

Tracer Top Box - Givi TRK46N

Why a top box?

Preparation

Some Things To Note in Instructions

Current Thoughts on the Trekker

Ride Report: West Izu

Twistybutt 8 - Coast to Coast 2018

All in All

Navigation

Original Comments

Coast to Coast Twistybutt?

Bike Tour: Lakes, Tea and Senbei

The Classy Meet Up

Doushi Road

Tea Time

Bike Tour: Shouganai Dam

Original Comments

Bike Trip to Manazuru

Isehara Camping during Rainy Season

New Header Photo: Heads

Out on the Road (Again).

South Korea

The DMZ

In the UK!

Out and About in Sydney

Bridge Climb

Original Comments

Dateline: Sydney