Jayves Rando Blog: Tohoku Touring 2012: Day 1

It is that yearly touring itch again at autumn time. This time I decided to have a quick tour around Tohoku and end the tour with a few days doing volunteer work in Ofunato.

The plan is to take an overnight bus to Akita station and a local train to Noshiro. The bike tour officially starts at Higashi-Noshiro(東能代) and ride due north along the shores of Sea of Japan, cross the famous Shirakami World Nature Heritage site (白神山地), back down south to nice old town Kakunodate(角館), turn east to Morioka(盛岡) and to final destination Ofunato(大船渡) via Kamaishi(釜石).

Left home around 20:00 with enough free time to catch the bus to Akita station from Shinjuku at 22:30. With the Pocket Llama folded and packed together with the rack luggages, I took the train from Kakio station (柿生駅) to Shinjuku and then walked 10+ minutes to the bus station. It was tough and back-breaking carrying around 35+ kg (that's more than 50% of my body weight!) around my shoulder and gave me awareness of the weight I will be hauling for the tour. Next was the worry that the bus company may not allow me to board the bus due to the crazy rule that no bikes (folding bikes included) are allowed. Turned out it was a non-issue this time but the staff showed their displeasure in a subtle way by:

an initial escalation/approval from the boss,
asking me to wait and board the bus last after confirming that there is enough space in the trunk
bus staff telling me that the company will not be responsible for any damages on the bike.

I reserved a seat on the 4-seat portion of the bus. The ride was smooth but I didn't have a good sleep because the seat was narrower than expected and didn't recline much but better than a sleep on a 600km brevet ride. Arrived at Akita station just before 8:00 in a drizzle. I had enough time to buy tickets and bento box for the train ride to Higashi-Noshiro. I hesitantly rode an express train designed for tourist with big wide windows and a lounge inside the train as the next local train is available in a few hours. Arrived at Higashi-Noshiro an hour later and went on the task of preparing the bike and packing the rack luggages. Had a conversation with a chatty retiree as he was watching me prepare. Time to part ways and started the trip officially around 10:00 with a nice cloudy weather. Except for the Twenty Lakes portion of the ride, today's trip is pancake flat and rode leisurely.

Stop by a roadside restaurant for lunch and ordered fish set lunch. The volume of food in this area is relatively bigger and didn't disappoint a hungry cyclist. Chatted a while with the old woman owner and she was worried about crossing Shirakami Line because of the rain last night and recommend that I should just go around chugging the sea and loop back to Hirosaki (弘前) . Sensing that she cannot change my mind, she introduce me to places on the entrance of the forest to confirm the road condition before proceeding. I thanked her and continued my journey. I didn't plan on visiting the twenty lakes (二十湖) but I had time, so I took a little detour and tour around the lakes. It was a good decision as it was beautiful and scenic.

Arrived at Iwasaki(岩崎) where I plan to stay for the night and scouted a place on beach to camp before going to the town proper to buy dinner. On the way back to the beach, I stop by a not so hot spring to clean up and setup camp behind a dike for the night. I ate dinner while watching a man practicing with a horse dragging a heavy sled on the sand on the other side of the river.