(Pictures and/or video will come later, so check back in a week or two..)
Up quite early to get going as I wanted to beat the traffic. I had already packed the bike the night before, so it was just getting geared up and go. I followed the same route out of Tokyo as last weekend as we were going to meet up again at the Miyoshi PA.
I arrived well ahead of schedule, grabbed a coffee, and chilled. Wilson was next to arrive, and not long after Ben showed up as well. We briefly discussed the first part of the ride and then set off. As feared, the highway was already pretty chockers by now but, being a small group, we filtered through the worst of it and were soon at our exit and heading down the 299.
The first part of the 299 is nice, good quality road with sweeping bends, but with heavy traffic and no real overtaking opportunities, making progress slow. I took the guys on a small detour to go past Bike Bento, a motorcycle-themed restaurant, but it was still closed so we didn’t stop.
We kept going up the 299, sometimes wide with sweeping bends, other times almost one-lane twisting through forests, and finally up and over the mountains. At one stage there was still lots of snow beside the road and under the trees, epic.
When we reached an intersection on top of a mountain I stopped to take a picture of the view and there happened to be a small diner there as well, so perfect timing for lunch. Wilson and I had the local specialty, katsudon with a special sauce. It was pretty good.
The top of the mountain was the middle of a section of the 299 called the Märchen Road – german for “the road of fairytales”, and it really looked like it. Pine forests, moss-covered boulders, little huts nestled amongst the trees, snow and ice. I will need to come back in a few months when the path to the Mononoke Forest is open again.
We kept following the 299 back down the mountains and turned off onto the 192, one of the many sections of the Venus Line, an amazing set of roads over sparsely forested mountains leading to some fantastic views. At the end of this section is Lake Suwa, where I had an ice-cream and we stretched our legs.
Wilson decided instead of continuing on with us to Matsumoto that he would head back to Tokyo after all, as it was still fairly early. He would come to regret this decision later as he got caught in a big thunderstorm while we enjoyed a cold beer in an izakaya …
Ben and I continued on towards Matsumoto ,enjoying some more amazing roads before getting into town. Once there we headed straight to Matsumoto castle, parked the bikes nearby for 100 yen, and went in. The price has nearly doubled since I was there last when I paid 700 yen entry, now it’s 1300 yen! Still, I couldn’t even remember I’d been there until I accidentally found the entry ticket while packing for this trip, so it was still fun to visit again.
Matsumoto castle is one of, if not the, oldest castle in Japan, having been built sometime in the 1500’s. Unfortunately it was pretty crowded despite it being quite late in the afternoon, so it was more of a very long moving line instead of being able to explore and experience it properly. But it has some medieval gun exhibit and other bits and pieces dotted throughout it. It’s well worth a visit if you’re in the area.
After the castle we rode to the minshuku and checked in, then walked to town for an izakaya dinner where I ordered the local specialty, chicken pieces marinated in a garlic and soy sauce before being deep-fried. I also enjoyed some basashi (horse-sashimi) as well as some other more standard izakaya fare.
After dinner we walked to the castle to take some night-time pics, and then headed back to minshuku for a quick onsen before bed.
We had a fantastic day to start our tour!
