Cycling Day 26: To Saijo
A shame to leave the mountains when the sun came out this morning, but I've limited food left and need a shower!
Bekijk het op de interactieve kaart
River next to the campsite
Popular with fishermen perhaps - seen a few having a go!
20 April 2026 - 09:23
Low on energy...
Despite being almost all downhill so far, I'm feeling a bit low on energy. I stopped by a rest stop on the way to Saijo for supplies, but no bread...only came out with these - fried sweet potato covered in sugar! Tasty, but I'm not sure they're going to help that much!
Hmmm, carbs and sugar - actually exactly what I needed to get up the hill to the tunnel!
Longest tunnel yet!
Weeeee - steep downhill all the way with no headwind!
I'm very glad I wasn't going the other direction though - that would have been awful for 5.4km with o pavement to keep you away from the traffic.
20 April 2026 - 12:29
Zipping past gorgeous scenery down these steep hills!
20 April 2026 - 13:31
So many stonemasons here!
Shrine
Maegami Temple (64)
20 April 2026 - 15:42
Way up to a shrine
I'm not going to explore this one, but apparently it's nice and has a sea view if you go all the way up the hill to the shrine itself!
Kichijyo Temple (63)
Hōjuji Temple (62)
Ko-onji Temple (61)
This one's very modern-looking (well, maybe 1970s), but the temple office is even newer with a classical design!
A basic hotel!
The hotel I've booked for 2 nights is pretty basic. I do have a bed and my own toilet, but cannot lock the door to my room from the outside, only the inside (hopefully things left here will be safe during the day tomorrow!).
The shower and sink are outside at the other end of the parking area. The shower is in a cubicle, and really powerful and hot! The sink where I shaved is actually outside (I was only being watched a bit while shaving!).
The old lady that runs the place was interested in my travels, although we struggled a bit with communication. I asked if I could wash my clothes and I'm sure she was demonstrating using the sink to do it, but later she arrived at my room with a slice of apple pie (wow!) and took my clothes away to be washed in a machine 🙂