Day 7: Suwa to Kiso

Today I finally entered the #Nakasendo route, a hiking trail through a valley and several historic towns.

Starting at Lake Suwa this morning I made my way down into the valley again, walked up an incredibly steep mountain and then made my way South into the valley of the Nakasendo route.

It's also finally one of the first places where I see any foreigners. Though I'm mostly still chatting with the Japanese people around here.

Like the first bicycle tourer I came across. He was maybe one of the more extreme ones. He started at #Tokyo this morning at midnight and was planning to get to #Nagoya by midnight again... For those that don't know, that's 300+ km and more than 3000m of climbing. And I ran into him when he had already done 250 km of that.
Hats off to you sir. 🚲🧢

My route was a little more relaxed. Winding down the valley across rice fields and little villages I started seeing more traditional wooden houses and more signs explaining what was there.

Eventually I made my way to #Kiso where my hotel was. The place is jam packed with elderly Japanese and a lot of foreigners, myself included.

Had some dinner, washed my clothes and carefully carried my bike into the room across the #tatami mats to a little nook near the river. Beautiful and relaxing room.

After an #onsen tonight I will get some rest for an earlier start tomorrow.
I'll be going down the rest of the Nakasendo route and start getting near Nagoya. Most of it will be downhil but there will still be a significant amount of climbing. But maybe I will try to push it and add some distance so I have more time in Nagoya the day after.Read more