We completed our run across the Kanto plain this week, before heading out into the hills and around Mt Fuji.

👟 Weekly Summary

Monday - Tsukuba rest day

We started the day with a wonderful breakfast - Granola, toast, fresh-squeezed orange juice and Vietnamese coffee. Joy and I then went and sat a little Zazen with Jundo before heading out to the local particle accelerator and space museums.

After lunch, Jundo took us to the big Buddha statue, at 120 m it's the largest bronze Buddha statue in the world, and the fifth largest statue overall. It's the only Buddha I've been in with an elevator.

We then headed back to the house for some more Zazen before a lovely meal of okonomoyaki and noodles, before I ate all of Jundo's biscuits for dessert. Overall, it wasn't the most restful rest day we've ever had, but it was also a lot of fun.

Tuesday - Tsukuba to Matsudo (51.08 km)

We started the day with another great breakfast thanks to our host, Mina. She'd be accompanying us for the first seven kilometres of the run, with her husband Jundo sticking with us for the first 150 m. We'd really loved staying here, but it was time to keep moving.

Through the morning, we were making good progress, and we stopped at Lawson for a spot of lunch. We then had to retrace some of those miles as Joy had dropped her phone somewhere. Luckily, she'd dropped it on the pavement, and it was a quiet road, so nobody had stopped and picked it up. Japan feels so safe, and it was only once we were really in the depths of the city that we started thinking we might need to lock the bike up sometimes.

Fields soon became a town, which rapidly morphed into a city. Running became stop-start as we had to wait for the little green man to allow us to cross the road. We’d booked a small room for the night, as there aren't all that many campsites in Tokyo, and then went and had KFC for dinner.

Wednesday - Matsudo to Shinjuku (35.98 km)

We set off just after 9.30 and made our way towards Tokyo. It would only be a short day, just over 30 kilometres, but we knew it could take a long time with the stop-start nature of traffic lights and road crossings. We were pleasantly surprised when the start of our run was along the river. It gave us a good couple of kilometres of fun before we hit the city streets. Navigating the streets was the easy part, but around the crowds was more tricky.

We made it to Brompton Junction, where our bike received some expert maintenance and now has new brake pads, chain, sprockets and bottom bracket spindle. While we waited for the Brompton to get refreshed, we wandered through Harajuku and went for curry soup.

We then made our way through Shinjuku to our hotel for the night. Neither of us enjoyed the crowds, especially with the bike, and both of us would much rather be in the countryside. The experience in Tokyo helped us decide which route to choose next. We'll attempt the mountains and the Nakasendo way rather than the busy roads of the Tokaido path.

Thursday- Shinjuku to Hashimoto (48.13 km)

We'd expected a long stop-start day, but thanks to some clever routing, we managed to pick some paths through the outskirts of Tokyo that were both pleasant to look at and without constant interruptions from traffic lights.

Today, we managed to keep everything smooth and consistent. We mostly had short stops at convenience stores, and I kept a reasonable 8 km/hr pace. As the day progressed, the roads became less busy, and although we were in the city throughout the day, it was a rather peaceful day.

The end of the day saw the silhouettes of mountains ahead of us, waiting for Friday’s climbs. It will be nice to be out of the city, but we may feel differently once we start pushing the bike uphill.

Friday - Hashimoto to Otsuki (51.41 km)

The day started with a trek uphill. It felt really good to be heading out of the city and into the wild. We were soon amongst trees and small villages, before reaching a lake covered in rowers.

For parts, we followed the old Kōshū Kaidō. It's one of the five major routes from the Edo period. It was built to connect Tokyo) with the Yamanashi Prefecture, and we'll be more or less following bits of it until close to Matsumoto.

We made good time through the morning, and even with the clouds forming above us, we got our first glimpse of Mt Fuji in the distance. The ups and downs (mostly ups) continued until we took ourselves slightly off course. We ended up making the mistake of trusting Google Maps, which added another couple of kilometres to our journey with over 150 m of ascent thrown in for good measure.

After lunch, the rain came. I put on my rain gear, Joy did not. She had lodged her rain gear securely on the luggage, rather than storing it inside. That way, it was easy to get to once the rain started. Unfortunately, secure wasn't quite as secure as she expected.

We decided to backtrack to find it. Joy cycled ahead, and I followed along, scanning the road as I ran. Just over a kilometre later, I received a message, she'd found the waterproofs by the bridge where she'd stopped to take photos. We had been so lucky. If it hadn't rained, we'd have got to the hotel before realising they were missing. If it had rained later, we might not have gone back. If it had dropped somewhere else, it might have been run over or lost. A small bit of misfortune was followed by a large dose of luck.

We then carried on for the last 10 kilometres into Otsuki. It had been a really good day, and we took our rather soggy selves into the hotel to get dry, eat a convenience store dinner and do laundry.

Saturday - Otsuki to Kofu (41.98 km)

We woke up to a view of Mt Fuji from our hotel room. It was the highlight of the hotel. I think they only give people a view of Mt Fuji to distract them from the subpar breakfast.

The first half of the day would be uphill, with a corresponding downhill on the second half. We had a good start. Around 16 km in, we came across a 3 km tunnel that didn't have any pavement. Not only was this our longest tunnel so far, but we also had traffic alongside us as we ran. This is where I did set pace records; the longer I was in the tunnel, the faster I got. I just wanted to get us both out of there.

After the tunnel, it was all downhill, literally. We coasted down into a lovely little town surrounded by mountains. It was getting later in the afternoon, and we knew that we wouldn't make it to our original target before around seven, so we decided to finish early at the cost of making tomorrow a very big day.

As we made our way up to the campsite (and it was a rather steep climb, 250 m of ascent over 2 km), we saw Mt Fuji in the background. It stood out even in the darkening sky.

Sunday - Kofu to Fujimi (55.66 km)

We woke up to a fantastic view of Mt Fuji from our campsite. It was one of those magic moments, watching such an iconic mountain from our tent. We could have spent a day there, but we had places to be, so we started what was a very steep downhill.

We stopped at a 7-Eleven for breakfast before making our way northwest. Surrounded by mountains and traditional Japanese houses, this felt like somewhere we could call home. We stopped to take far too many photos, but didn't care that we were going slow.

We got a glimpse into Japanese family life as we stumbled across some sort of farmers' market/festival. There were gazebos and stands full of food, and children being taken for rides on various small farm vehicles. The place was packed with families, all filled with smiles and enjoying their Sunday afternoons.

Our campsite was well off the main road, up a hill, as many campsites here seem to be. Our last few kilometres of uphill were alone in the dark, with no traffic and no houses. We've arrived at a little campsite surrounded by trees and next to a river. It's a little sheltered here, which is perfect given it's meant to drop to 4C tonight.

☀️ Photo from the Road

🚀 Next Up

We’re off to Matsumoto, where we’ll hopefully see a castle, before heading down the Kiso valley and making our way towards Kyoto.

🏁 Finish Line

That’s it for this week.

Thank you for reading and for all your support.

Take it easy,

Phill