Nice to get some daylight and see our night’s carriage-skeleton shelter, kept us dry and somewhere to sit – happy with that.

There was also some war memorials in the park.

Off the hill, west took us alongside a water race initially.

First konbini after five kilometres of countryside, on the edge of a town that seems to have sprung up around a picturesque gorge. More fading glory beside a glass factory matched the mood as drizzle set in for the day.

The walk alongside the gorge was closed, so we made do with short stops at bridges trying not to get too wet too early.

Remainder of the day spent riding in the rain, but it was warm – so not uncomfortable, just soaked through by the end. Still beautiful rural countryside though. Trying to get out of the weather at times lead to our day of most decent interactions with locals.

The one time it started tipping down there was an open shed right next to the road, so we sheltered there for a bit. We must have been spotted as the farmer came down to see what was going on – we enjoyed learning of his family farm and trying to explain what we were up to (Rachel’s polarsteps map, as always best, for that). He even went back into the house and brought us cold soft drinks, snacks and fizzy electrolyte tablets (those I particularly liked).

His farmhouse; only fifty years old, we thought it much older.

On the outskirts of Kurihara, it was getting towards lunchtime and time to find somewhere warm inside to eat. The cafe we found was recently opened in the bottom of an old house that a young couple had renovated. The only customers, we enjoyed both the food and conversation with the young man.

As well as tea from a pot.

Having been told about a large temple complex nearby, we had to check it out – far less touristy and just as good, if not better, to us than the one we’d seen the previous day.

Seems the only thing I took photos of for the rest of the afternoon were covers that were just as soaked as we were.

The only time we used airbnb in Japan, we were very well looked after by Ken and Aya – they welcomed two drowned cyclists and provided everything we needed. Ken was a retired Japan Rail station manager, plenty of rail memorabilia around the house. Once we were dry and warm, more good chats.

They drove us across town for dinner, introducing us to family (chain) restaurants – plenty of food and reasonably priced, good to remember for hungry cyclists.

Tasty and filling breakfast buffet in the morning, even if the seating arrangement felt a bit too much like school.

An easier day in store for us riding down the Kitakami valley. Even though it could have felt reasonably built up, we found plenty of cycle trails, including a former tramway, to keep us away from traffic.

Police vehicles tend to drive around with beacons flashing as a matter of course; when they’re this cute, probably helps with visibility.

Plenty of traditional grain stores today.

Sake making seems to be big around here.

Checking to see how super the drugs were.

There sure were a lot of them, along with groceries too.

Vaguely menacing bridge guardians.

Our trail took us through a large park; unfortunately far too late for blossom season.

Never mind attaching a snow plough to the locomotive, just make the whole locomotive the plough.

Not a snow plough.

Over the road we found an extensive open air museum where many buildings, mostly thatched, had been moved to site. We happily wandered around checking them out.

Back on the bikes, finding plenty of rice growing, harvesting and processing – amongst other curiosities.

(Rachel’s photo.)

Pheasants! This must be a good town.

This was the first time we’d seen rice drying in this particular manner – we saw the poles being installed, and the layering of the bundles on the poles.

Another good town.

Where vending machines come to die. Although alarming visions of them coming to life were easy to conjur.

In this field we could see one of the small rice harvesters in action. Small enough to go on a trailer and be towed by a kei truck, they cut the rice and then thresh the grain – before depositing it in the hopper on the back of the truck. The farmers thought us a bit odd for taking such an interest.

In Hiraizumi we walked around the 800 year old, UNESCO listed, Mojitsu Buddhist temple complex. Most tranquil and intricate buildings.

Some leaves starting to turn.

Finding somewhere to camp was a bit more a challenge than usual. The only campground we knew of in the area was into the hills a bit and reported to have no water. After checking out a couple of parks and finding them unsuitable for stealth camping, we loaded up with water and preprepared soba noodle bowls and climbed to the deserted old campground. Not that we could see much as we arrived in the dark and light drizzle. But we could see enough to pitch our tents in an old railway carriage – no walls, but bench seats down the sides and a very handy roof.

Heavy rain overnight pleasingly eased to slight mizzle as we breakfasted and decamped.

Better than some monuments to degrees of latitude we’d seen.

Barely having started the climb up Hachimantai, a mama and baby bear wandered out of the forest a few hundred metres ahead of us. Reaching for the bear spray as we all checked each other out, we were most relieved they didn’t find us interesting, or threatening, and soon walked up the road and back into the forest. Phew, bear attacks were becoming too-regular news that summer in Japan. The rest of the thousand metre climb was spent in vocal conversation with regular calls to any other bears. We didn’t see any.

We didn’t see much of anything as the mist was very thick; still warm, it was nice riding with little traffic. There were a few small installations harnessing the geothermal energy from the mountain.

I started to be more concerned with goblins than bears in this atmosphere.

Stopping at a large, but deserted, visitor centre part-way up the climb, we took a short stroll to some plopping mud pools.

Near the pass, the cloud broke up some to reveal a limited, but still beautiful, look at the surrounding contours.

A huge parking lot and visitor centre at the top of the road was clearly built for days with views better than ours. But a bit of sun and a good breeze was handy for tying our wet tents to our bikes to dry while we headed off to walk a few kilometres of tracks through stunted forest and around small lakes.

Active drilling for more geothermal activity right by the road.

First lunch was found in the visitor centre, along with curious photos.

Seems they make quite an effort to clear the road in the winter.

That might help scare them straight?

Back outside in time to pack our tents away as rain started. Absolutely pelted with stinging rain on the 1100 metre descent, the only respite being the long snow tunnels. Consequently we didn’t see much (again), but soon mostly dried out as it was hot and dry on the valley floor.

Soon found a michi no eki for second lunch.

A pleasant afternoon of riding on back roads and cycle paths skirting towns as best we could.

As we’d had a few nights wild camping, and gotten a bit wet earlier, it was time to find somewhere inside to stay – and do some laundry. Somehow Rachel found a large hotel in a new part of town that seemed to specialise in sports teams staying – we never worked out how. They were very welcoming and even let us store our bikes in the main foyer.

We turned our room into a drying room, and the white shower cubicle was no longer so pristine.

Seems I finally remembered to take a photo of the standard, bewildering, toilet controls – front wash, back wash, pressure, deodorisation, seat temperature, masking music all common choices.

Having got clean and dry, we weren’t keen to go far in the rain to find dinner. At least, I think that is how we ended up at a much fancier restaurant than usual. All worth it as the copious amounts of raw fish was up there with the best meal we had in our three months in Japan.

The only part I didn’t particularly enjoy was the raw fish mince (bit hard to see here, but can see top left on Rachel’s plate above).

Another excellent day, despite the bear scare and the painful rain – plenty more delights to put those in perspective.

Beside Lake Towado briefly before a stop at the new roadside station.

With good facilities and ample parking, overnight stays are popular and well catered for – both in campers, but also kei cars.

A prolonged climb took us over the crater rim – lovely forest, good views, impressive roads (and viaducts) and some waterfalls too. Still pleasantly cool in the morning.

Choosing the shorter, scenic route doubled our climbing for the morning to over 400 m – but did give us a great descent to Kosaka – a town built on extensive copper and silver mining and processing. The industry is not quite as large as it once was, but metal processing still plays a part. There was an area of restored European buildings, from the town’s heyday, that we looked around.

Playhouse, with rotating stage.

(Rachel’s photo.)

Hazardous staircase for the tall; even I had to watch I didn’t crack my head on the underside.

Late morning spent riding the twenty kilometres to Kazuno up the valley floor, successfully avoiding the main road. Still very much enjoying the contrast between the bright rice fields of the flats and the dark forest covering the hills behind.

With a bit of topiary in the mix too.

And the odd factory.

Chickens apparently a theme around these parts.

(Rachel’s photo.)

(Rachel’s photo.)

In town we found a long, once-bright, covered shopping street while we hunted for lunch.

Somehow our searching online gave us a restaurant that was in a flash hotel; being hungry cyclists, we made sure we got our money’s worth. Yum!

A bit more of the same early afternoon as the valley gradually narrowed.

More poultry!

A rubbish bin in the wild!!

Leaving the rice fields behind, into the forest now – on some increasingly marginal roads that mostly connected.

A bit overdue, we detoured to bathe at a small onsen built right beside a river that just screamed flash flood risk.

Cue more big concrete walls.

A very pleasant and quiet onsen over, we tried our luck continuing up the valley on the steep side road. Unfortunately that meant I was soon covered in sweat again. Oh well, cleanliness was nice while it lasted.

The road started to show signs that it might not be maintained.

Frustratingly, as we were only a kilometre from rejoining the main road, we could go no further with our loaded bikes.

Dropping a hundred metres, and then regaining those metres, had us riding through a sparse, spread-out and deserted for the season mountain village. But we did find the local konbini not quite closed – time for an ice cream sandwich, which were becoming a favourite.

As drizzle closed in, we were pleased to find that our wild camping option just up the road (at a small park marking the fortieth parallel north) was adequate – as the campground we had planned to stay at was closed due to bear sightings. Amusingly, we found the young Belgian cyclist we’d met the previous day had found the same place to camp.