cycling from Narita to Nikko,
Sep-Oct 2007
Cycling from Narita to Nikko, Sept-Oct 2007
This was a completely new adventure for me at that time in 2007. Although I had cycled in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, I had not cycled in Japan before. In fact, I had never even been to Japan, so how to prepare for Narita to Nikko and back? Testing the waters in Japan, I thought that nothing too ambitious would suffice for a first trip. Cycle to somewhere not too far away then link up with an ex-colleague who was working in Tokyo, just to get a flavour of the place.
In those days I didn’t have a smartphone, or GPS. Perhaps they existed, but for me, 2011 or thereabouts was the year of my first purchase (an HTC). I did have a map though which was all in Japanese. No problem, I just got a Japanese friend to write key place names in English along my proposed route. That was the extent of my preparation; oh, and buying a brand-new mountain bike, a Trek.
Arriving at Narita the first job was taking the bike out of its original box and putting it together. It was already part-assembled so there was nothing too tricky involved, beyond working out where to leave the empty box. Setting off I did manage to experience a foretaste of possible challenges, up front and personal. My first attempt at exiting the airport had me arriving at a different terminal, the second attempt led to where I had set off from!?! ‘Not looking good,’ I remember thinking. Knocking on the driver-side window of a parked bus, I mouthed ‘Nikko’ and pointed down the ramp hopefully. He pointed a reply – was it, ‘That way!’ Or ‘Go away?’ I could hardly ask.
Following my handlebar compass pointer, I pedalled off down the ramp and was soon clear of the airport perimeter. It was overcast with a chilly wind racing across the plain. Airports are constructed on flat land for a reason, but the unobstructed terrain encouraged a lively wind that was making me cold. Rummaging in my very small pack-on-a-rack I found a top, so that was two tops and me against the world (or so it seemed). But it did brighten up and I soon got into a rhythm. I had earmarked a place to stay overnight about halfway, so was on the lookout for signs which are also in English on big roads in Japan. The only trouble was that none of the place names matched anything that had been scrawled on my map - not even one town. Oh well. After about five hours I started looking for anywhere that looked as though it was big enough to boast a hotel. And I found one, after taking a chance on a three kms detour down a side-road.
It had been a bit of a struggle cycling this far, I did wonder if I was imagining things or whether I really had been having to push hard just to maintain an acceptable pace. Inspecting the bike having already checked in, I realised that the part-assembly had not been done properly and that all that way the tyre had been rubbing against the wheel bracket. Doh! Some relief then that it wasn’t me being feeble. This called for a celebratory beer with my tea. ‘What size beer do you want?’ the waiter motioned as he showed me three empty glasses ranging from 0.2l to 1.0l. I pointed at the middle one and was promptly served with three beers in all three glass sizes. Okay, twist my arm then…
Nikko is all uphill from Narita, but just two days in the saddle. The roads mostly had bike lanes which were separated from the highway but sometimes less well-maintained with tree-roots breaking the surface here and there. Stopping for drinks at convenience stores and roadside big apple stalls (not a euphemism) meant that my arrival in Nikko at the pre-booked guesthouse was right on schedule. Perched on a hillside as it was, led to me having to scale the pathway with bike held aloft as cycle-cross riders do. A middle-aged lady arrived at the same time along with her elderly mom, so I hauled their suitcases up to reception too. Not a word of thanks, mind. I should have taken their bags back down!
Nikko is a worthy destination of course with the Toshogu Shrine being the centrepiece of the UNESCO World Heritage site. This is where I first learnt that you can’t leave your bike just anywhere in Japan, being shoo-ed away from the National Park entrance having made the novice’s mistake of leaning it against some railings looking over the Shinkyo Bridge. Leave your bike anywhere in a non-designated bicycle park in Japan and you can expect to go looking for it later in the municipal compound.
I also did a trip out during my short stay in Nikko, taking the local bus up to Yuno Lake. This was one of those journeys you get in Japan where you watch the fare-stage display screen at the front of the bus as the yen pile up as the bus passes many stops. On a 40-minute trip you can see how much cumulatively the trip will cost and how much the fare would be at interim stages – having said that, nobody joined the bus mid-journey, which was all steeply uphill. What I remember of the bus ride was the increasing elevation and autumn colours to match, until we reached the lake and its cool-air, out-of-season setting, boats all tied up and waiting for next summer. Looking at that fare screen was in bursts only as the bus twisted this way and that following the switchbacks on its steady ascent – careful not to bring on motion sickness!
So, on to the return journey to Tokyo. I was looking forward to it being mostly downhill, the main reason being that I had developed saddle soreness making it painful to sit down. If I describe the wound as ‘weeping’ you will likely not want to hear any further details; my two pairs of undies were thus called into action. Such blessed relief came as long descents were freewheeled standing upright on the pedals. Having opted to leave the bike at the airport before going into Tokyo on the train, I decided to take a look round Narita (the town, not the airport). What a pleasant place it is with its quaint streets leading down to its lovely park. That wasn’t what I was expecting at all, and such a lucky insight served me well in later years when I lived just a train ride away.
Thus does the bug for Japan come alive. It is not often that people leave the country without a nascent plan to return hatching somewhere deep in their thinking. I wasn’t to return until a couple of years later and with a hybrid bike this time. Little did I know that after another five-year gap I would get to live and work in the country. And I keep coming back whenever I get the opportunity - how fortunate to be!
NIKKO
https://www.photoriente.com/nikko.html
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