Biwaichi Cycling 琵琶湖單車遊
要到日本作深度單車旅遊，兩個入門級的行程就不得不提。第一個是連接廣島及四國今治的 島波海道 (Shimanami Kaido)，另一個則是 滋賀縣的琵琶湖 (Lake Biwa)。
Category: Japan
Gem in the Hidden Mountain of Shigaraki
Miho Museum (美秀美術館) is a private museum managed by the religious group Shinji Shumeikai (神慈秀明会). It is named after the founder of the group, Mrs. Mihoko Koyama and initially housed the vast collection of tea ceremony utensils and Asian antiquities collected by her. The collection was subsequently grew into a vision of an art museum, aligning with Koyama’s vision of promoting beauty, peace and joy through art.
The museum is a place that I have been longing for a visit.
Yes, for a very long time.
In fact, I had been there before but not exactly visited the museum. Why?
Bike Shops Tour in Osaka
Doing window shopping is one of my favourite activities when having overseas visits. In my latest Osaka / Biwako tour in end August, I had included optional visit to some of the bike shops in my plan.
Right before the day I returned to Hong Kong, I have spared some time to visit these shops.
Summer Holiday 2018 – Shiga, Japan
My wife and I are not those die-hard Japanophiles who always visit Japan as a kind of worship. Instead, it is the excellent culture and the friendliness of Japanese that make us not tired of visiting Japan.
For this summer holidays, we continued to explore other parts of Japan – The Biwako area in the Shiga Prefecture.
This was a downshifting journey for us to enjoy the beauty of the Lake Biwa, the country life and the cultural side of the Shiga Prefecture.
Shimanami Kaido – Wonderful Ride with Trace of Regrets
Today’s journey started at the Tatara Shimanami Park in Omishima. Major reasons are availability of bus service from Imabari and the Rent-a-cycle Terminal. Moreover, it is close to Setoda Sunset Beach where we would have our lunch. The only downside is that we have to ride the Tatara Bridge twice just like what we had for the Kurushima Kaikyo Bridge in yesterday’s ride.
It took around one hour to arrive at the Omishima BS. Quickly we picked up our bikes at the Rent-a-cycle Terminal and started our ride towards the Tatara Bridge.
Shimanami Kaido – Goodbye to Noru
When I looked out from the hotel window early in the morning, I just couldn’t believe what I had seen. Blue sky, bright sunny day and flock of seagulls. That’s completely different from what we had the day before!
Weather report stated that typhoon Noru had moved across Honshu, the main island of Japan, towards the Sea of Japan. What an excellent forecast work by JMA (Japan Meteorological Agency)!
To allow more time for the ride, we planned to take the 9am local bus to Innoshima/Setoda.
Shimanami Kaido – When planned trip turned into an unplanned one
Woke up in the morning after having a good sleep, my wife and I were busy checking the weather report on TV and from the Internet.
It was mentioned that typhoon Noru was moving over Shikoku and towards the main island of Japan during the day. Due to the slow pace of Noru that might result in extended periods of heavy rain, evacuation advisories in Shikoku and warning for river flooding, landslides, strong winds and high waves in other affected areas had been issued.
Shimanami Kaido – My Family Challenge
During my Lunar New Year holidays in Hiroshima in early 2017, we had an one-day trip in the city of Onomichi. Fascinated by one of the top cycling courses in the world, Shimanami Kaido, my family and I had an ad-hoc short ride from Onomichi, crossing Mukaishima (向島) and arrived in Innoshima (因島) via the famous Innoshima Bridge (因島大橋).
On the return trip, my boy asked if we could come back again and ride along the Shimanami Kaido from Onomichi to Imabari.
Why not! I said.