Part 2 of 10: Tokyo to Fuji

Escaping Tokyo

I’d done a bit of reading before the trip, and there are three general ways you cycle in Japan. On the road, you hug the left side, never the middle. Drivers were always great at overtaking, and always, always indicated, I did try to find someone not doing it, and never did. On a rare cycle lane, when you got one, I honestly thought there’d be more of them. And on a footpath: totally legal, with speed restrictions, though everyone flows pretty well.

Lunch was always pretty easy to find, if not at a café or restaurant, then at a convenience store. I did manage to get the famous Japanese-style pancakes pretty early on, though.

I had some spots planned for the first day, but some just happened as I rolled by, cherry blossoms and all.

Then I got just first sight of some hills!

Then I had my first real panic of the trip 😅. I’d added a detour up a few steps to get a nice view. The view was nice! Did have to climb a few steps, as you can see my bike here.

So I enjoyed it for a bit, climbed back down, and got on my way. All the way down to the main road, I slapped my leg just to check my phone was there. It wasn’t. Where is my phone? Did it fall out? I can use my spare phone to find it, maybe, but no internet, no wifi… It must be back up that hill, no way it fell out of my pocket. Yep, left it there. Such relief, though. That was the last time I left my phone anywhere. Lesson learnt 😅

It’s all good, though, treated to some tasty ramen at the end of the day to make up for it. Japanese ramen certainly does hit.

The first hunt for Fuji

The next day started with a bit of rain, so I decided to hide indoors and enjoy a coffee while it passed.

It didn’t quite pass by the time I started, but I needed to get going if I wanted to finish in daylight. I’ll take a bit of light rain (I’m Irish, I’m not going to melt).

I had a bit of a climb ahead, after all.

As I started the climb I was treated to my first of many tunnels. These are never a lot of fun, I’ll be honest 😅. Thankfully this one was pretty short, to break me in easy, there are much longer ones to come. They can get very cold, cars sound extremely loud and scary, and it’s difficult to see with sunglasses on (though that wasn’t an issue this trip, as I’d forgotten my prescription sunglasses 😂).

After a bit of climbing I finally got to the top.

I’d purposefully planned this climb, as you can get an amazing view of Mount Fuji from up there. And what a view it was…

Yep, all clouds. You win some, you lose some. Enjoy this accurate reproduction instead:

But it’s all good. After a pretty careful descent on the wet roads, I arrived and, of course, treated myself to more tasty ramen.

Fuji, seen

Next day I was determined. It was a clear day, surely I’d see Fuji today! The morning café came close, so close.

My planning had spotted a nice hill for a possible view, and since nobody likes backtracking on a route, I’d planned one way up and a different road down. The problem was, the way up turned into a bit of a forest path. Hike-a-bike it is.

Then, after cycling up an absolutely lovely hill road running parallel to the main road:

I was just taking a nice photo of the bike at the top, and I saw it. Just peeking its head!

Continuing on, I reached a road I’d planned as there wasn’t really much of an alternative: a quiet secondary road along the coast, a main road, or a big mountain pass. Obviously I took the coastal road. There were lots of warning signs, all in Japanese, but the road wasn’t closed, so I thought, maybe just some roadworks I can walk around. It was totally empty, in a creepy way. Not a soul about. Then, about halfway down, I found a completely closed tunnel. No entry. Like a zombie movie.

So I checked the phone: is there another way I missed? Nope, still just the main road or the mountains. So I made the call to get the train to bypass it - not ideal, as I like cycling the whole thing, but there are no rules, really. Back into the bag it went, for a very short train journey.