Soooo pretty – Austria without the schnitzel and dumplings …

A lot of wow moments today.

Wow – it’s windy … extremely strong headwinds …

Out of town to a lovely Komoot route through a new sub division then a little bit of rice paddies, greenhouses and vegetable gardens on very backroads.

A brief peak at the lake – it’s not quite as idyllic as yesterday – white capped waves. A little jaunt through traditional housing … oh so quaint … natural springs on a few corners; one lane roads then walking only paths between houses with open drains between roads and houses … this is the real Japan. A real joy to have Komoot on board showing us all this.

The hills are getting closer we leave Komoot and choose Route 8 and are slowly climbing … a tunnel ahead 890m trucks galore and dual carriageway. A man on a recumbent is assessing he says, ‘danger’ and points towards the tunnel then points toward the hill above where he is going to avoid the tunnel.

‘We will walk!!’ There is a raised platform that is not too bad … I ride through and tell John to stay way back … I’m okay until I start to scare myself … it’s pretty scary with the noise thundering from the traffic and a little pull from the many trucks. Thank goodness I’m out … John walked.

Another Wow moment – ahead is the lake and we are in the midst of the hills … not far and another tunnel – this is much more conducive for bicycles … ‘easy peasy Japanesee’.

The hills/mountains are very close and little villages are quaint with fast flowing streams everywhere.

Another slow and steady incline through the valley – its only 14°C so I’m happy to be climbing – then down we go passed lots of streams and to our destination. We are here in good time given that the buffeting headwind has been with us all day.

Time to explore … I get a nice feeling about this town … very old wide streets with wide sidewalks … a couple of Shrines. Home to the Tsuruga Symbol Road sculptures decorate the main streets what I can gather it is Space Battleship Yamato – further google search as per link Tsuruga Symbol Road

Followed by a lovely meal.