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On the Road – Distance 89km / 55mi | Elevation 1374m / 4508ft
After a very traditional banquet breakfast ( pre-set and always with a hot soup and white rice…that was my own serving, the egg drop soup was shared), we were to take a slightly different route out of Shirakawa and climb some backroads.
However unbeknownst to us or our guides, the backroad was blocked by a 12 ft wall of snow! I initially thought a snow plough had dumped snow there, so I climbed up and over with bike thinking the road would appear. But it was thick deep snow as far as you could see. So after climbing 7 km @ 5% we had to turn around and take an alternate route. This basically was retracing how we rode into Shirwakawa yesterday.
After a good spin and just before 40km we got coffee at Shokawa no Sato. This site was a very quiet but extremely authentic gassho village with a quirky cafe.
Our valley road gently climbed until Kurumatomumaya Park where the team met us with portable calories and more caffeine. This fueled us well as we left the main valley and climbed the walls on a quiet lane to our high point of the day.
This route included 5-6 tunnels …
…and avalanche shelters for about 50 km and then picked up our new route which included some decent climbing and a fabulous descent into Takayama, I clocked in at 68km/hr. Fellow rider Seth blew by me at 72km/hr according to his Garmin!
Then we descended back into the valley to follow the Kawakami river to our destination. The more modern townscape didn’t reveal its hidden gems until the final moments; our accommodations for two nights is right in the middle of the old town.
After a quick shower we headed to a 200 yr old sake brewery for a tour and tasting. The brewery has been owned by the same family all this time!
It was pretty interesting how sake is made, unique from wine or beer making. We tasted all their selections!
Me during sake tasting and after🤪
Dinner at a restaurant across the street from our hotel was excellent
Tomorrow is a much needed rest day…sleep, a long soak in the onsen and maybe a walk around this old historic old city.
Life is Good in Takayama!
Sayonara
PS. In our hotel yesterday, this sign in the entrance way on how to bring your luggage into the hotel, and in the room were these ‘emergency’ slippers ( that they didn’t want you to use)!
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