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I cycled to Mt. Akagi today; it's one of the "100 Famous Japanese Mountains". This mountain is an old volcano, and there are crater lakes on the volcanic crater. As for today's hill-climbing, it was an uphill slope of 1400m, all the way from Maebashi Station at the foot of the mountain(77m) to the outer rim of the volcanic crater(1496m). The temperature was above 30 degrees Celsius, so water supply is very important.

I joined Osaka University cycling club from the middle of the slope. They were touring by bicycle during their camping trip, so they had a big pot and tents.

Akagi Shrine is on a small island in the lake, and many tourists were visiting. 88.78Km

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I went to Mongolia last autumn and rode a horse for the first time.

On the first day, I practiced basic riding. I rode and walked the outskirts of the campsite, as the horse guide pulled the reins of my horse. On the second day, I visited Kameishi, which was around 5km distant, to practice solo riding.

On the third day, I had improved considerably, so I went on an outing with a lunchbox. After crossing over a humongous mountain, I had a gallop across the grassy plain. When the horse started galloping, I got quite a workout as well.

In any case, the scenery was magnificent. Japanese scenery has a beauty akin to a miniature garden, but the scenery of Mongolia is majestic and powerful.

Oh well, I did not ride a bicycle.

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We went down stream of Anabuki River with a kayak today. Anabuki River is well-known for being pristine in Japan. At first we put our bikes at the arrival spot, and moved to the departure spot by car. It was a very hot day, but the wind blowing on the surface of the river was comfortable. Our kayak was turned around on a rock in the shallows and hit the rock face, however we didn't sink. We got off a kayak at the river mouth and changed to a bicycle, and went up along the river to take the car. It was a triathlon, kayaking and cycling and driving, today.

view the big map with a meters above the sea level graph

Honen-Ike Dam, completed in 1930, is Japan's oldest piling-stones dam. It was appointed "Important Cultural Property" in 2006.

I cycled from Awa-Ikeda Station. The bike featured today is a narrow path bicycle "Lepre" made by Bianchi. It is a lightweight aluminum frame bicycle.

I passed through the Manda tunnel from R192, down to Kagawa, up along Kunita River, and finally arrived at the site of the dam. Although it is a small-sized dam with a 30-meter high embankment, I could still watch it up close from under the dam which is open to anyone. The pond of the dam was filled with water. 65.6Km

Even today, many people still visit "The eighty-eight holy places of the Shikoku pilgrimage" in Shikoku Island. This is a pilgrimage of Buddhist temples spreading out from the Edo era.

Japanese religion has few religious precepts and except for some people, this Shikoku pilgrimage resembles sightseeing.
In the 17th century, a guidebook that's called "Shikoku Pilgrim Travel Guide" was published.

I met two French brothers who were doing the Shikoku pilgrimage by bicycle.
They had an English guidebook titled "Shikoku Japan 88 temples Route Guide".

I thought that the French knew bicycles well. However, they didn't know a lot about bicycles and they didn't have enough tools for repair. I helped repair their flat tire.

I think that they took much support from Japanese.