Day 44 — Karuizawa to Ueda - Tom and Marilee Retire to the Road

October 16, 2025

Day 44 — Karuizawa to Ueda

Looks like I get the pleasure of reporting on another lousy ride that turned into a decent day on a non-cycling front.

We awoke early in our weird backyard beside the stream campground. It was literally across the road from a 7-11, so coffee and breakfast were easily obtained.

Though we were relieved not to have been accosted by an outraged campsite owner during the night, there was still no signs of life from the house. We did meet our other co-camper, a girl from Tokyo on a weekend away. She had met the lady running the campground, and reported her kind and helpful, so she did exist. We packed up, and wandered around, tried to rouse someone from the house to no avail. So we just left some cash under a planter by the door and skedaddled.

Marilee had had a poor sleep, so we splurged on one of the very Whistler-esque bakeries up the road near the onsen for croissants and more coffee while we plotted the day ahead.

The route the Garmin had provided for us put us back on the highway we had taken into town, which was pretty traffic clogged, so we handed the ball to Komoot to see what it could do. It did create a more of a back way out of town, so Komoot route it was.

The way out of town was initially pretty nice — a wide empty country road with nicer homes on it. Then it did the Komoot thing of leading us down some backwoods path where you wonder if you’ll ever see civilization again, then it popped us out right into the highway. It turned out to be a different highway than the one we expected. Slightly less traffic, but faster, and an occasional but not reliable shoulder. Not great, but doable. Then came the tunnels. The first one we ended up walking on the side path, which was too narrow to ride on, and the traffic beside us was very fast. It was really not good. By the time we got to the second, we were too frazzled to continue. We found a way cross country down to the original highway Garmin wanted us on.

Well that was no picnic either. The road was narrow and traffic clogged, with a bumpy weed infested sidewalk — similar to the Ota to Takasaki situation a couple days before. We tried to clunk along on the sidewalk but it was impossible. I looked down at one point and half a bush had gotten wedged between my shoe and pedal and I was just dragging it along. So we just gritted our teeth and braved the traffic. Thankfully it was short mileage to Ueda and downhill, but by the time we got to Ueda our nerves were shot.

We had booked a hostel/guesthouse in the city centre, and though we showed up at 12:30, they were kind enough to store all our bags hours before checkin. So we freshened up and killed the afternoon strolling around Ueda.

And it turned out central Ueda was pretty neat! It felt like it had been on a hipster gentrification kick for a few years, so had lots of coffee shops and clubs and a youthful arty vibe layered over older buildings and businesses.

Back alley Ueda, with dozens of clubs tucked away here and there. In the evening the streetlights were in the shape of paper lanterns.

This is one of 10 legendary local strongmen. I’m choosing to believe that’s a rock he’s lifting

Lunch at the counter of Kitchen Petit Lapin

Che Guevara is a brand of smokes. He always was about the branding opportunities

Ueda also had a revitalized historic street, with old buildings repurposed into coffee shops and bars. Worth a wander, but seeing IPAs at 1200 yen made us window shoppers only.

Nearer our guesthouse was this storefront bakery, relentlessly churning out these little cakes. We had what seemed like custard filled popovers at ¥100 each, hot out of the oven. Mouth searingly delicious. People were lined up buying them by the dozen

The guesthouse had a kitchen, so once we were checked in, I got some good old meat and potatoes from the local grocery store and we enjoyed an evening dining in the lounge of the hostel.

Restaurant sign on the way to the grocery store. Mmmmm… nah.

Today's ride: 39 km (24 miles)
Total: 2,267 km (1,408 miles)

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