Day 45 — Ueda to Matsumoto - Tom and Marilee Retire to the Road

October 17, 2025

Day 45 — Ueda to Matsumoto

Marilee here.

This was another day featuring lots of climbing, but again on a virtually traffic-free mountain road in the sunshine — simply wonderful cycling.

We had a nice breakfast in the lounge of our guesthouse and a good chat with the manager, a Sapporo native who lived for many years in the US. Then it was off on the bikes.

But before the good stuff, the lonely mountain roads, we had to get out of town — and city cycling has been unremittingly terrible for the past little while. Faced with a choice of either a very unevenly paved sidewalk that is frequently overgrown with weeds or riding in heavy traffic on roads with no shoulder, we always regret our choice within a few minutes, so we are constantly bouncing on and off the road. Ueda was more of the same, and like any modern city, the unsightly edges of town seem to drag on forever — car dealerships and garages, convenience stores and warehouses. We soldiered on until a highway sign promised us a michi no eki: break time!

Beep beep, commuter train coming through.

This michi had a mascot. Why don’t they all?

Giant peaches for sale in the michi, each in a crocheted mitten. Three for $30!

We had second breakfast at the michi, sitting at a patio table in the morning sunshine. It was quite lovely and a bit hard to tear ourselves away, knowing that the uphill part of the day was about to begin.

Once we got started, it wasn’t long before we turned off the noisy main highway onto a peaceful side road, and the climbing got underway.

So many persimmon trees! All loaded with fruit.

Lovely sunny views over the mountains. If you look closely, you can see the road we will be on later.

The road up to the pass was, again, amazingly traffic free ( why drivers are avoiding these steep one-lane switchbacking mountain roads in favor of expressways I just can’t fathom). We rode through some recently logged sections that reminded us of biking at home, and then unexpectedly we came to a tunnel that took us under the pass.

Once out on the other side we started swooping down a brand new, wide, smooth highway — still with no cars.

The tunnel under the pass. The light never turned green, so we went anyway.

Look at that wide, smooth, empty pavement!

We had a late lunch by the side of the road, on some benches shaded by an arbor. We took the opportunity to spread out our tent to dry (it had gotten soaked by an early morning rain in Karuizawa and we hadn’t had space to dry it at the guesthouse in Ueda). The hot sunshine dried it in minutes.

Drying out our tent, still soaked from our night in Karuizawa.

There were a few more ups and downs before we got to Matsumoto, our destination for the day, but the big climb and descent were done, so it all seemed like easy cruising.

We had booked an Airbnb for two nights in Matsumoto, planning to take a day off to visit the castle (one of the very few remaining original castles in Japan). It was located in an Onsen town in the hilly outskirts of the city so the urban riding at the end of the day was short and easy and pretty fun — it was all through narrow twisty alleyways in what was a clearly older part of town. We checked in, found out our neighbours were also cycling through Japan, having come from the south. We found a grocery store and invested in foods to cook for ourselves for two days (what a treat!), and then hit the onsen up the street from the Airbnb. Which turned out to be half museum— the onsen that the feudal lords of the castle used, apparently. It was old, atmospheric, and almost empty— we each had long peaceful soaks in wooden tubs while the sun went down. A perfect end to a good day.

Well, actually the dinner Tom pulled off with a one-burner hot plate and toaster oven was the perfect end to the day.

Today's ride: 58 km (36 miles)
Total: 2,325 km (1,444 miles)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	5
Comment on this entry	Comment	0