October 24, 2025
Day 52 — Hikone to Kyoto
Funny how things feel different in the daylight. The guesthouse (a deceptively quaint term) we were in was a block of aging flats out back of a vacant hotel that was being fixed up. In fact the photo on Agoda was of the vacant hotel, not the actual guesthouse, which led to no small amount of confusion the previous evening when we pulled up to a derelict hotel. Between the construction debris in the parking lot, the lack of an email with the door code, and the inherent seediness of semi abandoned buildings, in any other country we would have noped out of there and booked whatever else Agoda had on offer. As it was Japan, it all turned out to be perfectly normal. We were assisted by a very nice woman who found us the key and made sure we got in. The flat was fine, not fancy, but decent (and half the price of anything else in Hikone). We had a good sleep, the bikes were fine, sun was up, birds were chirping, etc etc.
We made a prodigious amount of coffee and ate the persimmons and bananas that were getting slightly beaten up in the bike bags and headed out. We had 80 odd km to Kyoto, which oddly enough given its rampant tourist presence, turned out to be a logical one night stop on our way south to Wakayama. We had visited Kyoto on vacation nearly a decade ago so didn’t feel hard done by in not giving it more time. Plus we are feeling generally templed out, particularly if crowds are going to be involved.
It was a lovely morning, sunny and warm, and the ride quickly brought us to the moat and walls of Hikone Castle — in fact we rode across the bridge across the moat and right up to the gate. As it turns out, like Matsumoto, this is one of the 12 remaining castles that are not reconstructions.
We parked the bikes and found the ticket booth. We had arrived just as it was opening so we were among a handful of visitors. The hordes of tour buses had yet to arrive from Kyoto, so our visit to the castle and grounds was wonderfully relaxed and enjoyable.
After touring the castle grounds, we headed into the adjoining garden. My goodness, this may be one of the most beautiful gardens we’ve been to. We were lucky we got there early enough that it retained its peaceful ambiance and wasn’t yet overrun. It was just exquisite.
We could have lingered much longer, but the morning was getting on, we needed some food, and we still had 80 km to go, a lot of which was probably stop and go through urban environments. We reluctantly returned to the bikes, coasted out through the castle gates, and found a Family Mart where we stocked up on second breakfast, which we ate on the shore of Lake Biwa.
The ride west from Hikone was all bike lane alongside the highway which paralleled the shore. Super flat, no stoplights, so we put our heads down and made some distance. We did find a brief detour around a headland which got us away from the highway noise for a while and into some more appealing riding, but it was short lived.
Eventually the easy ride along the shore of the lake was over. We crossed a bridge over the lake which was very stressful — it had a raised shoulder but it was pretty narrow and quite steep in the middle— so we had to keep our nerve to keep on the straight and narrow. We then turned south through the towns leading to Otsu. This was the classic slog long a packed semi-urban thoroughfare. Lights, traffic, ride on the road, ride on the sidewalk. Etc etc. After 15 km of this, we turned west — onto another busy road that seemed even worse. We both agreed we couldn’t face it and needed a plan B.
And once again Komoot was eager to oblige, putting us on back alleys barely a car width wide — at one point we had to back up to get out of the way of a garbage truck — there was no room for both of us. It popped us out at a lovely Shinto temple, which we quickly perused as it was late in the day and we had a ways to go still. It then led us to a steep climb out of town up into the forest which was nervous-making. It was past 3:30, and we still had to make 20 km which included downtown Kyoto, so didn’t have time to muck around with dead ends. At that point a road biker passed us and I asked if it was the way to Kyoto, and he confirmed it was as he effortlessly blew past us up the hill. Phew.
The approach into Kyoto was super fun. A blast down hill, then bang right into tight, packed streets and alleys full of people. After a good while of this, and a bit of an uphill slog along a busy parkway, we realized we were seeing clumps of foreigners on every street corner. Must be getting into central Kyoto! We rounded one corner and spotted a Korean restaurant we’d visited a decade ago — we were in the neighbourhood we stayed in a decade ago! We took a photo of the local grocery store we’d frequented for old times sake.
We then had to cross downtown Kyoto, at which point the endless traffic lights started to wear us down. What seemed like hours of alley riding later — it would have been fun with fresh legs and energy, but we were wearing out — we arrived at our guesthouse, which was quirky, ramshackle and cheap (for Kyoto).
Dinner was at a curry restaurant a few blocks away, notable for being a) super tiny and b) super delicious. If you happen to stay at the Tsubame Ya guesthouse in central Arashiyama, we heartily recommend Happy Curry.
Today's ride: 85 km (53 miles)
Total: 2,712 km (1,684 miles)
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