【Day1】Wakayama to Tanabe(F-4)⭐⭐⭐ ‘23.23rd,Feb
This route F-4 is in Area-F “Kinki". See Area-F map/ See Japan map
Sight & Entertainment ⭐⭐⭐
Foods & Drinks ⭐⭐⭐
Easiness ⭐⭐⭐
Road condition ⭐⭐⭐
Safety ⭐⭐⭐
This west side Kii peninsula was the final section to connect long way btw Tohoku area and Chugoku area. I won’t be able to go far away from March, I took a paid holiday and went to Wakayama in early morning. I started my home @Chiba prefecture at AM5:00 and reached Wakayama at AM10:05.
From Shin-Osaka station, I took a express, Kuroshio No.3 to Wakayama. Though I booked the end seat of the car, as usual, the width was not enough(pic.1).
Unfortunately the weather of these 2 days seemed bad. When I started at Wakayama station, it was already rainy. And the road, R-42 toward south was busy(pic.2). I felt safety finally when I came to the Arita river side road(pic.3) after 1.5hr cycling. From this point, the blue lines which lead cyclists toward cycling road along the coasts were observed(pic.4).
Gradually the road became unbusy, meandering and rocky coast observed(pic.5).
I reached Yuasa town around PM12:30 but found the town very quiet. So I could barely find a restaurant at a small road side station, Michiakari. The menu was very normal one(pic.6).
After lunch, I took the coast road Prefectural route 23 as guided by blue line(pic.7). I wanted to short cut since the rain became heavier. But when I cross the pass and went down hill, I unconsciously missed the short cut and followed the guide. When I completely came down to the coast, I finally noticed I was taking a detour. I was shocked but didn’t want to do hill climbing, so I rode additional 10km along the coast.
But it was a good choice to take a detour. There were some landscapes made by bizarre rocks along the roads(pic.8~10).
But when I came to the Yura town(fishing port town), I didn’t follow the cycling road guidance since I wanted to reach my hotel ASAP. So I took R-42 which was relatively busy road but unlike the same R-42 in east side of Kii peninsula(ref. my article D-5), it was not so dangerous.
The rain stopped around PM3:00 and gradually got bright. But I didn’t feel like taking pics due to fatigue..
Finally I reached the hotel at PM5:10. I booked the Harvest Nanki-Tanabe hotel(pic.13) in advance. This was relatively gorgeous hotel but luckily it was around \8000- (w/o meal) thanks to subsidy to enhance traveling after COVID. From the coast in front of the hotel, I could see a beautiful sunset(pic.11,12), wishing a good weather in next day..
The hotel had a hot spring, though the spring at Shirahama town close to this hotel was much famous. I took a bath first and went to the tavern, “Kanpachiya" near the hotel. I ordered local Sake and sea foods landed in this area as much as possible. The tavern seemed famous since there were many signs of celebrities on the wall but the taste was so so. Other than that restaurant, I could not find good one near my hotel.
<Transportation info>
From Tokyo to Wakayama(earliest train): Tokyo station AM6:15 Nozomi No.3 → Shin-Osaka AM8:39, then AM9:01 express Kuroshio No.3 → Wakayama AM10:05 \15,908-
※As for Kuroshio, better to book through JR west web-site, “Wester" in advance.
<Other recommendable spots near my route>
Wakayama castle (ref. my article F-2)
Arita is famous city for Japanese orange “Mikan". Pls refer to the wab site(only written in Japanese) to enjoy the taste locally.
<Connected routes>
F-2: Osaka to Wakayama