Hitachi coast cycling(C-19)⭐⭐⭐ ‘24.7th,Jan
This route C-19 is in Area-C “Kanto". See Area-C map/ See Japan map
Sight & entertainment ⭐⭐⭐
Food & Drinks ⭐⭐⭐
Easiness ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Road condition ⭐⭐⭐
Safety ⭐⭐⭐
This was my first cycling in 2024. Since I didn’t ride on my bike after beginning of Dec, I chose easy route near my home town, which was Hitachi coast route from Nakoso to Mito.
Nakoso was the goal point of our training camp held in Dec, 2022 (ref, my article B-7). It was relatively warm when I got out of my home in southern Kanto area but as the train came to north Kanto area, it got very cold. I regretted to choose this route a little.
But thanks to the north wind (tail wind) and sunny day, it got warm soon after my start.
Basically the route I took was R-6, a main route in Japan. But since it was Sunday and here was very rural area, the road was not busy and I felt comfort by watching the ocean on the left hand side.
As Hitachi, the main city in this area came close, the R-6 was elevated and at Hamanomiya loop point, cyclists and pedestrian should deviate from R-6(pic.4). The landscape of Pacific Ocean from the loop top was very beautiful but I had to farewell the sea for a while.
After many short up&downs, I came to a wide road, R-245. This road seems be built mainly for atomic energy plant in Tokai village(pic.5). It was straight and wide, but there were some unexpected up-hills. Gradually I felt fatigue there. So when I deviated national route 245 and came to R-62(pic.6), I could not speed up even though it was a very wide and not busy route.
The time was around AM11:30 when I reached Isozaki coast(pic.7). I wanted to reach Nakaminato fish market(pic.9) before 11:30 but the distance was much longer than I expected. Still I had to cycle for 5km along the small peninsula.
Finally I reached the market at AM11:45. There were many tourists in the market and long queues at the popular restaurants. I was disappointed to see that scene but fortunately I found an unoccupied sea food restaurant at the corner of the market.
There I ordered \1500- boiled fish with sashimi(raw fish) lunch set(pic.8). There were 2 boiled heads of sea bream, which was unusual with this price. I knew it, here was a fishing port.
When I came out of the restaurant, there was a queue in front of my restaurant. And I saw a long traffic jam near the market. It was a very popular fish market. So reaching there by a bicycle may be better like myself.
The final route was from the port to Mito station. Soon the landscape changed to typical Ibaraki farming area(pic.10). The distance was around 10km basically along Naka-river. I reached Mito station at PM1:30. Honestly I wanted to drop in Kodokan, near Mito station. That old school in Edo era was a key one in JPN history to terminate Edo era and deserves to visit.
<Transportation info>
From Tokyo to Nakoso: JR Joban line, 3.5hrs \3410-. *Sometimes there is a express “Hitachi" which stops Nakoso(\5,650-).
From Mito to Tokyo: JR Joban line, 2hrs20min \2200-
<Connected routes>
B-7: Koriyama~Iwaki~Nanahama cycling road
C-8: Seaside line to Mito