Shinano River Cycling(E-12)⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘24.13th,Oct
This route E-12 is in Area-E, Chubu-Hokuriku. See Area-E map/ See Japan map
Sight & Entertainment ⭐⭐⭐
Foods & Drinks ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Easiness ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Road condition ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Safety ⭐⭐⭐
Weathre forecast told me that the last 2 days of 3-day holidays would be fine, so I planned to cycle along the rest of Chikuma river (Shinano river on the downstream), which will connect my route from Tokyo to Niigata through east side of fossamagna which devides Japan main island into East and West geographically.
I got on the first Shinkansen from Tokyo station at AM6:16 and reached Nagano station at AM7:36. Then started long cycling toward Nagaoka city in which I wanted to stay one night and to enjoy local food someday. Since the Chikuma river bank was under repairment, I had to take farm roads in apple trees(Pic.2).
There was no cycling road along the river in this section and I had to cycle on R-117 for 20km toward North but finally a deviated road appeared which ran along the river when the river went into an valley(pic.3, 4).
When we see this area on the map, we notice the river meandering in a strange way(pic.5) which explains the very special geographic feature of fossamagna. The uplift of hard bedrock interrupts the river flow while another river flows parallely a few KM away.
At the entrance of Iiyama city, the deviated route joined again with R-117(pic.6). Then R-117 became wide in the basin surrounded by mountains(pic.7).
Then again the R-117 came into a narrow valley(pic.8). Basically this route goes downhill toward Nagaoka city but I wanted to drop in a beautiful spring “Ryugakubo" on a higher place since I had much time today, So again deviated toward into mountain. For 5km after deviating, the road ran in an woodland but from the point pic.9, a steep mountain road appeared. After ending the hill climbing, still there was a uphill roads on the plateau toward Ryugakubo for a few KM.
The entrance of Ryugakubo(pic.10) was inconspicuous. But I could find since a few cars were parking near that. The pond water is selected as one of 100 clearest water in JPN. I’m not sure whether it’s really clean but the green algae was very beautiful.
Now the time for downhill. From the top of the plateau (river terrace), I could see a basin of Tsunan-town which also seemed a part of river terrace(pic.11). The time was 10min past noon, a little beyond my schedule but I could reach and get a seat at Soba restaurant “Tomizawa" as planned.
This area’s Soba is famous as “Hegi-soba". Honestly I prefer Ibaraki prefecture’s soba but it’s fun to enjoyo other areas’ soba as well(pic.12).
The time was PM1:00 and still there seemed over 60km to Nagaoka. The road was basically down slope but it became boring on straight R-117 for over 20km since there was no interesting sight around the road in the river terrace. But also I noticed the width of road for cyclists was enough and comfortable.
When the road came to Tokamachi city, the heaviest snow area in Japan, the road’s color turned brown due to iron contained in the sprinkled water for melting ice(pic.13). After passing Tokamachi, I came to the final valley area(pic.14). Now the river name changed to “Shinano". Actually the name changes at the board of Nagano prefecture and Niigata.
I reached Ojiya city around 15:00. Ojiya city is now famous for Nishiki-Goi(carp). I wanted to visit the Nishiki-Goi no sato since it had been introduced on TV program many times. There I knew for the first time why the carp had been harvested in this area from the past. Since the area is heavy snow area, people made ponds under their house to melt them for agriculture and to get protein in severe winter season, they have harvested carps.
Now final run toward Nagaoka for 18km. Thanks to calm temperature and moderate road, I didn’t feel fatigue but at the 2km point to my hotel, I got a leg cramp on the flyover bridge… It was shame.
I reached 16:45 at the Hotel and after taking a bath, I visited my dinner place, Tavern “Daichi" near Nagaoka station. I had been afraid of fully booked in this city so I booked 2 days back but when I entered there, nobody was there. But I could enjoy chats with master and Nagaoka’s special cuisines though there was no Sashimi(raw fish). It’s very nice to enjoy special vegitable cuisines as well as Nagaoka brand Sake. Niigata’s Japanese sake is actually the best in Japan.
<Transportation info>
From Tokyo to Nagano: Tokyo AM6:16 Kagayaki No.501 → Nagano AM7:36 \8,340-
From Nagaoka to Tokyo: Nagaoka AM8:19 Toki No.308 → Ueno AM9:57 \8,900-
<Other recommendable place near my route>
<Connected routes>
E-6: Naoetsu to Nagaoka
E-7: Murakami salmon
E-10: Chikuma river cycling