Across the mountains to Hakuba and Yanaba

Today we had a fairly long day of biking ahead of us: two climbs and 50km. Nothing big, but longer than the last few shorter days we had. We started by continuing our descent...for about 800m followed by a short climb of about 600m.

A typical view from the road. Beautiful area.

The clouds were pretty heavy, even though there was some sunlight here and there. Small, quiet country roads, with about 2 cars every hour or so. Excellent biking. After hitting the crest and heading down the first winding slope, we stopped at a hairpin turn with a shrine to rest our hands from braking and to make sure we didn't lose the route. The road was quite small.

One of those panoramic shots.

The shrine was quiet, but well maintained and obviously still used regularly.

Unintentional lens flare looks kinda artsy

We rested for a bit, enjoying the scenery before continuing on.

Before heading up the last climb of Mount Sobatsubu, we stopped at a little roadside market and grabbed what we thought were senbei crackers. Turns out they were sesame cookies! We found a small retaining wall with some shade to feast on trail mix and cookies!

All three of us...

The last climb took us to a tunnel with a slight bend in it that had to be on purpose. We had no idea what was around the corner until we were on top of it.

Not our pic. We were too scared/smart to stand in front of the
tunnel and take a picture with traffic coming

It's called Hakutaku ridge, and is a famous viewing spot for the western Alps. I can see why.

Requisite selfie

Better view, without our faces spoiling it

One last panorama shot before Sumi took the phone away from me.

OK, only one of us was too scared/smart not to stand in front of the tunnel

The rest of the ride into Hakuba was equally as gorgeous. A lot of downhill coasting, small roads, no cars. An excellent morning ride. Hakuba is a ski area, so the whole ride down to Yanaba was basically city and resorts. Not nearly as photogenic, but relatively fast and easy. Until the requisite mountain to climb to get to our ryokan. We walked.

Raumu Lodge

Raumu was an immaculate lodge run by a very nice couple. They obviously lived there year round, and there were bookshelves lining the entire building, with everything from manga, to a complete set of Harry Potter to Harvard Classics (all in Japanese, of course). The rooms were very spacious.

The sleeping quarters. The other half held the table, cushions and all our junk that we had to pack.

We still needed some dinner, and they recommended a ramen shop down by Lake Aoki, which we had passed on our way in. Yanaba was a tiny place, with not much in the way of year round stores and restaurants, so it was pretty much our only option without hopping on a train. We had an hour to kill before it opened for dinner, so we hopped on our bikes for one last ride, to check out Lake Aoki.

Lake Aoki

There was a nice path that circumnavigated the lake. It was wide enough for two bicycles, so of course they drove their cars and trucks on it, as well. The lake was surrounded by resorts and inns, but they were all set away from the lake and path, so they never intruded on the natural beauty,

When 5 o'clock finally arrived, us and a few other people who were waiting in the parking lot, were seated and fed.

See Bleek is the name. Not sure what language it's from

Sumi's Onion Ramen and Gyoza

My curry and salad and...cheese toast?

It was good food. The cheese toast was actually an open faced ham and cheese sandwich. Full and tired, we made our way slowly back to Raumu for our last night "on the road'. Tomorrow we take the train into Matsumoto, ship out gear to the airport and start acting like normal tourists for a few days.