2024 - Our Rides in Words, Photos, Maps and Videos

[Chargeride]

A few images from yesterday’s 55 km brisk ride up to the village of Amehata and back.

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Water levels of both the Amehata River and Lake were low and we noticed that the work crews on the dam were dredging sections of the river below the road. It was our guess that they were reusing the accumulated sediment created from the last typhoon as aggregate for other construction projects.

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One of two tunnels that we rode through. We didn’t encounter any vehicles on these occasions but coming back was a different story.

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The Amehata suspension bridge is the second one that we’ve been on. If you might recall, the other was on our trip to Narada.

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It would have been nice to see the river flowing but with the dam floodgates diverting the water for the work crews, this was the view from the bridge.

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For 200 yen, a tour through this Japanese ink stone (suzuri) museum and shop was well worth the price of admission for a chance to see some of the intricately carved works. The mine near the village is known throughout the country as one of the best sources of silica slate which the ink vessels are made from. The suzuri are used in the art of Japanese calligraphy but it’s the hardened charcoal stick that produces the ink when combined with water.

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Sai tries her hand at the art form which she was taught as a young school girl.

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The character symbolizes sky or heaven above.

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Another 2km up the road was Kennshino Falls. At 500 meters high it was quite impressive. According to legend there supposedly is gold up at the second basin of the falls.

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We start heading back down towards the main hwy but have to be cautious about the narrow roads and vehicles coming up in the opposite direction particularly along the wet roads through the tunnels. Otherwise it was an absolute blast hurtling down the descent.

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Afterwards, we stopped at a tourist info center in nearby Hayakawa beside a nice restaurant where we treated ourselves to some warm bowls of ramen. Soo good.

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Our rides up to this point have been outstanding and the mountainous terrain certainly makes up for the flatlands back at home. A little more than two weeks remain in our stay here and we hope to make the most of it.

Followup footage from our ride up Inokashira Rindo (Mountain Road)

Thanks for those vids, I would probably never have bothered to see rural Japan like that, not what I expected.

 

[Chargeride]

Posh end of the beach, menu for dogs.
.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Posh end of the beach, menu for dogs.
.
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At long last, an ice cream for my vegan dog!

 

[BlackHand]

Posh end of the beach, menu for dogs.
.
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Dogs were on the menu on my street this week. A coyote tried to take our next door neighbor's little dog for breakfast on Wednesday. She had to beat it off before it dropped the little guy then escaped through our yard.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

All Cycling Bridges of London - completed!

Just to let you know I have completed the ride over all cycling capable bridges of London UK:

1. Battersea
2. Albert
3. Chelsea
4. Vauxhall
5. Lambeth 2x
6. Westminster
7. Waterloo
8. Blackfriars
9. Southwark
10. London
11. Tower.

(Millenium and Jubilee are only for the pedestrian while Hungerford is a railway bridge. There are bridges upstream of Thames - westward of the Battersea - that are still within Greater London - but I decided to make the ride not to extend too far away).

I had to ride Lambeth Bridge twice because of a big political march that cut off Westminster Bridge from the Big Ben side!

I rode two subsequent Lime e-bikes. Let me only tell you it is very expensive means of transportation as for a 3.5 h gross ride!

Let me make a report next week as I want to show you nice photos and proper ride data!

Running is the favourite pastime of Londoners. Cycling is extremely popular and many people ride e-bikes there, too. In the Battersea Park.

 

[Chargeride]

I thought London bridge was in Arizona

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I thought London bridge was in Arizona

The old one for sure!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Twelve Bridges of London (Sunday ride)

I added the twelfth bridge (Wandsworth) to my portfolio. The weather was just gorgeous! The ride was much more organised than it was on Saturday, and I was hardly using any navigation. 20 miles this time.

 

[Chargeride]

Weather is amazing down here in the SW, 20 degrees C today.

 

[Chargeride]

My friend Brain has bought himself the Insta360 X4, we are both confused by its 99 overlapping settings, finally got one 16 second video out of it.

 

[Mulezen]

I thought London bridge was in Arizona

It fell down

 

[Mulezen]

I took my last ride for a few weeks (hand surgery tomorrow).
The 15 miles carried me silently past this crowd of unsuspecting
gravid Black Angus...or for the riders from town…big deer.
The historical sign would be news to Virginia’s Governor Youngkin.

 

[Twin Valley]

And put up in Lake Havasu City Arizona at least that's what it says when we pedalled across a couple of winters ago

 

[Stefan Mikes]

It fell down

Where is this news from?

 

[Mulezen]

^

Nursery rhyme
"London Bridge Is Falling Down"
Illustration from Walter Crane's A Baby's Bouquet (c. 1877)Duration: 20 seconds.0:20
Published	c. 1744
Songwriter(s)	Unknown

"London Bridge Is Falling Down" (also known as "My Fair Lady" or "London Bridge") is a traditional English nursery rhyme and singing game, which is found in different versions all over the world. It deals with the dilapidation of London Bridgeand attempts, realistic or fanciful, to repair it.

 

[Chargeride]

Have you visited the entrance to the original bridge Stefan.

That was one crackers bridge.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Have you visited the entrance to the original bridge Stefan.

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That was one crackers bridge.
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It's a pity we have no idea how the Roman London Bridge looked like! I absolutely agree the medieval London Bridge was exceptional.
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I have got totally used to the left-hand traffic as a cyclist. I now realise how complex city London is, and that you can get completely lost there. For instance, I wanted to continue along the river past Vauxhall but got diverted SW to South Lambeth On the other way, the return from Wandsworth to Southwark turned out to be easy and fast!

London cycling, Southwark Street.

The Shard is an excellent landmark, seen from many places of the city.

 

[Chargeride]

So much of the classic London landmarks the world knows are simply retro builds.
Tower Bridge is only 130 years old.
Present Houses of Parliament is only 150 years old.
My mums house is 110 years old.
When Trump was born, Tower Bridge was only 55 years old.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

So much of the classic London landmarks the world knows are simply retro builds.
Tower Bridge is only 130 years old.
Present Houses of Parliament is only 150 years old.
My mums house is 110 years old.
When Trump was born, Tower Bridge was only 55 years old.

I think Tower of London is really old. St Paul's Cathedral dates post the Great Fire. On the other hand, you can hardly find anything older than 1945 on the left bank Warsaw...

P.S. Albert Bridge dates back to 1873!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Have you visited the entrance to the original bridge Stefan.

Thank you so much, Chris!