Japan by Bicycle: Ride 8: Takayama to Gujohachiman (郡上八幡)

After 3 days of mostly rain in Takayama, I was glad to get on the pedals again. It's flat to downhill to Kyoto from Takayama, so I set up a relatively aggressive itinerary to do most of the trip in two days. The first leg is a 75km ride to Gujohachiman, a nice riverside town with a pretty castle.

So, 75km, 8:45AM - 1:30PM. Uphill for first ~30km, climbing to 1,113m at Nishiure Pass on Route 73. Very cold with patchy rain / sleet in the morning reaching 0C - coldest I've cycled so far in Japan. The next 40km is a very rewarding and smooth downhill along Route 257 and Route 472. Overall, this was one of the best rides of this trip.

Route 73 in morning, riding up the valley. Colors of trees very beautiful in the mist / rain...

A local village shrine - notice the man sweeping leavings in the rain! I guess that's why everything in Japan is neat and tidy.

As I got higher, snow from days before still unmelted, and yes had to take a photo of the 0C.

Nice lunch just before the downhill.

Weather lightened up immediately on the other side of the mountain.

View from my room onto Yoshida River.

Views of the castle.

This gentleman climbed all the way up to the castle!

I want to make a more detailed comment on the Japanese conception of economy that stuck me as very noteworthy during this trip. A picture says a thousand words though.