Exploring NW Izu -- 2018 December version!

Mt Fuji from Numazu, near the mount of the Kanogawa (Kano River)

I love cycling Nishi Izu. The road along the coast ... all the way from Numazu to Minami Izu and Shimoda ... belongs in any proper collection of "best rides" in the entire world for road cyclists.

Mt Fuji from above Osezaki

Please, friends from outside Japan, come and ride it, and tell me if you disagree:  Low traffic, spectacular views of Mt. Fuji and appropriately dramatic coastline, mikan (citrus) orchards, small, quaint towns with fishing and yacht harbors, onsen (even a public "foot bath" at Toi Onsen), special local crab at Heda harbor, and on and on.

Last December I did the ride to Shimoda. And it is a very long and hard day to go from Mishima/Numazu through to Shimoda and then return by train to Tokyo ... really it would be better done as an overnight trip, with an onsen ryokan as the reward for cycling up and down all the hills on the further stretches of the coast. In May tried a shorter version ... but a broken crankarm (I must be too strong for SRAM Rival?!) meant a long way back out from Heda to Shuzenji by taxi after a missed bus then a train home.Today I again tried a shorter version, 100kms, but without much climbing and at a relaxed pace.

My route -- barely scratches the surface.

Mt Fuji from one of many small harbors on the Suruga Bay

First embankment ride of the trip.

The mouth of the Kanogawa

Birds (geese, ducks, others) at an interspecies concrete resting place with view of Fuji

So I am still looking for ways to do this as a day trip more easily, and I found one. I did not leave Shinagawa until a 936AM Kodama shinkansen, which dropped me off at Mishima an hour later (4000 yen or about $35 each way). Even with a shopping stop to pick up some ceramics at a place that caught my eye, I was back at the station shortly after dark and in Tokyo around 6PM.

Working harbor at San-no-Ura

This boat was in my photos last year also! Cannot resist the framing of Fuji with the hills on left and right of the harbor.

After de-rinko-ing the bike at Mishima, I made my way through the crowded town and eventually to near the mouth of the Kanogawa in Numazu. I had planned to go up the Kanogawa along the path atop an embankment, then go back to the coast at Kuchino (口野) where the river's 口野放水路 cuts through the hills and allows access, but having just ridden DOWN the river embankment the last few kilometers, I decided instead to take the coast road (National Route 414) from there. I knew it was a congested, no shoulder road, but I've ridden it before and was comfortable that in a few kilometers I would be free of the traffic.

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The joy begins at Kuchino Hou-Sui-Ro 口野放水路 intersection, where National Route 414 turns inland, and Shizuoka Route 17 continues along the coast. I stopped at the Numazu Cycle Station at the former Shizu-ura Higashi Elementary School ... but it was closed.

Still, this facility is part of Numazu's efforts to promote cycling tourism, and has the benefit of being a great place to park a car if you wanted to drive from Tokyo and ride from here. Because I was on their list from having joined a Shizuoka Audax brevet that started here last January (and headed NW/West to Fujieda and back), they sent me a map of cycle trails and proposed routes in this part of Izu. It was what gave me the idea of taking the embankment trail.

Anyway, I rode as far south/west on the coastline as the hill between Osezaki and Heda. Having climbed to several hundred meters elevation and gone through the tunnel at the top, I decided to turn around and go back down to the North, as I knew that if I went down the hill again to the South, the routes to central Izu further south all involved going over the mountains. I retraced my route as far as Uchiura Mito. (内浦三津）

From there I did a short climb over a low hill, and through a short tunnel, and could descend into the central Izu valley of the Kanogawa, emerging near the bottom of the ropeway that goes to the top of Mt. Katsuragi. From here I took a road that hugged the eastern side of the valley, until it veered left and brought me to the Kanogawa.

Looking back at Uchiura Mito ... only a bit more to the tunnel through the hill.

Crossing the river, I joined the path on the embankment, and took it South, up the gradual valley. I've taken the road up this valley before, and I can say that the path is far better. No traffic! Wide, flat, smooth, with minimal interruptions as far as it went. After about 5 kms, I switched to the road where the path seemed to end ... but on my return, I realized that the path in fact continued: it re-started and went several kms further, only a few hundred meters of interruption. At many places, I could see heavy traffic on the highways, standing in lines at each signal. I was glad to be on the bicycle, and on the path instead of the road.

After Shuzenji Station, I somehow ended up going up a tributary -- the Omi River -- and turned around after 3PM. I thought about continuing up the Kano River after doubling back, maybe a stop to say hi at Baird Beer, But I already have some beer in the fridge at home, and cannot drink on this kind of ride. And the day was getting short (actually it was cloudy and quite ominous looking weather) so I just headed to the North and toward the station at Mishima. This time, I stayed on the path along the embankment for a full 20 kilometers of beautiful, stress-free riding. In the future, the path is my way from Numazu/Mishima into central Izu.

I will be back again soon! Next time, I will push further -- through to Toi onsen, climb over the pass and come back down the Kanogawa -- adding another maybe 30 kms and some serious hills -- for an ideal training ride in winter when the mountains north and west of Kanto remain icy.

Not much daylight left!