Many of the most mysterious, spectacular moments I have enjoyed in long-distance cycling in Japan come around the beginning and end of daylight. The light can give a special glow or mysterious feeling to even an ordinary landscape, though it is not always easy to capture this in photographs. Also, these times of day offer a hope of solitude and little-to-no traffic not likely to be found in mid-day.
On my end-to-end ride, my first experience of such a "magic hour" was around dawn of April 28, as I rode through Hyogo Prefecture -- Kasai-shi, Kato-shi, and Nishiwaki-shi.
 |
| At Himeji, just before heading Northeast |
 |
| Dawn at Kasai-shi |
 |
| A wider angle view |
 |
| These flowers actually belong to a house out of the photo on the righthand side ... |
 |
| Low traffic cycling! |
 |
| Entering Kato-shi |
 |
| Along the Kakogawa |
 |
| Bike and rider take a photo rest |
 |
| River fog nearby, a high voltage tower emerges |
Fog along the Kakogawa, cranes resting on rocks in the river
 |
| The last of the fog, less than an hour later. |
 |
| Azaleas in bloom ... but the magic hour is past. |
That evening, as I passed through southern Niigata, after enduring the tunnels west of Itoigawa, I caught just a bit of magic at Benten-iwa, a shrine on a rock just offshore. But rain was approaching and I was not only exhausted but trying to make decent time before the rain caught me, so could not enjoy the moment as much as I might have.
 |
| Looking back at Itoigawa from the bike path that led to the East for a few kilometers |
 |
| At Benteniwa |
 |
| This time without the rain in the foreground |
 |
| A wider angle, darker image |
No comments:
Post a Comment