Over the past few hours my friend and I had climbed many such foot-hills along the Naka River in North-West Tochigi. We had set out the previous day from our flat in Utsunomiya, the capital city of Tochigi prefecture. Our sturdy touring bicycles fully loaded with pannier bags stuffed with food, clothes and camping gear we cycled North to boldly go further than we had ever gone before.
'Silver Week', Japan's latest national holiday, gave us a chance to cycle for several days instead of our usual day trips and Japan has a lot to offer cyclists! Rivers are a great place to start for the casual cyclist. Most rivers have 'cycling roads' alongside them and, while these roads are often winding and less direct than normal roads, they are much more pleasant to ride on. Beautiful scenery, cool breezes off the river and most of all no traffic, exhaust fumes or juggernaut-like trucks and buses trying to kill you. Well, not literally, but take it from me, a bus thundering past you as you cycle along the roadside is a very scary experience indeed!
It was from one of these cycling roads at the confluence of Ara and Naka Rivers that we spied a weir for catching Ayu, the delicious river fish so many fishermen pursue every weekend in Japan. Until then I'd only heard of this style of catching fish, the river is diverted into a sloping bamboo ramp of sorts, the fish are trapped at the base of the ramp and you simply walk down it and pick up as many fish as you like. On the river bank, next to the weir there was a lovely open-plan restaurant selling, of course, fresh Ayu from the weir. Having cycled since 7 o'clock that morning, stopping only once to take a delicious onsen bath, we decided to stop for a well-earned lunch break. We ordered lunch set A: two salt-baked fish, two soy-baked fish, miso soup and rice. With a beer to wash it all down we were about to tuck in when an middle-aged lady at the next table asked us, "Have you eaten this fish before?"
"Yes, I replied, but not like this!" The fish was served skewered le
ngthways on a stick.
ngthways on a stick."I've been eating this fish since I was a little girl" she replied, "my grandmother showed me how to eat it, let me show you."
She came over to our table, and picked up one of the fish, first she broke off the tail, then pulled the skewer out, next she took some chopsticks and pressed the fish on all sides. Finally, she grasped the head between thumb and forefinger twisted and pulled. The whole spine, attached bones and internal organs came out!
"Now you try" she said. To my pleasure the whole procedure was easily done! We thanked our "Sakana sensei" profusely and then enjoyed some of the freshest and tastiest fish I've ever eaten. A weir on Arakawa. Photo: J. Mitchell
Sadly we soon ran out of cylcing road as the Naka river flowed into the mountainous countryside of Motegi. We abandoned the wide, gently sloping route 294 in favour of less trafficked rural roads. Soon we became happily lost amidst harvest scenery: rice-fields with sheaves stacked neatly, gorgeous red flowers sprouting from the field-banks and everywhere a pervading sweet scent on the air. We never did figure out it's origin though.
Cycling with a destination in mind is a good way to focus on a goal, when you're climbing a steep hill on a fully loaded bike it is good to have a goal in mind, be it the crest of the hill you're on or the day's final destination. I think this the mindset most people approach any venture with, be it climbing a mountain or cleaning a very messy apartment! Something I learned on this trip though is that to be overly goal-oriented can cause you to stop enjoying what you are doing in present.
On our first day out, my friend and I had a clear destination in mind; we wanted to get from Utsunomiya to the Onsen-rich town of Tsujimachi in North-East Tochigi. It was a fairly long distance and by mid-afternoon we had made it most of the way along the Kinu river cycling path. When the Kinu started to turn West we struck out across land, into the hills on Route 293. At first the going was good, the hills weren't so steep and there was a broad cycling lane. "We're definitely going to make it!" was the thought on both our minds. Then, half-way up the steepest hill yet the cycling lane suddenly disappeared and we were at the mercy of Japanese national holiday traffic. Tired and stressed out from riding all day the killer trucks and cars were all a bit too much for me that late in the day. Suddenly I spied sign up ahead "Nasu Shiobara Camp Site" it said. I called a stop and my friend and I debated stopping for the day. We ended up staying after a long deliberation and, while camping is always loads of fun, we had to try hard to keep our spirits up; we hadn't made it to where we wanted to go, had we failed?
The anwer: definately not. I learned through this trip that it's moving I enjoy, not arriving. If I stop enjoying travelling then I should stop and rest. I shouldn't race up the hill, seeking the crest, but change to a lower gear and make my way slowly, giving myself time to see, smell and hear this beautiful country. Once I released myself from focusing on goals and berating myself if I didn't achieve those goals I experienced a feeling of true freedom. And I think it's that feeling I'm pursuing in all the travelling I do.
Cycling Path by Gogyo River. Photo: J.Mitchell
