Camping

A loaded cargo bike parked on a field of close-dropped dried grass, with an A-frame house on a wooded hill in the background.

A small jar of sweet-and-sour carrot and radish salad, a small jar sweet black beans, a coffee cup and small plate of soy sauce on a plastic cutting board, resting on the ground. Beyond the cutting board a pot of water is boiling on a small gasoline camp stove.

A white, lifesize statue of a cow, but with the hindquarters in the shape of a box of milk with milk pouring from its spout.

Shingle-roofed cabins embedded in cedar forest.

[1-2 January 2024] A belated Happy New Year to all! Returned yesterday from a NYD ride to a public campground, mentioned by the owner of the local bike shop. The plan was to visit a temple in a historic village then push on to the camp site. Things didn’t go quite as intended! Here’s a desultory thread on this tiny adventure, with the usual smattering of poorly composed photographs. For starters, a countryside meeting point for students walking to school, passed early in the trip.

[12-13 October 2023] In mid-October of last year, following the ride east from Nagoya to Hamamatsu, I rode west to a campground in Shiga Prefecture. Because West is the counterpart to East. I took a few photos along the way, and here is a thread. To start things off, the modest beginning. This is the house, that is the bike, and those are the community garbage collection cages. (The blue netting is there to keep crows from paving the street with the week’s rubbish.

[26-28 September 2023] Just back to Nagoya from a 100km camping trip to Hamamatsu, on a Surly cargo bike loaded up with tent, cooking gear, tools, clothing, and other bits and pieces. One day down, two overnights, one day back. My first long ride in Japan, it’s good to be back. I dropped the chocolates below on the way out, while clipping in lights on a dark country road. They were my only lost item (yay)️ but I spotted them two days later on the way home!