Nikko to Tokyo in 2 days

[kcheng]

Hello,

We were planning on doing Nikko to Tokyo (via Kiryu and Sekiyado) in 2 days. It looks like the distance is close to 190km and I was wondering if it would be too ambitious to try that? JD was kind enough to provide some insight on this a little while back but i was hoping to get a bit more input if thats ok.

Our plan is the following:

June 9th: we will drive from Nagano to Nikko in the morning (i figured 4 hours should do it?) do some sightseeing at Toshogu in the afternoon and stay near the shrine overnight.

Day 1:
June 10th: Nikko to Kiryu to somewhere near Sekiyado: I read that the ride up from Nikko city to the top of that pass is not too bad (takes a couple of hours), and then its downhill to Kiryu from the top. Total distance around 90km? Not sure where to find a hotel though.

Day 2:
June 11th: wherever we were the night before to Tokyo: Start at around 8-9am, finish off the 90 odd km and get back by mid afternoon.

Any thoughts on the above would be appreciated.

Thanks & regards,

Kevin

[watanabe]

Hi Kevin

I rode that route twice; once with local friends (see pictures), anoher occasion with friends from other countries.

Day 1: We started Nikko in the morning, rode to the top of Hosoo Pass (see picture), to Kiryu where we stayed at a small ryokan (see picture with proprietor) near Kiryu station.

Day 2: We started from the ryokan in Kiryu, rode to Watarase basin, where there is an observation deck(see pic) to Sekiyado Castle, rode along the Edo River all the way to Tokyo.

Some pictures from that tour uploaded. The places are self-explanatory by the file name.

The female rider (see picture) of age over 60 rode/climbed the Hosoo Pass without stopping, without waking, to the summit. That suggests that if you are an "average rider," there should be no problem in doing it in two days.

I hope this helps,
Ed

[kcheng]

Hi Ed,

Thank you very much for your insights - that is definitely most helpful. Is there any chance you could suggest places to stay in Kiryu? Or is it possible to just 'wing it' when we get there..

And how long did it take you to get from Kiryu to Tokyo? I saw it to be about 120km but on relatively flat roads, so presumably if i left early enough we could probably get back into Tokyo late afternoon at a steady pace..

thanks much

kevin

[J.D.]

From Kiryuu to Toukyou is very flat so 120km is not that hard (unless you get a headwind).

When I rode from Nikkou to Toukyou it took us three days but that was because we left Nikkou rather too late (9:45ish). My 75 year old Dad needed a nap at the top of Hosoo Pass and he was tired by the time we reached Oomama (plus we were losing daylight). The next day we rode through the Watarase Basin and missed how to get on the Edogawa cycling road. We thought we'd ask at that point about where to stay the night and were told the nearest hotel was in Kuki so we headed there. The original plan had been to continue on directly toward Narita spending one more night somewhere in between. Since we'd had difficulty finding accommodation on this night and it looked like there wasn't much before Narita we decided to head into Toukyou along the Edogawa CR which was a quite short easy ride with time for a bunch of sightseeing in Shibamata.

[watanabe]

Hi Kevin,

I would suggest Sansuikan ryokan where we stayed in two rides.

Tel/Fax: 0277-54-1099

I am afraid that communication over the phone might be difficult. Writing in simple English and sending it via fax would be a lot easier for them. Referencing my name (Eiichi Watanabe, Chiba) in writing might help.


The details:

Day 1 - Nikko to Kiryu 77 km
Plenty of time for sightseeing

Day 2 - Kiryu to Tokyo (Shibamata) 116 km (Average speed was 20 -25km / hour)
Started 6:00 in Kiryu, breakfast on the way (onigiri or rice ball prepared by the ryokan), lunch at Sekiyado, and finishd in Shibamata (eating/drinking, sightseeing) at 6:00pm.

I hope this helps.
Ed