Topic: Riding in the Sumatakyo Valley, Shizuoka prefecture, Japan

[andy750]

This Sunday (12th July 2009) I went riding with my friend Yuri on the Vmax up the Sumatakyo Valley, Shizuoka prefecture, Japan.

Where we went...





Here is the video....notice the single track roads...and the mountainous terrain...at the end of the ride it was time for onsen - hot springs...in this case outdoors.

We also saw this ducati at the end of the road...



This area was VERY popular with bikes...its a great twisty mountain road...

End of the road...suspension bridge...







cheers
Andy

[Kevin D]

Nice ride Andy. It's lucky you overtook that bus at the wide spot. Are the hot springs across the foot bridge?

[FunJimmy]

Andy

Wow, that’s a beautiful road. What are you doing in Japan anyway?
You don’t want to forget that they drive on the wrong side of the road do you?
Where you riding your CB750?

Cheers
Jimmy

[andy750]

Wow, that’s a beautiful road. What are you doing in Japan anyway?
You don’t want to forget that they drive on the wrong side of the road do you?
Where you riding your CB750?

I am working here for 3 months - I do medical research here in collaboration with a Japanese group. I am used to driving on the left - I am from the UK  . No wasnt riding the CB750 (I wish!).....was on my friends Vmax. See below...

Kevin-  hot springs were at the hotel (which is very common here). On the other side of the bridge there were 304 steps to climb to the top of the hill where we saw.....

...a toilet in a tree stump and the ubiquitous vending machine .....so we had a coffee (canned)




View from vending machine...




On the way back we passed this country toilet...



Notice the green mountains all around...









and leaving the next day....we left....






down this road...



cheers
Andy

[andy750]

 Some views from the road...notice all the tea plants....this region is famous for green tea....



















and then we hit the Pacific ocean....where they love to fill it with concrete shapes...





and then we went and saw a famous pine tree forest next to the ocean...there is a folk tale associated with this forest - see pic..Ill explain another time....but there is one tree that is featured in the story and is thought to be 650 yrs old!!



the story...



the forest by the beach...



the 650 yr old famous tree...



the view.....









and we finished the day with some great tempura....



And then on the way back travelling on the shinansen at 180mph I saw this front moving over....






Thanks for looking!

cheers
Andy

[FunJimmy]

Absolutely beautiful.
Thanks for sharing.

[CaféElite]

Absolutely beautiful.
Thanks for sharing.

[BobbyR]

Absolutely beautiful Andy. Our parent company makes the Bullet Trains. I am not sure you were aware of it, but the passenger cabin is pressurized. When you get above 140mph a vacuum forms around the car body which was causing ear pain. Mighty damn smooth wasn't it? A better ride than you get from the T. 

[andy750]

Very interesting Bobby! I didnt know that. These trains run to the minute! If one if maybe 30 seconds late people are getting worried. Simply amazing.

The train guys (local trains and bullet trains) are ALWAYS looking at their watch...like every 30 seconds or so...they must be paranoid of being the ONE to make a mistake!

cheers
Andy

[BobbyR]

Very interesting Bobby! I didnt know that. These trains run to the minute! If one if maybe 30 seconds late people are getting worried. Simply amazing.

The train guys (local trains and bullet trains) are ALWAYS looking at their watch...like every 30 seconds or so...they must be paranoid of being the ONE to make a mistake!

cheers
Andy

Actually Andy it is worse that that. The Engineer is allowed to be no more than 10 seconds late. In the event he is late more than 3 times in one month, he will be suspended for one week without pay and of course disgraced.

Having said that, one fellow who was on his second offence decided to take a 120 Mph turn at 150 mph, and drove the train into an Apartment building with terrible loss of life.

One other problem they are having is in tunnels. When they rip through a tunnel the air is forced out of the tube as it would when a bullet leaves the barrel. It sounds like a large cannon, which is getting a lot of complaints from people who live in the area.