Day 43: Seki to Hikone

Thursday, August 6, 2009

  Rode 90km (55 miles) from Seki City to Hikone.  

  We enjoyed a sumptuous breakfast prepared by Mrs. Kameyama, then loaded our bikes for a 90km (56 miles) ride to Hikone.  A reporter from another newspaper in Gifu stopped by to interview us and take pictures with our bikes and the Kameyama family.  At 10:30, we finished the interview, said goodbye to our gracious hosts, and rode to a nearby game room for an hour of electronic fun for Sho.

  At noon we left Seki City, where the Shimano gears on my Trek 520 bike are made, and made our way through a drenching downpour that later turned to clouds.  Since it was in the high 80's, we didn't bother with any rain gear, assuming correctly that the rain would stop, and the wind would dry us off as we biked.  We rode through ever-increasing urban sprawl and had to deal with constant traffic all day.  We passed through Sekigahara, scene of a decisive battle in 1600 at the end of a long period of civil war in Japan, that cemented Tokugawa Ieyasu's rise to power and ushered in over 250 years of a brutally effective totalitarian system.  Sho and I didn't dwell for long on the past, though, intent on making it to Hikone, where we found a cheap hotel, ate dinner at an izakaya and were snoozing by 10pm.