CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
115 km from Odawara to Odawara, about 2 h 46 of riding. The stops in between: Lake Yamanakako, Oshino Hakkai springs, Oshino Hakkai and back through Oshino Hakkai. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 900 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did. Water arrives beside the road and stays for 40 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go.
Hakone is where Tokyo goes to get away from itself. The mountain resort sits in the caldera of an old volcano southwest of the capital, about an hour and a half by road without traffic, with Lake Ashi in the middle and Fuji looming to the northwest on a good day. Odawara, on the coast below, is the practical town, with its castle and its fish markets, while the hot-spring villages scattered through the hills have catered to travellers for centuries. The old Tokaido highway crossed these mountains, and you can still walk stretches of its stone-paved surface and see a reconstructed checkpoint beside the lake, where officials of the Tokugawa shogunate once inspected every traveller's papers.
Read the complete Hakone write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hakone is where the day begins. Next is Lake Yamanakako.
Yamanakako is the largest and highest of the Fuji Five Lakes, lying at nearly a thousand metres at the eastern foot of Mount Fuji, and on a clear winter morning, with the snow cone of the mountain mirrored in still water, it delivers the view that sells a million postcards. The lake was formed when lava flows from Fuji dammed the valley, and it is shallow, with reed beds, swans and boating piers along the shore. In summer it is a cool escape from the heat of Tokyo, busy with families, rowing boats and lakeside cafés; in winter the crowds thin and the mountain is at its most impressive.
Read the complete Lake Yamanakako write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Lake Yamanakako comes up 12 km in. Next is Oshino Hakkai springs.
Eight ponds, one hundred yards from the road, and every one of them clear enough to count the pebbles. Oshino Hakkai takes its water from the snow and rain of Mount Fuji, which sinks into the porous volcanic rock of the mountain and takes decades to filter down, so the springs that emerge in the village of Oshino are astonishingly pure and cold. The water holds close to a constant temperature all year, so in winter mist rises from the ponds, and in summer they feel like cool air-conditioning. Carp and trout drift through the plants, water wheels turn quietly, and thatched houses stand behind the ponds, though these days they hold shops selling pickles, soba noodles and sweets.
Read the complete Oshino Hakkai springs write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
At least 35 km in you reach Oshino Hakkai springs. Next is Oshino Hakkai.
Eight ponds of astonishingly clear water lie in the village of Oshino, at the northern foot of Mount Fuji, and the water in them is snowmelt from the mountain, filtered for many years through layers of volcanic rock before welling up here. The Oshino Hakkai, the eight seas of Oshino, were once part of a lake that dried up, and they became places of pilgrimage for people climbing Fuji, who purified themselves in the springs before their ascent. They are included in UNESCO's inscription of Fujisan as a place of worship and source of artistic inspiration.
Read the complete Oshino Hakkai write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Oshino Hakkai, about halfway. Next is Oshino Hakkai.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Oshino Hakkai write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Oshino Hakkai sits at 49 km, about halfway. Next is back through Oshino Hakkai.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Oshino Hakkai write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Oshino Hakkai comes up 61 km in. Next is back through Oshino Hakkai springs.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Oshino Hakkai springs write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
73 km in you reach back through Oshino Hakkai springs. Next is back through Lake Yamanakako.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Lake Yamanakako write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Lake Yamanakako, late in the day. Next is Hakone.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hakone write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 115 km.
Hakone → Lake Yamanakako is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Lake Yamanakako → Oshino Hakkai springs is 7 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Oshino Hakkai springs → back through Lake Yamanakako is 7 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Lake Yamanakako → Hakone is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.