Why this ride
Out of Kimitsu, one way: 513 km, roughly 8 h 53 in the saddle. The stops in between: Ōhara, Scenic stretch near Ishige and Annaka. near Ami is the high point. It tops out at about 1,250 m. Much of it runs through woodland.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Tomiura to Nojimazaki Cape Loop · short arc
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 513 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 8 h 53
- Journey
- One way; return travel is separate
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Fuel stop near Kimitsu
Kimitsu runs from the industrial shore of Tokyo Bay deep into the forested hills of the inner Boso peninsula, and the contrast is striking. On the coast, the Nippon Steel works stretches for kilometres, a tangle of furnaces, chimneys and cranes. Inland, within half an hour, you are among steep green hills, narrow valleys and reservoirs, with hardly a building in sight.
Read the complete Kimitsu write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tomiura to Nojimazaki Cape Loop is where the day begins. Next is Tomiura to Nojimazaki Cape Loop food stop.
2. Ōhara
Every September the men of Ōhara carry portable shrines straight into the Pacific, running through the surf to the beat of drums in a festival that has been held for centuries. It is a wild, joyful sight, and it sums up this small fishing town on the eastern coast of the Boso peninsula, where life still revolves around the sea and the boats.
Read the complete Photo stop near Ōhara write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tomiura to Nojimazaki Cape Loop food stop is where this day stops to eat. Next is High point near Ami.
3. High point near Ami
Ami is a town in southern Ibaraki on the western shore of Kasumigaura, the second-largest lake in Japan, a broad, shallow sheet of water fringed with reeds, lotus fields and fishing villages. The land around it is flat to gently rolling, with fields, woods and scattered settlements, and Mount Tsukuba rises to the north-west, the only real mountain for miles.
Read the complete High point near Ami write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
This is where the road stops climbing. Next is Scenic stretch near Ishige.
4. Scenic stretch near Ishige
In September 2015, after days of torrential rain, the levee of the Kinu River broke near Ishige, and floodwater spread across a huge area of the city of Jōsō, stranding thousands of people on rooftops while helicopters circled overhead. The images shocked Japan. The levees have since been rebuilt and strengthened, and the landscape has returned to its calm rhythm of rice paddies, villages and river embankments, but the event is a reminder of how much this flat land depends on its defences.
Read the complete Scenic stretch near Ishige write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Scenic stretch near Ishige, about halfway. Next is Tokyo / Kanto rides return.
5. Near Annaka, on the way back
South-west of Takasaki the Kantō plain runs out and the mountains begin, and this stop lies right on that edge, between Annaka and Tomioka. Look west and the strangest skyline in Gunma comes into view: Mount Myōgi, a crown of jagged volcanic spires that looks as if someone took a rasp to an ordinary mountain. It is one of the three famous peaks of the old Jōmō province, and the road that skirts its flanks is a favourite with local riders for its tight, wooded bends.
Read the complete Near Annaka, on the way back write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tokyo / Kanto rides return sits at 350 km, late in the day. Next is Photo stop near Enzan.
6. Photo stop near Enzan
Takeda Shingen, the warlord who dominated Kai province in the sixteenth century and remains a folk hero in Yamanashi, lies buried at Erin-ji, a Zen temple on the edge of Enzan. Its garden, laid out by the great medieval designer Musō Soseki, is a quiet masterpiece of pond, rocks and moss, and the temple is the spiritual heart of a town that now forms part of the city of Kōshū.
Read the complete Photo stop near Enzan write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 438 km.
Leg by leg
Fuel stop near Kimitsu to Ōhara
Fuel stop near Kimitsu → Ōhara is 60 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
High point near Ami to Scenic stretch near Ishige
High point near Ami → Scenic stretch near Ishige is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Scenic stretch near Ishige to Near Annaka, on the way back
Scenic stretch near Ishige → Near Annaka, on the way back is 110 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.