Tag: Japan

Cycling Japan: The Map And The F-Word?

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The original plan was to cycle the length of Japan in the summer of 2020. It never happened. It didn’t hapen in 2021 and by the time summer of 2022 had arrived I had made other plans: Le Grand Tour was the result. 2023 and 2024 were dedicated to writing the book and it’s only now, in the autumn of 2024, that my mind occasionally wanders back to thoughts of cycling in the land of the rising sun. My large paper map of Japan was probably relegated to the ‘Japan’ section of my bookshelf at some point in late 2021 when it became increasingly apparent that COVID-induced travel restrictions were still lingering in the Far East. A few minutes ago, I took down the map of Europe and reinstated the map of Japan. A small, but significant step towards reviving my plans to cycle the length of Japan. Kind of… There’s a problem.

stockholm skyline beside water during sunset

2025: Japan Or…?

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It’s September 1st, 2024, marking the start of autumn and “la rentrรฉe” in France. I reflect on upcoming challenges at work and school, along with cycling plans, potentially riding the length of the Japanese archipelago in 2025. Contemplating alternatives closer to home, a European cycling route, EuroVelo 10 and EuroVelo 7, emerges as a potential rival.

The Hardest Word In Long-Distance Cycling (Is Not ‘Japan’)

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Thirteen years ago this weekend I was sitting on my sofa at the start of the school holidays. It was 2008 and the Beijing Olympics had just started. Just outside the Chinese capital it was wet. Very wet. Nicole Cooke, the British cyclist was sodden, rain dripping from every square centimetre of her body. I watched, bleary-eyed (perhaps I was still recovering from the end-of-academic-year festivities) as she cycled under the fortifications of the Great Wall and then, as she approached the finish line, raised her fist and punched the damp air to celebrate her victory. She had just become the Olympic cycling road race champion. It was to become a pivotal moment in my middle-aged life. There and then I resolved to set off on an exotic cycling adventure…

Eroica 2021

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I’ve never entered a cycling sportive in my life… but I’m a sucker for a good poster and these posters from the people who organise the Eroica events have featured several times in the past on CyclingEurope.org. They’ve just sent through the complete set for 2021 – yes, it appears that they are starting again… – and the first of their cycles is actually today in South Africa.

The Roads To Sata By Alan Booth

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I don’t think this is a spoiler but in the final lines of Alan Booth’s The Roads to Sata (that I have just this afternoon finished reading) he recounts a conversation he’d had with an old man towards the start of his walking journey through Japan that started at the northern extremity of Hokkaido, Cape Soya. The old man explains that you can’t understand Japan by looking at it, walking through it or talking to its people. Booth asks him how, then, do you understand Japan to which the old man answers ‘You can’t understand Japan’. It’s the final line of the book.

BREAKING NEWS: There’s No Breaking News…

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It’s foggy and cold outside, CNN is on the TV (as with much of the world, I’m sitting here waiting and hoping for that 253 to change soon) and it’s the first Saturday of Lockdown 2.0. Not a great deal to do other than ponder over the future… That could be a real Pandora’s box but let’s keep things focussed on cycling.

The Bear Necessities Of Cycling In Japan

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A few weeks ago, I watched a short series of beautiful BBC natural history films called Japan: Earth’s Enchanted Islands. Alas they are are no longer on the iPlayer but a few short clips are available on YouTube. Here’s one of them: Bears… They featured several times in […]

Cycling Japan, Via London

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Wednesday 2nd January 2020, 9am A long, long time ago… well, back in 2008 when I was living in Reading, I decided to head off to London to see a document at the British Library. The document in question had been written by Archbishop Sigeric. He was the […]

Cycling Japan: The Numbers

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It’s not quite the deep mid-winter but today, with the heating on and me having yet to leave the house, it could easily be so. My mind turns to the heat and humidity (that was the topic of the last Japan-related post) of next summer, Japan and… a […]

Cycling Japan: Into The Eye Of A Storm?

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With Typhoon Hagibis moving over Tokyo, it seems an appropriate moment to consider what the weather might be like when I cycle the length of the country in July and August 2020. Let’s start with typhoons. Here’s an image from the Windy.com website of Japan with the current […]

Bees, Sun, Bicycles… Action!

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I spent much of the past weekend filmmaking. I’ve dabbled in the past with short videos, usually taken with the iPhone and/or GoPro (and have produced some good results) but if I am to cycle the length of Japan in 2020, I’d like to make a proper film. […]

Cycling… Japan

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Thisย caught my eye today. The maker of the video below – a chap called Jacob Laukaitis – emailed me earlier today with the link. For those of you who were paying attention last year, I did mention at some point after having cycled Tarifa to Nordkappย that the next […]