Everyday, that we ride around Lake Biwa, has been a good day. The nature, bird life, beauty of the lake and surrounding mountains and particularly the cycling infrastructure have given us a great tour with the luxury of a route created for us. We highly recommend coming here. We have seen very few non Japanese people on the route It feels like it has yet to be discovered.
Staying last night at the Grand Park Inn in Makino was a treat. Its homey feel with wood lined walls and massive wood plank floors, plus its location directly on the lake with a Birds Eye view out our window reminded us of Yellowpoint Lodge, a place we love on Vancouver Island. We didn’t know that one could get such an immense space (at least in our budget) in Japan. Basically we had a huge sitting area, a bedroom…..such is the joy of older properties.
Our stay at Grand Park began well. When they saw us arrive they ran out to tell us to bring our trikes inside. As we got up to push them in, they pointed out that the rubber ramp at the curb is there just for this purpose. So Marty (McFly) and Elsie have nice digs for the night.
Don’t our trikes look at home in this lovely lobby?
We noticed when we arrived that there was a workshop taking place at our hotel. The next morning we watched these two fellows setting up the metal frames with netting in front of our room. We couldn’t figure out what they could be used for.
As we ate breakfast in our room, we watched the proceedings. We figured out that it was a team building exercise. A group of the young men were positioned at each of the three stations and their task was to pick up one of the fellows in their group and work together to get him through a hole in the netting while holding him horizontal. It took time but it looked like fun.
Despite having a great night in Makino, we were both were very tired, perhaps fighting a bug, and had trouble motivating ourselves. It looks like it will be one of those days where perhaps we should have stayed put.
We have been seeing log homes in this area. We wonder if Canadian builders are coming here to help with this. I know that log house builders from northern BC have been coming to Japan to do this.
The planners who came up with the idea that these “happy” animal figure barriers would help calm down frustrated drivers certainly works for us. They always make us smile.
What drew us to this spot was the sight of windmills in the distance. There are three windmills at this glamping development. They are interesting to us as this is such a different approach to life and tourism on Lake Biwa. The other side of the lake is predominantly public parks that extend much of the east side of the lake’s waterfront and its use is free and heavily used by Japanese people for day trips, camping and fishing. We hope that the glamping trend doesn’t become the norm.
We sat in the park by the train station trying to find a place….nothing here. But then we noticed a few local Japanese Inns on Google Maps and rode over to check them out. Ebiso Su was our choice. An older Japanese Inn with character plus, our traditional tatami mat room had the bonus of a screened in balcony with a view of the River which came with a breeze. After the sweltering heat of the day…we were very happy.
We were surprised to see Gulliver with the fleet of Lilliputians behind him in the park by the train station in Ome-Takeshita. Some research explained that this statue is the official symbol of the city. It dates back to 1987 when a themed campsite named Gulliver’s Travel Village opened to attract families here. This and Gulliver’s Concert Hall has become a theme of town revitalization.
