Кобэ – Химедзи. Заброшенный парк у замка. Мост Akashi | Пол-Японии и Кюсю на велосипеде | Часть 17

Кобэ – Химедзи. Заброшенный парк у замка. Мост Akashi | Пол-Японии и Кюсю на велосипеде | Часть 17

6:30 AM. This is the city of Kobe, if anyone doesn’t remember. I mentioned it yesterday. A bit noisy here because of these… Three bridges passing through. And probably two more over there on that side. Heavy traffic from all directions. But this spot is peaceful, nobody comes here at all. Everything’s closed off here. They dug up something over there. There’s a park somewhere where people run. What do we have today? Thermometer shows 13.3. Pretty normal actually. Thought it would be worse. Heading to the neighboring park. That looks interesting too. Beautiful. Oh, photo spot. There’s already almost a line forming. This is Chinatown in Kobe. Let’s ride through quickly, not slowing down too much. Monkeys, deer, goats, wild boars… Yeah, in the morning after evening parties, probably have to clean up. Another Chinese gate. Alright, saw Kobe… Now can move further west. There’s some park on the seashore. I’ll try heading towards it, to the west. Oh, what lines. This is a line for the bus. Bus isn’t even here yet, but there’s already a line. Another D51 standing here. They really love placing these around Japan. Probably made too many back in the day. Every steam locomotive is “De-Go-Ichi”, meaning “D-5-1”. A proper steam locomotive. Damn, the sun is shining. What’s going on? And there’s a big suspension bridge over there. Going to check it out now. You can go up there if you want. But better to go around and take the road. This is the Akashi Kaikyo suspension bridge, or more precisely “Akashi Suspension Bridge”. It connects, well, the town of Akashi, which is on Honshu island, with Awaji Island. When it was built, it had some world record for the longest suspension bridge span. Well, nowadays there’s something longer somewhere else. Bridge length, 3900-something meters (almost 4 km). There’s a special observation deck up there somewhere. Going to check it out. Oh, so many fishermen today. Not even a holiday. And they say Japanese work a lot… Who’s working here? Everyone’s fishing, relaxing. Slackers, basically. 🙂 Well, that’s Awaji Island over there. But I’m not going there. Well, at least because you can’t bike across the bridge, and the ferry isn’t interesting either. Would have to come back later… Well, could go to Shikoku from there, but not this time. I’ll ride the Shimanami Kaido later instead. Anyway, I took the elevator up. Costs 300 yen for this pleasure. (Did it get more expensive?) To walk on the bridge… We’ll walk on the bridge! Wow, what a cool structure here. Let’s go take a look. Oh, such a view of Kobe from here. And fishermen down below catching fish. Occupied the whole shore. Even labeled roughly what you can see from here. There’s Wakayama. The weather isn’t really clear enough to see anything through the haze, the fog. Can’t even tell which island is which. Kobe, Kyoto… Well, obviously that direction… And this thing is paid. If you want to look through binoculars, pay 100 yen, and they’ll unlock the lens. See? You can turn it, but they won’t let you look. No eating, and no drinking either. But free Wi-Fi. Art exhibition here. Well, everyone’s showing off as best they can. Like this. Just a cat here. All sorts of different cats. I want you to believe in my future and let me do what I want. What’s this, some Mona Lisa or something? And little foxes here. Fox with a sock… just a fox. Well, and something else, I don’t know. Some more weird stuff. 🙂 Selling various souvenirs, toys, all sorts of things… The opposite side of Kobe… or is this not Kobe?
Akashi town? Ah, there are thousands of these towns… Who the hell can keep track of the names. Have you ever seen a toilet on a bridge? Well, here it is. Observation area. Well, let’s go see more. How far can you go here? This is getting scary. You approach, and the floor is glass, with the sea underneath. Well, that’s it, reached the farthest point. They won’t let us go further. A fence further on. And only hear the cars driving up above. Damn, they could have made a bike lane here, for example. Why not? There’s space. Evacuation Area. 47 m above sea level. Ah, only 47? I thought it was at least 80. Damn, how noisy it is up there, rumbling… Whoa, there’s something for extreme enthusiasts here too. Damn, this is really impressive… This is scary. I’ve skydived, of course, but damn, when you jump, at least you don’t look down… But here you look, and there’s nothing under your feet. Well, here’s the view (why is the focus…?) there! Well, basically, something like that. Free exhibition center next door. Look how huge. Well, probably more than a hundred millimeters. Wonder what if… About this bridge, various technologies, materials, constructions, engineering solutions… Bridge model, and much more. They even show something in virtual reality – I’ll check it out later. Video here, everything in Japanese. Ah, aerodynamic testing, like how it sways in the wind. Well, there’s a lot here. How all this was built. Pretty decent bridge museum, and most importantly, free! This would be interesting for bridge engineering engineers. I’m not one of them, of course, but I still like technology. And here’s a bench made from a 1.1 m diameter main cable that supports this bridge. It consists of 290 bundles of 127 steel wires, each 5.23 mm in diameter. Phew, wandered around the bridge until 13:30. Well, at least saw something interesting. Need to move on slowly. Would be good to reach Himeji today. About 40 km to it. Well, I can manage 40 km before evening. Unless I get stuck somewhere again, at some attraction. Well, if I do get stuck, that’s fine too, there’ll be something to see. Need to find a convenience store somewhere, recharge. My battery is running low again. Used up all the energy while walking, filming, taking photos. No problem, there’ll be something along the way. If not – well, the powerbank is still almost full. I’m back on my favorite type of road. Along the sea. Bike path heading towards Himeji. Wonder if it goes all the way to Himeji or not? Will there be more roads like this, or will they force me onto the highway again? Add a tailwind – would be perfect… But that would be too much… An overdose of… favorable conditions. Baseball player. Turns out it’s a holiday in Japan today. They have some day today, Culture Day or something like that. Like various events are held, local ones, well, cultural ones apparently. Or rather, not today, but yesterday was this holiday. And for them, if a holiday falls on a Sunday or some other day off, then the next day is compensated and made a day off. So today is Monday, and they’re off! And I thought they were all slacking off, fishing, barbecuing on the beach. So that’s how it is. Anyway, I’m heading to… Himeji city. Only about 10 km left or something. Not even 10, it’s even closer now. 10 is to the castle. The famous big castle there. Well, I don’t know if it’s big, maybe it seems big to me, but worth seeing! So I don’t know, they light it up beautifully at night. Hope it’s beautiful. Another question is, is it visible from outside or is it fenced off, so you can’t approach and see it, and they won’t let anyone inside in the evening anyway. Well, I think I’ll find a spot to pitch the tent nearby. And take a quick look in the morning… damn, look… but in the morning it probably opens at 10:00, like all these museums… Should I hang around there until 10? Ah whatever, I’ll see, if it’s not visible, I won’t wait. (One castle more, one castle less…) The castle is famous, of course, but not worth losing half a day for. My favorite Gyoumu Super. Dropping by for my dumplings. Oh, they even have this here. Thought Gyoumu doesn’t sell this. Need to think. Need to think. Good. I can already see the castle from here. Don’t know if it’s visible on video, but I see it. There it is on the mountain, high up. Heading towards it now. Maybe the night view is even more beautiful. At the supermarket, by the way, I bought a couple of discounted meals. Well, as usual, rice and something, some meat, some chicken, something else. Half price is fine. And a pack of dumplings. Heading to the castle. Damn, what’s that smell? Like some kind of manure. The White Heron Castle in person, so to speak. Well, at least they didn’t close the park at night. Can enter. Beautifully lit up at night. Well, need to photograph from a bit further away, of course, otherwise you can’t really see it from here. Not a bad angle on the castle from here. Well, can’t really see it much closer. Walls, trees, no view. Closer only by going right in. Well, I’m not going there. Alright, going to find a spot to pitch the tent. Time 19:38. Park not far from the castle. Well, not far, maybe half a kilometer. Park, not a park? But it’s called a park! Everything’s abandoned. Well, maybe people come here occasionally, but they definitely don’t maintain order here. But that’s for the best. I’ll pitch the tent right here. No need to search long for a spot. Even free light. Just need to clear some branches from underfoot. So much fallen wood… And you can even see the castle through the tree branches from here! I’ve never camped with a view of a castle before. Will tonight. Oh, by the way, I rode 76 km today. And what does the thermometer show? Thermometer shows 16.2℃. Well, let’s say, slightly below comfortable, but fine for cycling overnight. Alright, talk later.

Велопрогулка по паркам и центральным улицам Кобе. Большой Подвесной Мост Акаши (Akashi Kaikyo), смотровая площадка и музей моста. Еду в Химедзи Замок Белой Цапли смотреть. Ночую в заброшенном парке с видом на замок.
День 27 (4 ноября 2024). Кобэ – Химедзи. 76 км.
Пол-Японии и Кюсю-иссю на велосипеде.

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Велопутешествие по Японии. Из Токио до Кюсю и вокруг Кюсю. 8 октября – 27 ноября 2024.
Продолжительность = 50 дней;
Количество участников = 1;
Общее расстояние = 2895 км;
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Отчёт по походу 2023 года: https://forum.awd.ru/viewtopic.php?f=308&t=427989&start=0