It's the end of the world as we know it, but I feel fine

200 km, or 125 miles: that is the distance I've cycled over the last 2 days, taking a total of 26 hours. Wow!

The purpose? Well just fun really. A great way to relax, and see Lake Biwa, around which WEC work. Here's a video clip.

Lake Biwa, or Biwa Ko as it is known here, is Japan's largest lake, and is one of the 7 oldest lakes in the world. Because it is so old, it has lots of rare species of flora and fauna in it and around it. I saw some of it, even two monkeys!

My companion was French friend Mirabelle. We set out at 7am from Kyoto on Thursday morning, and cheered when we eventually saw Lake Biwa one and a half hours later. It was a hard slog, we could only stop for 30 minutes for lunch, and for the odd photo or 'conveni' stop, and arrived at our night stop-over in Kinomoto at 7pm.

The next day (yesterday) we set out in the glorious sunshine from Kinamoto at 7.30am, going through three horrible tunnels through the mountains and then out into the most stunning landscape of wild beauty. The only English song Mirabelle could think of was 'Singing in the Rain', so I followed it up with 'It's the End of the World as We Know It' which was more apt for the how we felt about the landscape, even though 'Sur Le Pont, D'Avignion' also made the hitlist as my one French song. About 3pm we reached a beach and lay there in triumph, thinking it was nearly over. We even stopped off in the Wilson's house for a cup of tea!

But we had not antcipated the long ride home. We finished getting round the lake at 9pm, but then were faced with nightsky and busy traffic to get back into Kyoto, and a route we didn't know how to get onto. In the end, tiredness (and perhaps common sense) took over and rather dejectedly we got the train back to Kyoto from Otsu (the start of the lake). But today I just feel happy. Sore, but happy, and planning how to retrieve my bike on Monday (ironically trying to combine it with visiting an office in Otsu to get my UK driving license translated in order to get my Japanese one!) Yeh, I like biking.