ファミリー自転車アドベンチャー（3泊4日）
- 日程：7月11日（金）～14日（月）
（ご希望の日程での開催も可能です。） - 総距離： 約１５０km
- 難易度： 初級～中級
（ご希望に応じてカスタマイズ致します。） - 料金（お一人様）： 100,000円
景色が美しく起伏がゆるやかで、子どもから大人まで楽しくサイクリングを楽しめるコースを厳選。体を動かす充実感と、緑かがやく信州の山里の景色・文化・歴史を満喫できる家族向けの自転車旅行です。
観光的な要素だけでなく、都会にはない環境を利用した探求型学習の手をとりいれ、家族みんなの心に残る楽しい経験を提供します。
概 要 top
Ride and walk through some of the most beautiful mountain areas of northern Nagano. This trip will take you from the rural outskirts of Nagano City, through hot-spring and traditional farm villages deep into the remote Akiyamago Valley - an area said to be founded centuries ago by defeated samurai warriors fleeing their enemies. The area is famous today for long harsh winters, short days, and steep terrain which have made it one of the most inhospitable (though inhabited) areas in Japan.
Days include riding and walking over a variety of terrain - from rolling hills, highland plateaus, and steep mountain passes (uphill with plenty of downhill).
An average day is about 40km with optional terrain and side trips to ensure that even the most hard-core of families can get the workout they are looking for. Those who prefer a more relaxed trip can walk the steep parts, leaving the bike for a thrilling cruise down. The moderate distances allow plenty of time to enjoy cultural activities and the history of the area even at walking pace.
Meals include full course traditional Japanese dinners, lunches at local soba shops, and mountain-top picnics featuring fresh, organic, local, and macrobiotic (based on traditional Japanese diet that focuses on a balance between yin and yang foods) dishes. You will even have the opportunity to dine with local farmers and their families in their home. We will be there all the way to translate and facilitate conversation, as well as share the historic and cultural story of what you are eating, giving you a complete view of rural life in Japan.
Some possible activities for the whole family or individual members include:
- Seeing wild monkeys in a wildlife preserve, and in their natural habitat
- Making Soba, Mochi, Oyaki, or other traditional Japanese foods
- Helping local farmers in the field
- Joining elderly folks for tea and a chat (we will translate)
- Walk forest trails with a local guide, learning about plants and their traditional uses
- Collecting wild mountain fruits, vegetables, and nuts - and eating them later!
- Helping to renovate a traditional thatch-roof house.
- Creating haiku poems or painting traditional etegami painted postcards.
- Watercolor, sketch, photography, or nature-craft outings
- Helping to survey and map local wildlife and vegetation
- Off-road, down-hill mountain bike riding
- Tracking and observing wild rabbits, fox, or even bear
- Making traditional Japanese handicrafts and paper
- A visit to a local grade school
- Helping to rebuild trails once used by locals who made their living from the nearby mountains
- Build a shelter, fire, and cook a meal using only a knife and what can be found in the surrounding forest
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Tentative Itinerarytop
This trip is planned for July 7 - 10, with an option to customize the dates to fit your travel plans.
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Day 1 Yudanaka / Shibu Onsen - Nozawa Onsen Village (45km)
The tentative meet-up point is Shibu Onsen where we will get right onto the bikes for a leisurly ride through this historic hot-spring town on our way to a Japanese Monkey preserve - famous for the monkeys' habit of relaxing in the hot-spring bath. With ample time to enjoy watching the wildlife, we will give a brief but thurough safety-talk and orientation before we all enjoy a primarilly downhill cruise through the rural outskirts of Nagano City to our first break in Iyama City.
You will have a chance to join a local guide in the nearby forests for wild vegetable picking, and to stop at a large supermarket for a tour gided by our own Japanese food expert. You will learn what all those strange looking foods are, how they are used, and how eating-habits and production have changed over the years.
Well rested, we once again mount the bikes and head toward the quaint Nozawa Onsen Village - home to 13 public hot-spring baths. After checking into a family-run inn and donning a cotton yukata robe, we will visit one or two of the baths before returning to our inn, refreshed and ready for a dinner including local delicacies such as fish grilled over the irori fire-place.
After dinner you will have an opportunity to enjoy another bath, walk through village, or simply relax with a book - either your own or from our library of Japan-related material.
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Day 2 Nozawa Onsen - Sakae Mura (45km)
Your day starts with an amazing full-course traditional breakfast followed by time for a morning bath and a visit to a special hot-spring where the locals still come to boil their vegetables.
From here you have the option of riding up one of the mountain roads, used as a ski-slope in winter, in order to enjoy a wonderful cruise through misty morning forests and small mountain villages before arriving at our lunch destination.
Lunch can be as simple as a picnic at a shrine overlooking the small farming village, a BBQ we prepare together, or even hand-made buckwheat soba noodles and pounded mochi rice that we make with the help of local farmers.
Energized by lunch and a relaxing, yet informative, exploration of a farming village, you have the option to ride or walk through more villages in moderately hilly terrain, or of taking a more "extreme" mountain bike ride down a dirt road (with a paved alternative) from the top of a nearby mountain. Whether you ride up or catch a lift depends on time, physical state, and your own desire for challenge.
Either way, we will pass by a hot-spring bath before reaching our final destination - a local farming family that has agreed to share their home with visitors. You are invited to join them in picking the nights dinner from their own field, as well as participating in the preparation of the nights meal.
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Day 3 Sakae Mura - Akiyamago (30km)
After a home-cooked breakfast, we will hit the road for the shortest leg of our journey, but not necessarily the easiest. While there are no steep mountain roads, this day climbs gradually up-stream along the Nakatsu River, into the Akiyamago Vally. The area is famous for incredibly harsh winters and holds the record for the most accumulated snowfall in Japan in one season - 8 meters! The architecture and lifestyle of the people reflect this harsh reality.
Of course, we will be riding in summer, so there is no fear of an avalanche, but you will still marvel at how such a remote are could have sustained people for centuries. Excellent museums and preserved thatched roof houses depicting traditional life will give a clue.
Along the way we may have the opportunity to do a little community service as well - having tea and a chat with some of the elderly shut-ins in the small villages dotting the vally. Sakae Village is rates as one of the "border villages" of Japan - places that have reached the "border" in terms of being able to sustain itself. One of the reasons is the aging population and the fact that younger people must move out to the cities to find work.
After a bath in a very unique - though relaxing and cleansing - mud-colored hot-spring, we will head to our lodging for the night - an inn run by a local bear hunter. Here we will enjoy hearing tales from generations of traditional bear hunters while enjoying home-made tofu, bear-meat stew, and other wild delicacies.
Dinner is followed by an after dinner walk, or simply relaxing by the fireplace with a book and a bottle of hot sake (for the adults) - a perfect ending for the day.
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Day 4 Akiyamago - Tsunan (40km)
The final leg of the journey starts with a short uphill and morning bath in a hot-spring accessible only by digging into the chilly river-bed.
From here, it is a mostly downhill ride through more small villages, along the opposite bank of the Nakatsu River, to Tsunan where we will eventually say our goodbyes and make sure you get on the right train back home.
The return journey offers more insight into modern rural life in Japan with a short visit to the local grade-school (with only five students), and the home of a local who has gathered many antique farm and lifestyle tools for display. If your return schedule allows, we will have time for one last walk into the mountains, or learn some of the local songs, dances, and children's games - such as throwing eggplants at a tree!
Requirements top
This is a family bike tour of rural areas in Japan that are not designed to cater to tourists and tourism. As such, the course requires two things from its participants - an average level of physical fitness and willingness to push a limit every now and then, and above average curiosity. The fact that you have read this far means that you are probably the exact type of person that will ge tthe most out of our trips.
Moderate Physical Fitness
The course is designed for families with young children, taking advantage of Japan's abundant natural settings and activities. Ideally, the most fit participants should be able to cycle up to 50 kilometers per day including some hills. We realize, however, that this isdifficult for some children (and more often than not, for their parents). There is always the option to catch a ride in the support van for uphill rides, but we try to encourage participants to push themselves - making the downhills and bath that much more rewarding.
Curiosity
The number one requirement to get the most out of this course is curiosity and willingness to explore. At One Life Japan we see ourselves as "facilitators", rather than guides. We are anxious to share our knowledge with you, but this is not a passive bus tour. We do our best to provide the framework and engaging topics for exploratory learning for people of all ages. This tour is especially aimed at activities that children and families have found fun and rewarding for centuries. Unlike Disneyland package tours, however, our tours are for those who know how to find joy and learning in less contrived activities.
What to Expect (A Sample Day) top
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While each day is different, with its own unique activities and highlights, a typical day might look like this:
7:00 Wake Up / morning dip in onsen bath / Yoga for mom & dad (the kids can sleep in)
8:00 Traditional Japanese Breakfast
9:00 Discuss Days Plan over green tea, coffee, and juice
9:30 Stretch & Depart on days route
12:00 Picnic lunch overlooking beautiful scenery (followed by a nap while we entertain the kids?)
12:00 Exciting downhill ride or walk through forest collecting native bugs or tracking other wildlife
13:00 Ride on. (passing through mountains, small villages, or cities)
15:00 Stop to explore an interesting museum, chat with farmers, or learn to make soba - then continue on
18:00 Arrive at your inn, get settled, prepare for bath
19:30 Traditional local full course dinner / discuss the days findings / play with the inn-keepers children
21:00 Take an evening stroll
22:00 Retire to your comfortable futon for a well deserved sleep
Pricing and What's Included top
All-inclusive Bike Tour
We design our all-inclusive tours so that you wont have to look at a credit card for the entire duration:
4 days: 100,000 JPY/person Register
This includes
Bikes: Our cross touring bikes are specially customized make your trip the most comfortable and enjoyable possible. Our frames are sturdy, stable, and light-weight, fitted with ultra-comfortable seats, handle bars and grips. Pannier saddle bags allow you to easily carry warm clothing, water, snacks, and any souvenirs you pick-up along the way.
Accommodation: You will be staying in family run inns in small mountain villages and popular onsen towns, as well as one night with local farming family. Every night offers a hot-spring bath, comfortable traditional cotton yukata robe, and a oh-so-heavenly futon on a traditional straw tatami floor. One of our main concerns when choosing accommodation is the friendliness and openness of the owners and staff, and we will be there the entire time to translate and facilitate communication. For the family trip, we look for inn-keepers with children of their own to provide interactive opportunities for everyone.
Meals: Perhaps the most important part of any trip to Japan is the food. While the well-known sushi and sukiyaki are available, we seek out local, traditional meals that have developed in the region over the centuries defining and being defined by the local culture and history. Wherever possible we choose fresh, local ingredients grown by farmers we know - you will even get to meet some of them. Lunches will either be at local restaurants or luxurious picnics with macrobiotic, traditional vegetarian and zen foods overlooking beautiful mountain valleys in their full autumn splendor.
Entrance Fees: All museums, baths, festivals, and any other entrance fees are covered so you are free to go anywhere and do anything your wanderlust takes you.
Guides & Communication Facilitation: You have the option of riding with bilingual guides that have studied the area and culture and are anxious to share as much as you want to hear, and probably a lot you didn't even know you wanted to hear. (Of course, we will shut-up if you ask nicely). Alternatively, you can strike our on your own with scheduled meeting points. Either way, we will be available every step of the journey, whether you are trying to communicate with your host for the night, the old man at the vegetable stand, or trying to find a certain color of kimono for that perfect souvenir. We also provide printed translations of important museum exhibits and explanation of various foods and interesting cultural artifacts found along the way. A highlight of the tour is a trip to a supermarket where our guide and professional chef points out interesting foods and explains how they are used and their history.
Support Vehicle: Not only do we carry your luggage and have elaborate picnic lunches waiting at the perfect lookout point, but we also carry people when needed. If you would rather spend more time at a museum or napping on a mountain top while the rest of the group rides on, our support vehicle will help you catch up. Want to walk instead of ride? The support vehicle will take your bike to the next meeting point. Had enough up-hills for the day? Our support vehicle will carry you to the top leaving you to enjoy the cruise down.
Maps: We have made easy to follow English maps with important landmarks and points of interest highlighted. We even give you a pen to keep notes on the map of the one of a kind encounters and experiences you have along the way.
Professional Photographer: Photos of you, your fellow adventurers, and the people you meet on your journey, edited and collected into one CD with optional large-size prints of the really good shots.