There are many areas in Japan popular for autumn leaves, Tamba area is one of them. It is just located at the west of Okutama, west of Tokyo area, makes it easily accessible from Tokyo for even just a day trip, 2 to 3 hour drive.
Hence, at the Halloween time, we decided to take my MTB to Tamba area for a spin, see if we can catch some good views of the maple leaves…
[Reference]
https://www.tambacity-kankou.jp/english/momiji/08.html
Actually, our day did not start from Tamba area… Our day started from at least 3-hour drive in order to reach Tamba area. So, first of all, we stopped by our favorite chained coffee shop — Komeda Coffee for our breakfast (free half-toast & egg came with coffee in the morning)! Komeda Coffee always has relaxing & spacious environment, free Wifi and electric outlet (depending on your table), the coffee never disappointing, and also, their butter toast is free in the morning, but thick & soft with crispy surface — the best!!
https://www.komeda.co.jp/en/attraction/index.html
When we were about to arrive, it was already noon… So, we stopped by Service Area (SA) for lunch. It was lucky for us, this SA has some tables outside, right next to some maple trees, and had a great view! Picture perfect!!
Also, the SA has many interesting decorations, including some very pretty Tenugui ( Japanese traditional hand towel) with wolf designs (somehow wolf is the representative animal for this area) framed and hanged on the walls. The Tenugui looked so pretty, I wanted to buy them all!!
It was a really sunny & hot day — despite of end of Oct., and MTB isn’t as effective as cross bike or road bike on climbing and distance… we were soon exhausted, with the climbs. But, maple trees there were. There were still some cars and bikes and houses around, but so much more quiet than the cities. We even passed by some rivers and crossed some bridges. It was such a nice day!
We found a local park to take a break. In fact, the local park was at higher location, and really well-maintained. The view was great!!
After all, we were in the mountains. We had to go through several tunnels. Some of them were quite long… There were sidewalks inside some of the long tunnels, but the sidewalks were really narrow, just for one person to walk, so it’s difficult for maintain the bike on the sidewalk, I think. I usually just ride on the side of car roads.
However, it was daytime, so we had no headlamps nor taillamps… even wearing sunglasses, in some seconds I couldn’t see inside the tunnels… but if you just keep on go straight, it would be through. Luckily, there were no much cars or bikes. Because when they were there, it would be really loud inside the tunnels.
Our reward was, we saw some nice waterfalls!! Under the sun and among the maple leaves, they look so pretty!
There, we turned around and returned to our car. All those long tough uphill now becomes exciting long downhills, even downhill inside the tunnels!! Ha, the return way was really quick & fun!! Too bad my MTB wasn’t equipped with a meter. I have no idea of my speed, but I certainly wasn’t using any brake at all!! However, return way was also freezing —- as the sun was going down, combine with wind, really cold!!
Anyway, we were back to the local park at the riverside where we parked our car. The park was so pretty and peaceful. There were many interesting facilities for kids, including this cute wooden train, and the sliding thing (is this also common in other countries? I know that at least they are common in Kong Kong. Even I’m an adult, I like it! I sometimes play the adult version (much longer & higher) of it…
Some elder people were playing a game with a stick to hit some balls around on the ground. I don’t know what it is called. Anyway, what a peaceful afternoon! I wonder what I would be doing when I become their age…
Sunset from the car!!
