Cycling and Hiking the northern section of Yamanobe-no-michi in Nara

The weather in recent weeks has been insanely beautiful around Nara, and this past weekend was no exception.  After a botched attempt at trying to go to Osaka this past Saturday, I ended up meeting KCDC for a ride on the east side of Nara city. The “second” original plan was to head to Imai-cho, a place known for its mass amount of Edo period homes, however the time was too limited to ride that far.  As a result I suggested we head out and ride along a trail I had discovered this past early spring. After riding there for a second time and exploring some more, I was surprised to find out that a good part of this trail was actually part of the

“Yamanobe-no-Michi”, the oldest known road in Japan, that stretches from the base of Mt. Kasuga all the way to Sakurai City. I had ridden and blogged about the Tenri to Sakurai section before, but somehow didn’t know that there was actually more to the old road. Needless to say it was a pleasant surprise and despite KCDC getting a flat via some barbed wire, a grumpy old taxi driver, and a few hundred mosquitoes bites, the ride was a ton of fun.

KCDC...fixin