Leg 2: from Tsugawa to the Kamoshika's Domain

From Tsugawa Station we headed almost due south, following national route 49 until we came to prefectural route 227, which would eventually become the Honna-Tsugawa Forest Road. The 1,300 meter peaks of the Echigo Range, which we would have to cross later in the day, were visible only as markings on our maps, for the fog in Tsugawa obliterated all but the nearest objects. After a few kilometers on Rt. 227, we entered Kamikawa Village, and for the next two hours we rode along the Muroya River, past scattered farmhouses, the brown stubble of small rice fields recently harvested, and at one point the lovely wooden classroom building of a defunct elementary school, sad, silent testimony to the slow but inexorable death of rural communities such as Kamikawa. We had the road practically to ourselves, and as the gradient was gentle, it was a most pleasant start to this leg of the journey. A gradual lightening of the atmosphere heralded the lifting of the fog, and by mid-morning we were treated to spectacular views around every road-bend.