Continuing on from "The Back Entrance to Shiga’s Eigenji Temple" the other day, about a trip last week to the Eigenji Temple (永源寺) about an hour's drive from Kyoto, after entering via the rear gate, you find a closed-off courtyard to one side...

You're not allowed inside, but it's still pretty from the gate.

To give a better sense of the space, here's a wigglegram:

To be continued...

Last week I took a drive out to a new temple that Manseki had recommended as being pretty in autumn. It did not disappoint. (The "Anatomy of a Selfie" that I posted the other day was taken here.)

It turns out that I rode right by this temple during my summer bicycle ride to Nagoya. At that time, it took about 2h 40m to get here from home. This time by car, it took about an hour. I made the drive with Paul, Damien, and a newly-met friend, Adrian Tischler from Australia.

We didn't realize it at the time, [...]

Today we did a simple little "Hanase Support" ride, where a few of us with experience making the climb to Hanase Pass helped out those who have never done it. Lianca and Stephanie made the climb for the first time, being encouraged by Manseki, Antti, and me.

The southern climb to Hanase Pass is Kyoto's premier climb, averaging 8.6% for 5.8 km (3.6 miles) of unrelenting grade. Through sheer ignorance I happened to choose it for my first-ever real bike outing, in the snow and ice of early February last year, when it took 48 minutes to finish. I've climbed [...]

Continued here...

This post is a longer version of Friday's "Checking On the Carpet of Yellow at the Ochiba Shrine", in which I posted two quick photos from a ride that day to check out the colors at the Iwato Ochiba Shrine (岩戸落葉神社) in the mountains northwest of Kyoto. I started writing this followup post the next day, but have been so busy since I'm only finishing it today.

I normally like long rides, I guess to amortize the once-per-ride overhead of dealing with everything (the before and after of clothes, bike, electronics, data, and self), but I didn't get started [...]