UFO Line - The big climb
We woke up around 6:30am. This day was definitely the hardest, and we wanted to get an early start. We had to get to our next hotel by 5pm and we had about 2000m of climbing to do on the bike to get there. We were going from sea level to the highest mountain ridge on the entire island.
I slept very well and was ready for the day ahead. The hotel had a lovely breakfast that had a variety of things including a cooked fillet of salmon. I also ate like 4 bowls of rice, the perfect fuel for the day. Per usual we stopped at FamilyMart before leaving Saijo to grab some food and snacks as we would not have anywhere to stop until we reached the mountain hut we were staying the night at.
The first bit of riding was pretty easy and then we hit the start of the climb. The road just went up and up through the mountains, passing over rivers of crystal clear water and autumn colours all around. Looking up at the mountains I distinctly noticed how summer faded into fall into winter as the elevation increased. At the peaks of the mountain we could see the trees were frosted from the night before and were covered in white. But down at the bottom it was about 18C. We were on the highway for a while before ducking off onto the road up to the UFO line. This is an older highway that is only really frequented by people who want to go see the UFO line. All major traffic ducks through the main highway that tunnels through the mountainside. Once we were on the smaller road we saw only a few motorcycles going up all day. Slow and steady was the name of the game since it was a very long climb.
We eventually got to a small tunnel that we had to go through near the top before hitting the UFO line. This tunnel had absolutely no lighting so we navigated by my front bike light. You could hear the echoing of the tires in the tunnel and the air temperature shifting between cool and warm as we progressed through the tunnel. On the other side we came out to the east side of the island. Took a break before starting the actual UFO line.
At this point we still had a lot more to go but it felt like we were 80% done, we were more like half. The UFO line was stunning, the road followed a steep ridge that wound along the eastern face of the mountains. At times the road would just drop off either side leaving expansive views of the surrounding area.
We probably hit the peak around 4:15pm. Luckily going down was extremely fast and we got to the lodge around 4:55pm with a whole 5 minutes to spare. Arriving at the lodge we were the only two people there minus the three workers running the hut. They were extremely nice and cooked a wonderful dinner. It was kind of a surreal experience to be the only two people there, the big lodge room, which I assume would usually be full of people, was completely empty except the two of us.
The cabin we were staying in was completely made of wood and had a beautiful maple interior. I distinctly remember lying on the floor looking up at the ceiling.
After dinner we went back to the cabin to shower. At this point it was probably -5 out and the cabin did not have the best insulation especially the bathroom so taking a shower was a bit frigid. Most days after cycling I like to take a cold shower to help with sore muscles but I definitely was not doing that today. I sat in the shower on a stool and just let the hot water hit me in the face.
After such a big day we really did not do much more except book our stay in Ozu for the next night and take a peek at the stars once the sun went down.
This was one of the best places I have ever cycled and the landscape was truly nothing like I have ever seen before. I remember wondering about the fish in the rivers that day and whether you could catch them. That’s for another trip in the future.
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