Sam Again ! Tunnel Count =8 Today was a straight forward day - good weather, nice route, not too much 'city' to get through and lots of scenic spots. As I left Matsumoto there was a great view straight down a street festooned with power cables looking right onto the snow capped mountains. I was following the Narai river and after 5miles it flows into the Azusa River forming a new river called the Sai ! At this point a red helicopter looked like it was about to land just ahead of me. I sped up and caught it hovering above a field.Next the winch and a man being lowered. There were another two men in the field and one was airlifted out. I assume he had a medical issue ... However a mile further down the road I saw the same issue play out again - I suspect it was all training ! Soon after a Chinook eascorted by another heliocopter went over me andcthen 5 minutes later another - it was Helicopter Day for sure. The river was wide and gravelly and there was a range of snow topped mountains in the background. At 9 miles the valley branched and I headed up the right hand side soon passing a dam on the Sai river above which the wide river swept round bends and at Ikusaka the road went into a tunnel but I chose to ignore the short cut and followed the river around a 270 degree horseshoe bend. Soon at another horseshoe bend there were two roads converging and another old road going through a rockface' there were several bridges and the water was deep glowing blue/green. And so the views continued until it all became more urban at Nagata. Having caught every light going out of Matsumoto, I had a freaky run of green lights which took me straight through the centre of Nagano - I must have timed about 10 in a row, flying through busy streets doing right turns on an off avenues. Leaving Nagano I was on a plain full of orchards with people busy in the fields for about 10 miles before dropping off this plain i to the Chikuma River valley which the Sai had now joined. One last scenic spot wbere a bridge crossed next to two small hills whilst the wider valley had developments creeping up the valley sides, all quite Alpine ! I was at my guest house in Iiyama before 4pm which is above a Korean Restaurant and I have a full Japanese Tatami room for the night again. One last task was to venture into town and get my hair cut ... Barbershop found and a friendly woman agreed with me to a number 3 all over. She started on the side with a guard and I thought ... its a bit longer than I wanted, next she attacked my fringe with the unguarded shears and continued ... I was down to the bone ... but at least it'll last me the rest of the Tour ! I had had a similar haircut in Germany whrn I asked for drei millimeter thinking this was a number 3 ! Ɓut this time I specifically agreed to a Sam ( Three in Japanese) ... unfortunately I got the Sam haircut again