It would be rude not to Tunnel Count = 11 Straight off I must say Today's ride was almost perfect , an absolute joy. For the last 3 days I had been fighting the weatger and the distance and the cycling had become a bit stale. But Today the wind was still there but only about 10mph ... a mere breeze ! I was now not cycling for distance, I was cycling for quality of ride, taking in all the surroundings, stopping and exploring as and when I liked. The day started with a 10mile straight North thriugh Yuzawa and Yokote which was effortless and covered in 40 minutes before a right hand turn onto a quieter road (but still steady) which would see me finally cross back onto the east side of the mountains proper. I entered Iwate prefercture with some trepidation as I had just read that a bear had attacked and killed a woman somewhere in rural Iwate ... and here I am .. in Iwate .. on a bike ! Perfect timing .... I had a climb to 1000ft and my eyes were scanning the trees I was passing and ahead like a radar dish. I hit a run of tunnels and when a few wagons appeared I chose a narrow walkway on tunnel 3 - it looked tight but had a rail to stop me falling onto the roadway... It was too tight I had no clearance and after several attempts bouncing panniers off wall and railing culminated in me skinning my arm on the wall, I chose to walk the bike through, trudging through several inches of accumulated soil, dust and debris. Once through I was at Nishiwaga - a juncture of the road I was on which continued east to Kitakami, then North to Morioka through populated country, or I could go North through unpopulated roads, potentially beautiful countryside and forests all the way to Morioka. For once I chose the obvious route .. considering the bear threat I didnt fancy the forest ! As it happened my original route followed the Waga river and it was sublimely beautiful, tunnels, bridges, lakes, gorges, rivers, trees, trees in rivers ! It was all bathed in an autumnal mix of colours ... This was cycling heaven ! I didnt want it to end but I lost the elevation and approached Kitakami where Mr Lawson provided a very light lunch. I had 30 miles to go and feared a populated much the same sort of ride. But the hills had receded a lot and the valley was so much wider than previous, it was very agricultural flatland with the hills very much so proliferal. I was cycling effortlessly through a patchwork of spread out villages with a mix of up market houses, ramshackles, barns, corrugated iron sheds ... but all the properties seened to gave a real pride in their gardens which were beautiful. I was serene, like a swan floating through this wonderful backdrop of Japanese countryside. My garmin indicatex a turn with about 17 miles to go ... I was gutted, I didnt want thus landscape to stop! But the turn brought slightly busier, slightly more populated, slightly less perfect roads ! Add to that the air quality had deteriorated and the surrounding hills were now difficult to see. With about 8 miles to go I reached the actual suburbs of Morioka and a huge volcano on the far side of town started to appear ... This sounds strange because in the City Centre it dominates ! So my perfect days cycling ended ... but my day kept getting better having found the Saien Craft Beer Brewery in town - they had a 'Special' only today in a wooden cask beer on the bar counter amd I was here Today ... It would be rude not to celebrate not being eaten by a bear ... and the name of the beer ... Baeren !!!