The road to Biwako (Lake Biwa) took me over one more mountain to get there. I planned a route through a tunnel, but of course when I got there it said no bicycles allowed so I was forced to go over the mountain. No problem though! The mountain was pretty tough but all in all I smashed it as usual. At one point a guy who looked to be in his 50s cycled past me, which proved that it turns out people do go on that road. I couldn't feel jealous that he's faster, he wasn't carrying any bags after all. And good for him anyway lol! I took the day at my own pace, allowing myself to stop and rest a lot. It was quite hot and sunny so I needed it. Lake Biwa itself is pretty insane. When you look at it from some angles, you can't even see the other side. It looks like you're looking out into the ocean. At one point I detoured a tiny bit to get a coffee, which was ¥900!!! I'm not sure any coffee is worth ¥900 but it was indeed delicious. I realised I wouldn't make my intended campground in time, but I also found out that basically the whole coastline of Biwako is littered with free camp spots you can just pull up almost wherever, I found a Sushiro on the other side and was craving sushi for dinner, so I crossed the massive bridge and went there. Sushiro is a sushi train chain and it's so cheap, and so good. I used to go every now and then in Iiyama with my Nozawa friends. My campsite was next to a baseball court where some high schoolers had practice. There was another guy there camping and cooking his food on a little bbq. The campsite was right next to the water, almost level with it. That's quite rare in Japan, because usually coastlines have anti tsunami walls. But this was a lake, so obviously it doesn't need that!