Lake to Lake or Lake Suwa to Lake Biwa

It was a bit grey this morning , unfortunately Noel was still suffering a bit from the Garlic we think, and we spent some time looking what route we should take to Lake Biwa. Actually it was simple choice that if you take normal roads it will be 11.5 hours and by Expressway 4.5 hours, plus a few thousand yen toll fees. Oh well its the Toll road then!

We did a bit of local shopping and took a few photos around Lake Suwa but the weather grey and cloudy and so we don't expect the photos to be any good, we shall see.  We left the main town and was soon on the Expressway and I must comment that so fa on the Expressways there has been no traffic to talk of and its heaven compared to the British Motorways.Through the various mountain ranges which means tunnel after tunnels one was actually over 8 kilometres long and make the Hindhead tunnel look rather silly. We passed numerous grave sites on the hills above the Expressway and Jennifer was taking photos as we went along and we passed a truck that seemed overloaded with bicycles and we presume they were from an entertainment area and now the season is over en route to a storage site or the knackers yard. We stopped midday for a drivers rest and the loo in a very well organised roadside parking area and at the entrance to the gents Loo there was a small garden with flowers, see photo, Elmbridge take note, and we had a quick snack and a brief twenty minute rest in the car.

This journey in the sun would be gorgeous and a wonderful thing to do and so we are a little disappointed with the weather.
It was now beginning to rain quite hard and the mountains were mostly hidden by mist and Mount Fuji was in there somewhere along with several large peaks, but what with the recent Typhoon and there was another one threatened it would of course mess up the weather quite a bit. The Satnav is quite good although every time you turn it on and off is talks to you for about 30 seconds, god knows what it is saying however its traffic advice warnings and driving instructions are very good so you cannot get lost. Towards the end of our journey it was warning of severe traffic delays and we decided to ditch the Expressway and try our luck via the normal roads and this really paid off. We arrived in Otsu which stands beside lake Biwa around 16.00 hours and checked in to the Lake Biwa Price Hotel which is a huge place and were were given a room on the 32nd Floor which is great for a view over the lake but not necessarily for Noels vertigo.
Based on Noels earlier experience for him diner was a slice of bread and a banana and Jennifer had purchased in advance a tuna salad which she enjoyed. We did a walk around the Hotel and looked at the various restaurants and again this Hotel is not full as the main bar was empty and so was the French Restaurant whilst the buffet perhaps only 25% busy. We thought that tomorrow and subject tom, we would try the buffet as it looks quite good.
The back to the room for a Japanese bath, which is not long but the water can come up almost to your shoulders and then a quiet evening catching up with Blogs and photos and Jennifer reading. Lets see what tomorrow will bring.