Bike Ride to Shonai River (West)

Today I decided to bike west (mainly because I haven't done that yet).  I basically went to and a bit along the Shonai River which is the main river that goes around/through Nagoya City. It is the same river as my previous blog posts since it goes on the border of Nagoya in the North then turns to go south to empty into the bay.

Here is the main map:

And an approximate map of the rest of the journey (phone was low on battery so I didn't record it):

So, altogether, the trip was around 45km.

So I set off along the road that my apartment is on... along the way, there was a blimp flying around:

 Closeup:

 One one of the canals/rivers along the way, I found a nice boat - would be nice to do that some day!

 Closeup:

 Finally, that street basically ends nearby to Nagoya train station, next to the strangely shaped building:

Then I followed the other large road (which is just parallel to mine).  Just a random overpass:

At some point, there was this huge torii gate by the street and police had the street blocked off...

 ... so I went to investigate... it turned out to be a festival (matsuri) I guess of the local shrine in Nakamura:

 Here is the gate for the shrine:

 The shrine:

 A stage for musical performance:

 Very nice garden:

 total nature:

 swimming turtle:

 resting turtles:

 A gate to some buildings:

 Lots of green:

 bamboo:

 fish swinging in the wind:

 I left the park and got to the nearby river.  However, this is basically all I saw:

 But I found some rice fields among the houses:

 Interesting location :)

 The neighbourhood:

 Another shrine along the way:

 Finally was able to get on a bridge...

 ... and see the river:

 View back to the city - you can see the Nagoya train station and basically the tallest buildings in Nagoya in the distance:

 From the river bed:

 Closeup on the tall buildings:

 Nagoya train station (the tallest building in Nagoya is the dark gray one hidden behind one of the white towers):

 Then I continued back along some highways so it is easier to find my way:

 Got to the main train vein coming from Nagoya (you can see the tall buildings in the back):

 Close up on them - the Midland Square building is clearly seen here:

 Nagoya train station towers and Midland Square:

 Nagoya train station buildings closeup:

 Some road from an overpass:

 I got somewhat lost along the way... took a wrong street for a while but was all good.  Here is another river:

 You can see the wheel of the amusement park by Nagoya port:

 And another river with a view of the Nagoya station buildings:

 Now, near Yagoto Nisseki, a very old (and unmaintained) looking temple entrance:

 A very large cemetery by Yagoto:

 Big!

 Found this awesome creature cross the path:

 A collection of old looking cars:

 Some oranges on a tree:

 The neighbourhood (I guess Tenpaku Ward) had lots of vegetable gardens and grape and fruit tree orchards among the houses:

 And lastly... a picture of me towards the end of the journey: