Category: european bike epic

A nice dry warm hut is a hard place to leave in the morning, even if it isn’t raining any more. Nontheless, we manage to get on the road by 7.30am, and climb the dreaded hill up and away from the lake. Before our climb begins though, we see a sign giving distances to Bihoro and Bihorotoge…

A: What’s toge mean when it’s on the end of a place name?
B: Pass. As in mountain pass.
M: Oh. Ohhh. I did not wish to know that.

So we climbed to Bihorotoge, which was shrouded in cloud and containing a scary souvenir shop. I resisted the temptation to buy a Hello Kitty towel. With nothing much to hang around for, we descended the other side of the pass, then raced along the flat farmland to Bihoro.

 

Roadside louvres (for snow drift reduction)

 

At Bihoro there was the traditional 7-11 food stop, this time coupled with a visit to Mister Donut (where Alex got me a couple of mini donut-burgers, which were sickeningly cute, but very tasty). A hunt for internet took us to the Co-op, where more food was purchased as we sat online in the sun.

 

The Sea of Okhotsk

 

Finally we left Bihoro, cycling through the rolling hills and farmland towards the sea (the Sea of Okhotsk). Once we hit the coastline we cycled along a flat and boring stretch of coast, with all of the towns looking a bit beaten-up and run-down. There are no seagulls, only crows – obviously it’s fake coast. Our campground for the night in Koshimizu is a disused picnic shelter – we opt to cook there, then camp out on sleeping mats at the ‘observatory’ at the top of the hill next to us. It’s a sort of look out building, with a nice view of the coast, and the mountain range in the distance that we’re to cross tomorrow. I wake up at 3.30am to see a pink stripe in the sky to signify sunrise over the mountains, then fall back to a disturbed sleep.

 

Camping out by the ‘observatory’

 

Location: Lake Kussharo – Koshimizu, Hokkaido, Japan
Distance cycled: 87km

It rains on and off overnight, and we get up to dampness. First up is the climb up and away from Akan Lake, and the rain starts in earnest. As we pedal uphill in the rain many Japanese military vehicles go past us, and I get a few waves and thumbs up. Finally the climb is over, and we descend in a downpour with numb hands. Well mine were getting numb until I switched to mittens. We pass a sign that says it’s 10oC, then enter Toshikaga and huddle in the Seicomart, where all who enter are greeted with deranged cheeriness, and we squelch around in bike shoes that resemble swimming pools for feet.

 

Riding in the rain

 

Fooded up, we cycled onwards to Lake Kussharo, where the proprietor takes pity on us and drops the price of a cabin, so we can afford to stay warm and dry for the night (fronting onto the lake too – luxury… although it’s just a small wooden box with a gas heater, it was home to us). We quickly turn the place into a sauna with wet clothes hanging everywhere. After a dip in the open air onsen by the lake, some dry clothes, and washing my hair in the sink, I almost feel human again.

 

Our log cabin – home sweet hut

 

Location: Akan – Lake Kussharo, Hokkaido, Japan
Distance cycled: 60km

One of the trials of a being a techno-geek cycle-camper is finding power to charge all your gizmos and whatsits, and wireless to access the internet. After packing up and leaving the campground early on, we wandered round Akan township, looking for power. No good location appeared (we were chased away from outside a town office when it opened, and the bathrooms, although warm, weren’t the best spot to hang out) showed itself until we stumbled across the free foot onsen that had both power and wireless available from it. The only downfall was that it was not the warmest spot in the world – lukewarm spring would have been a more accurate descriptor than hot spring.

 

Akan Lake

 

Once fully charged we leave the onsen and find food at Lawson (similar to 7-11) down the main street – it has hot food, tables and chairs, AND power and good wireless! Paydirt. We sit on our laptops, buying more food occasionally.

 

Napping with bike and lake

 

Eventually we feel obliged to move on, and arriving at the campground we find they’ve now opened, and we pay Y630 each for what was free the night before (and their laundry still isn’t open). But at least the onsen there is toasty warm now. This makes up for the raven which comes to steal our matches while we’re sitting warming our feet.

Location: Akan Lake, Akan National Park, Hokkaido, Japan
Distance cycled: 10km (rest day)

During the night we’d heard a huge thunderclap overhead and then a veritable downpour. Thankfully our shelter was relatively waterproof, and we were all as dry as we had been last night. Which was not particularly.

We cycled off at about 6.30am, winding around the Lake, then climbed up through rain over the range to descend into fog. Finally the fog cleared, and we emerged into flat dry(ish) farmland.

Another town stop for food at 42km, and we started churning through kilometres, cruising through hilly farmland and being passed by Japanese army trucks constantly, going in both directions.

 

Cycling through Akan National Park

 

I start contemplating the fact that having a new set of bicycle panniers is just like moving into a new house. Suddenly you have a whole lot of new cupboards to fill, and you’re not quite sure where to put everything. So you do the best you can, and shove everything away. And initially you can never remember where you put things, and maybe some things weren’t stored in the best place. But gradually you develop a system, and learn exactly where everything belongs, and can always put your hand just on what you need.

With around 100km under our belt we start the final climb up into the hills around Akan National Park, and then the descent to the Lake. We’re now on a run of three closed campgrounds – at least the Akan one seems to be getting ready to open for Summer, with running water and open washroom facilities – although sadly their hot showers, laundry and common room are not available.

 

Foot onsen!

 

To make up for this though, they have a foot onsen! So we sit and eat dinner with our feet in mildly warm water, then set up camp in the trees at the back, hiding from the onslaught of mosquitoes and bugs.

Location: Lake Shikaribetsu – Akan Lake (Akan National Park), Hokkaido, Japan
Distance cycled: 138km

One of the most baffling things about Hokkaido is the fact that the sun rises at 3.40am. And sets at 6.30pm. I thought I must have been imagining things, the first time I woke up in daylight at 4am. But no, it really is light that early. A quirk of the Japanese single time zone and lack of daylight savings.

 

Waterfalls in Daisetsuzan

 

We head back to Sounkyo to stock up on food, then head out and uphill, through tunnels and past waterfalls, and past snow, and roadworks, and finally to the pass.

 

At the pass

 

After lunch at the pass we fly downhill to Nukabira, an onsen (hot spring!) town. We have a brief internet and food interlude, then start the climb to Lake Shikaribetsu. An ascent of around 600 metres in 9km has us in great-granny gears the whole way, as we pass through the Nukabira ski resort, where deers graze on the snow-free ski runs.

 

Pushing uphill

 

It starts raining as we start rolling downhill, and by the time we reach the lake we are saturated. The campground is closed, so we join the other stealth campers and set up in a picnic shelter. At least we have running water this time, and there’s an owl.

 

Downhill in the fog

 

Location: Sounkyo – Lake Shikaribetsu, Hokkaido, Japan
Distance cycled: 89km