Category: european bike epic

We breakfast to the serene sounds of cicadas and the Japanese military training with heavy artillery. A lazy morning, we’re on the road at 8.15am, cycling along quiet farm roads with millions of cicadas singing to us. Occasional tractors are working in the fields, or people out whipper-snippering or hoeing.

We reach Biei for first lunch and a food shop at 11am. 7-11 is generally the food shop of choice, it’s barely more expensive than a supermarket, and they’ll warm things up for you too. And they’re more common than supermarkets, and have washrooms.

Another lunch at 2pm, then the heat starts to get to me (only 25oC or so, but I’m fresh from a Canadian winter and just not used to it). I have prickly heat on my hands, wrists and legs, and feel nauseous and crampy. Then the Boy loses a screw on his cleat. We fix it, and keep cycling through town and farmland on mediocre roads.

At around 100km we reach our campsite. It’s closed, with no hope of stealth camping. I curl up on the road and drink some Pocari Sweat (a Gatorade-like drink) and have a chocolate macadamia. Apparently this is what I was needing all along, as suddenly I feel fine. We cycle on to the next campsite, just 10km away. It’s closed for the winter still, with no running water and a mosquito plague. Well the next one is only 7km away…. we push on to the tourist town of Sounkyo in Daisetsuzan National Park, and have a bento box dinner at the 7-11, surrounded by tourists in fancy hotels, and huge impressive looking cliffs, and a roaring river.

After filling ourselves up at the 7-11, we head on to the campsite in the dark. It’s a parking lot. But the next one is only… 200 metres away! It’s closed, but we wheel our bikes in and set up with our sleeping bags and mats under the picnic shelter. And fall fast asleep.

Location: Kamifurano – Sounkyo, Hokkaido, Japan
Distance cycled: 121km

Crows came in the morning and stole the Boy’s Y150 apple, and his melon bread. At least they weren’t bears. After chasing them away we got moving, an earlier start today. First thing was the pedal up and out of the river valley, then up hill and up hill and more up hill. And the longest tunnel I’ve ever seen.

Through the hills we cruised through farmland, lots of rice paddies and melon farms and flower gardens (with so many different sorts of flowers – petunias, pansies, marigolds, tulips, poppies, orchids, irises, lupins, all planted through gardens and along the side of the road). Soon we were surrounded by snowy mountains.

Location: Lake Katzurazawa – Kamifurano, Hokkaido, Japan
Distance cycled: 69km

A nice sleep-in had us on the road at the incredibly early hour of 10am or so (after being fed coffee by the nice man at the campground).

It rained on us occasionally, and we rode along nice sweeping roads, through farmland, and into hillier terrain. We met our first tunnel, and were pleasantly surprised by how polite the traffic was – even though the speed limit was only 50km/hr, everyone was giving us at least half a lane of space.

Lots of cuckoos and cicadas around, and rivers, bridges, and workmen with flags (it would be so easy to pose as a construction worker in Hokkaido, all you’d need is a red flag and a white flag). In the afternoon we started working our way uphill, and were rewarded with a long and sweeping downhill, sitting on the speed limit (40km/hr) and flying down the smooth deserted road.

We found our campsite at around 5.30pm, after finding a large tyrannasaurus rex, and a Japanese cycle tourist. We noted the large warning signs about bears in the area, then not long after going to bed we heard crashing about in the bushes next to our bikes. We carefully unzipped the tent and stuck our head round the corner… good, whatever it was, it was hidden by the bikes. Couldn’t be too big. We pointed our headlamps about for a better look, and finally caught sight of a foxy tail. Aha! Cheeky fox! We chased him away, and tied our food bags up in a tree. Going back to bed we heard the fox crash back up to the bikes again, then crash away empty handed.

Location: Hayakita – Lake Katzurazawa, Hokkaido, Japan
Distance cycled: 92km

We arrived in Tokyo Narita airport at 7am. After being handed pieces of paper informing us we were quarantined (thanks to coming from a filthy swine-flu infected country) we were let loose on the Tokyo subway system with a bike and two stripy bags full of panniers and camping gear. After successfully picking up Alex’s bike, and cramming it into a bike bag, we set off for Haneda airport.

By the time we got to the roof top viewing platform at the airport, I was already sold on Japan. A viewing platform! On the roof! And it was sunny, and there was tasty food everywhere, and a man on a train platform had even given us candy. Tasty candy! (Yes, I accept candy from strangers).

After our JAL flight to Sapporo, we piled out of the baggage claim area and were found by the Boy. And then spent several hours assembling the bikes, and tweaking Alex’s bike to fit him, and all of that fun sort of stuff. We were kept nourished by food from vending machines (which was disturbingly tasty).

It was looking suspiciously wet outside, and as we set off into the dark it started raining on us. Oh well. 22 kilometres we were damp, and quite tired, and after finding the campground we quickly collapsed and fell fast asleep.

Location: Chitose Airport – Hayakita
Distance cycled: 22km