the start of the cycle tour – day one in hokkaido, japan

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