Up early, we wander down to the train washrooms to freshen up, then set off along the coast just before 7am. The coastline gets much more interesting as we get further along, and there are actually seagulls (signifying genuine ocean). After 59km we start the climb up to Shiretokotoge. This will cross us to the other side of the mountain chain, from one coastline to another, reaching an altitude of 780 metres inbetween – a nice pleasant climb then.
We stop after a few kilometres at the large info centre/picnic area/tourist trap and have some lunch with the deers (much tamer than the ones you usually see around, they largely ignored us). Heading uphill again in the heat, a man yells a warning to us about a bear – apparently Japan has brown bears, although they don’t usually eat people. We do not see the bear, and eleven more kilometres of grinding along in great granny gear brings us to the pass. Where there is no icecream. I am sorely disappointed. We take some photos, then layer up for the descent before being completely swarmed by the busloads of tourists (all Japanese, as is the norm for what we see in Hokkaido) who keep pouring in and out of the parking lot.
Downhill is fun, with some occasional law breaking regarding the 30-40km/hr speed limit. We fly into Rausu, a coastal town which is cold and full of fishermen. After loitering to no purpose for a while, we cycle the final 12km to our (closed of course) campground for the night.
Cook, wash, launder, the usual. It’s nice and grassy there at least, with ocean and mountain views. Although there are a lot of ravens that seem to be fighting constantly over who will get our stuff. We manage to avoid letting any of them have it.
Location: Koshimizu – Near Rausu, Hokkaido, Japan
Distance cycled: 104km
One reply on “japan day ten – coast to coast, via a great stinking (bear-free) mountain”
this stop : evilmoose & co 1 – ravens 0
mouahahahaha… ;)