After another bath in the evening, I thought I’d be knocked out and at least sleep till my alarm clock wakes me up. Nope. 6.30...again. Oh well. I got up at 7, packed all my freshly washed clothes away, packed my bags and tidied up the room. I left the propane gas container in the hotel as I wouldn’t need it anymore. Just 2 more days of cycling and tonight I’ve got a hostel in Furano which has cooking facilities.
Breakfast was amazing. All out Japanese style and 2 coffees. I also asked if I could take some bread with me for the road. The friendly waiter said she can keep a secret (as I’m not supposed to). Back in the room, I made lunch: bread, butter, cheese. Then it was time to pack and leave. The decision to return to Furano was easy. I checked on Shimukappu and it was a sleepy village of 1000+ people, vs Furano’s 20,000. The reception. Clerk confirmed my choice saying there is nothing in Shimukappu. And I really don’t mind not killing myself over the Shimukappu route, 2 huge hills and bad road according to the clerk.
Ok, first 7km up, up, up the mountain and then 60km to Furano, mostly downhill or moderately hilly. I literally loved cycling today, every Kilometer was amazing and I really took in the countryside. He changing season is ever more apparent with many trees changing to yellow or red. In a few weeks there will be thousands of people flocking to Hokkaido to see this in full swing. After the 7km I was surrounded by mountains on all sides again. The clouds were plying with the mountain tops, wrapping them up in all sorts of ways.
As i got wet from sweating up and down the countryside. I quickly changed into a new top a d put my jacket on. I the. Played a game of jacket on, jacket off as it was either too warm or too windy and cold. The kilometres literal flew by. The last 20 I took it super easy and cycled slowly. I went onto a field road thanks to walking feature on google maps and one of the field was already fully harvested. I stopped and say a few pumpkins that were not as perfect as they “should be”, or at least as I see them in the shops. I picked one up - for dinner. As I got to Furano I stopped at a farm shop and bought some tomatoes, dinner too.
The lorries were super annoying today, one overtook me so close downhill I struggled to keep the horse steady. O wished him to veer off the next corner and straight into lorry driver hell! As they always push a lot of wind in from of them it hits you first before the whole scary thing zooms last you. There were a few such incidents today and as i got to Furano, and crossing bridges I put myself firmly in the middle, not letting cars behind me past as there was no side strip, no pavement and I didn’t fancy some stupid idiot to overtake me dangerously.
I finally stopped at an onion farm to find out how many onions are in the box and how much they get for it: 1700Kg and ¥60,000 (£430). Hmmm. I’m not sure if this is a little or a lot. Individual onions, or olds of 3 rewrial for like £2-£5, no comparison to retail...anyways. I found out.
Anyways, Furano is a lovely town it’s busy but not too busy and the hostel I had booked was super clean, well equipped and lovely staff. I was one of very, very few guests so had my dormitory to myself, at least for now. In the evening another dude joined true loooong room. After making my dinner: fried pumpkin, tomatoes and cheese salad, i headed back up to the hotel with the great onsen. Today I’m noticing that 3 of my toes on my right foot are a little numb. My lower back is still painful and my things haven’t stopped hurting in the morning. But all is forgotten on the bike.
Furano gave me an amazing leaving present up near the ski station. A fantastic sunset. After that, shopping for breakfast and later getting some dinner. Tomorrow is gonna be big. 111km over some steep hills before bottle lowlands and eventually Sapporo. It’s a repeat of last week, just in reverse. It looks like the weather will hold too, which is another amazing present.
Over and out
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