Day 17: The Wall

The day started early, as usual as I couldn’t sleep any longer than 6am. I tried but it wasn’t possible the hostel room was too warm and people were getting up too at 6.30. I told the hostel staff to turn the room temp down from 22C to somewhere like 16C but I think they only managed about 20C, way too warm to sleep. My last porridge with banana and raisins. I shared it with some Malaysians who never seem to be going out anywhere. Either pot noodle evening or brought-in sandwiches in the morning/ evening (or vice versa). Same thing the bar owner said yesterday, they seem to be doing Japan on the cheap. Fine by me. I talked to the 4 Malaysians over breakfast but it was hard as they always went back to talking To each other. Again, fine by me. I was mentally preparing for the journey ahead. One of the longest cycles and over some challenging terrain again: 112km - 50Km mountains and over 60km hilly and flat. I’ve done this journey just a week ago but in reverse. I knew I wanted to stop in Mikasa, just after all the mountains. That was my lunch goal. 

I was already packed and left the hostel at 8.30. I have always been pinching about my bike lock key and now the hostel key (¥20K fine for loss) so I kept the key always safe. I had already lost one bike lock key along the journey so I was marked and generally bad with keys anyway. Checking out was fine, the key returned. 

The bike was waiting for me. A last saddling up to get to my almost final destination for this trip (Sapporo first, then Hakodate to get to the Bullet train). But it was my last day cycling. I had lost some of my luggage along the way as the rear rack was way smaller. Regardless, it remained a hefty beast. The first Kilometers into the mountains were awesome. It was pretty nippy at around 12C but I had only my cycle shorts and a short cycle shirt. I just had to keep moving to keep warm. I stopped at a shrine just outside Furano to ask for a safe journey. Something I’d done ever so often in various places.

I was highly motivated to get over the mountains and felt really energised. No matter whether it went up or down, I kept pedalling hard. Before I knew it I had done 35Km just after 10.30, pretty good going I thought. I stopped about twice to drink and have a banana but I felt fine. Then all of a sudden, something was wrong with my bike. It just wouldn’t move anymore. I mean it did but even pedalling hard didn’t move it as it used to. I struggled for a few hundred metres before stopping. I checked the breakers whether they were on by any chance, nope. I continued. It just seemed to get worse, even on the downhill it didn’t move properly, I had to keep pedalling hard. Eventually, on an uphill slope with a parking space I pulled in. Tested cycling up, down, rolling. Somehow it was fine, but it wasn’t. By that time I had already dislocated the rear brake completely, just in case. The rear wheel had a buckle anyway from the spikes that broke and were replaced but the spoke tension was so high on some, you couldn’t pull it straight again

1000 thoughts were racing through my mind. I was so far away from anywhere, in the middle of nowhere. If the rear wheel had caved in, I’d be screwed. Who would I call, how would I get away from here? 

Eventually I made it up the slope for another hundred metres before pulling into a side path. This time I took off all my luggage, tested the bike again on the sandy road and it seemed fine without the luggage. Was the pressure in the rear wheel making it become sticky? Would I have to leave stuff behind? Hat would be bad in so many ways, polluting the environment, being an inconvenience to someone and loosing valuable equipment. I mean, I can loose the tent, clothes but not the bike bag (2Kg) to put the bike in for the train journey. Damn. I checked the breakers again, adjusted the levers but eventually kept it dislocated. 

Screw it, i thought. I just need to stay calm, relax, have some water, have another banana. I got back on my bike. It was still so hard to pedal. Every meter cost me so much mental and physical energy. Then it hit me. This was the wall. I’ve not experienced something like this before. Total exhaustion, physically and mentally. The bike was fine, I wasn’t.

Was I too eager to get to the end of this journey? Did I exhaust my resources to get to my end destination? Why did I want to get there quickly? The mountains I had to cross were no joke but also nothing I hadn’t done before. 

Faced with this situation I just thought to myself, just keep pedalling. It may just take longer but you’ll get to Mikasa, at least. It’s 61km from Furano and it’s the end of the mountains. This thought kept me alive, by now I saw a sign Mikasa - 21km. That didn’t sound too bad. I had put my backpack on and off again, thinking I could relieve pressure on the rear wheel but the pressure on me was too much. My inner thighs were sore from the uphill battle and cycling in general. Adding more weight to myself only made it worse, quickly. So, backpack off

There were a few tunnels to get through one of them super long. Like 2-3Km and another one in such bad condition I was happy I had my bike light on to shine the way and avoid the potholes. All the while whilst not wanting to be taken over by anything big as there was no side strip. So, I placed myself firmly in the middle of my lane, telling traffic that they’ll just have to wait. It’s the best I could do as I already had a few close encounters with lorries on the way up who overtook me despite oncoming traffic. Too close for comfort. 

Eventually I reached Lake Katzurazawa, site of a huge new damn building project. I knew a big downhill part was to follow as I remembered how I struggled up here a week ago. The traffic was pretty bad by now, many lorries. There was a traffic block and a lot of cars and lorries cued up, I was behind a lorry. I took all my strength to stay behind it and not get overtaken by the lorry behind me. That meant pedalling, pedalling really hard. The downhill got steeper, the road got worse. All of a sudden I must be at 40km/h or 50km/h, still trailing the lorry. The road was only good in the middle and I had to use all my strength to hold the bike steady, then there were lengthways cuts on the road, my bike seemed to be swimming on them, just about staying on track. I felt I could go slower, I had to keep the pace. A few huge pumps in the road didn’t make this any easier. I gripped the handle bars tightly and pedalled harder. At that point I felt not in control but being controlled. Eventually the road got better and the downhill section stopped. What a ride. I felt throughly energised and back in form. Mikasa was just another 10km or so. I can do this 

As I arrived in Mikasa I knew what i was gonna do. Surprise the ice cream lady on the side of the road in the middle of town. We had a good chat a week ago and I also bought one of the fossils she was selling, something Mikasa is famous for. She really was surprised to see me again. We had a quick chat before I smelled something. Someone was cooking something somewhere. I asked the icecream lady. And she said there’s a soba place across the road. Yes, lunchtime. The little place was so busy, bikers, army people, locals, travellers. For a tiny town like Mikasa, surprising. I got the last free table and ordered hot noodles with egg inside. That felt good. I had to put on my jacket on the downhills as it got really cold, being stuck in wet cycle clothes again. The warm broth put energy in my body and I slowly came back to my former self. 

After lunch, I spend another 30min talking to Ms Hareyama...over a huge ice cream I bought. She said she had to go into the next biggest town to renew her health and safely license for the shop and stay closed tomorrow. We talked about her travels, and her upcoming journey to Europe. Then I sat in the back, soaking up the sun. She surprise me with a free coffee which I accepted gladly. 

Time to get back on the bike. Mikasa was also halftime on the journey to Sapporo. But now it would only be hilly, no more huge mountains to climb before getting flat towards Sapporo. My strength was back, the bike was fine. The next couple of hours until 2 went by going up and down country side lanes and highways. Still lots of cars but I didn’t care. Since Mikasa there was only headwind, sometimes straight frontal sometimes a bit from the side, but always headwind. Again, nothing I could do but to keep pedalling. 

Eventually, cities, Ebetsu was close. It’s the next biggest city that seemed to merge into Sapporo eventually. I had eaten all the bananas and almost finished my 2L of pocary sweat (topped up with water by Ms Hareyama). The satnav was having issues at times as I switched between car/ pedestrian mode. Before I got back into town, there was a long stretch of superhighway to clear. It feels weird being on a motorway with a bike. But it’s not forbidden. In fact, there was a road cyclist, spandex, expensive bike and all. I chased him down and stayed behind him for a good few kilometres. That was fun. As he was wiping his sweat off his face and flicking it away with his hand I got a few drops on my face (thank god i had my glasses on). At this point I was back in my old form. I wasn’t even sweating and despite my load and non-roadbike, easily kept up with the road racer. I stayed in his slipstream and could have overtaken him at any point as he was actually going slower than I was before. That was fun. Eventually he checked his odometer and watch and turned off the highway. Thanks for the ride I thought. That got me another 3-4km closer to Sapporo. It was now 2pm and I had another 30km or so to go

Being back in town (Ebetsu first), meant more traffic lights, start and stop, contending with cars who thought they can outrun me on the light, only for me to catch them at the next. Somehow I had forgotten I still didn’t reconnect my rear break. I had to frequently check the phone to use the best route, which meant taking it out of my front pannier, sometimes disabling the current route, re-entering it’s using either car/ pedestrian function. I took it out with my right, quickly check it, out it back. Oooops, a junction in a quiet neighbourhood appeared and I had my phone in my hand, desperately pulling my left lever for my rear break. Nothing. I panicked and with my phone in my hand pulled the right lever, frontbreak. Phew. That was close. I reconnected the rear break immediately. 

By now I was in Sapporo outskirts. It had also just started to drizzle and I put my jacket back on, knowing I’ll get super sweaty really quickly. With another 15km to go, “clank”!!! I knew what that was. Spoke no 3 had gone. I stopped, inspected the damage but whilst the spoke broke, I didn’t have to take it out the wheel as it was stuck between other spokes. The rear wheel now had a serious buckle but I couldn’t care less. I’m almost there. 

The I saw the huge Panasonic Clocktower, one of the sights of Sapporo (a bit like Berlin’s TV tower). That meant my final reading place, JR Sapporo Inn was close too. The sat Mac have me some more hustle but I made it. I got off the bike and pushed the last few metres before eventually stopping and unloading all my stuff from the bike. I was so happy! ...and in urgent need of a bath. Thankfully JR Sapporo Inn decided not to put bathtubs into any room but have a public bath in the basement. A great idea and just what I needed. I checked I but found that my window was facing a wall. I kindly asked to change rooms and I got transferred to the 10th floor with an actual windows facing the outside world and Sapporo. I had arrived. 

My body was aching. 3 of my toes were still numb, 2 days now. My thighs and lower back were killing me. I did 115km today in 7.5h, without stops, 6.5h. Not bad I thought. I also had everything Hokkaido has thrown at me in the last few weeks:

-   Mountains and beautiful forests 

• Extreme Downhills/ uphills
• Sunshine & rain
• Lorries and annoying traffic 
• Bike issues 
• Friendly locals (Ms Hareyama)

Hokkaidō ni dōmo arigatō. What a ride!!!! 

After the onsen, where I nearly passed out, I weighed myself: 77.5kg, which meant I lost over 6kg in the last few weeks. Wow, I can feel being lighter but also stronger. I dragged myself to a sushi place around the corner before hitting the mattress. JR Sapporo Inn has a great service of choosing your pillows out of 6 different ones. I picked two a soft one and a hard one. Not yet sure which one I was gonna go with but both being needed as they were relatively flat. 

I was knackered, happy, exhausted, tired, complete. I also don’t wanna see a bike again...at least for a few days :))

Thanks for following me on this journey! 

— The end — 

Day 16: Furano part 2 (slow coaching)

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

Day 9: (Agri)cultural exploration of Hokkaido heartland

The day started around 8am in the little self-catering hostel/ hotel. As I had no food with me that I could prepare I just had lots of water (like 4 cups) and 2 coffee before setting off around 8.30. My first stop was to be a lavender farm just outside Furano. The journey wasn’t long maybe around 12Km. That didn’t take long but I was in no hurry today. The itinerary was focused mainly on sightseeing and getting to the Blue Pond and from there to Biei, total distance of 52km. 

The journey to the farm was still interesting. It seemed that this area produces all the onions of Hokkaido. There were fields upon fields, some of them plucked some don’t. But what this area is famous for is its flowers and also lavender. That is in summer. In winter (from December to May), this whole place transforms into a winter resort. There are lifts everywhere. In summer it’s mostly people hiking but it’s way less busy. 

As I got close to the Lavender Farm (a local institution since the 1950s), I saw a huge melon place. Of course I stopped and had ice cream, that was breakfast No 1. Right next to it was the lavender farm. It was really beautiful, all the colours, the flowers and how well everything was laid out and run. I had another ice cream, this time lavender flavour. I bought a few things, like lavender oil and honey. Then I had breakfast No 3 - potatoes and butter. That was so simple and yet so tasty. 

The journey continued to a local art gallery some 9km away. It came highly recommended and I thought why not. Thang god I stopped there. The artist, Goto Sumio is one of Hokkaido’s most famous painters. The entrance fee was more than usual ¥1000 which translates to 3 ice creams. The art was simply overwhelming. Mainly landscapes, cities in different seasons. The biggest painting was probably 10m long, showing a mountain scape on one side with the sun rising and on the other side being in the clouds, signifying the journey through life. Each large painting can take up to 10 years to complete, taming on a life on their own during the time. The colours take long to dry and the layering of the colours is complex. The paintings were awe inspiring. Many popular topics like cherry blossoms, temples or Mount Fuji but I’ve never seen them with such intensity. Other famous Japanese painters like Hokusai captured these popular images too, but much less vivid. 

After the Museum I went to the Retaurant upstairs for lunch, spaghetti and prawn. It was super simple but so tasty and the starter salad had a melon sauce, typical for the area and all for less than £9, including a hot/ cold beverage. 

The next leg of the journey was the opposite of what I just had, back into the mountains. I didn’t mind as I felt well rested and the journey was only 20km. Just as I got to the Lavender farm, there was a few drops of rain, I escaped them by hiding in a nearby barn but now, the clouds were getting denser and there was no more sun. I had already picked my rain cape into my backpack in the morning, just in case. All of a sudden the drops started to fall, I saw a fellow traveller on a motorbike all parked up scrambling for his rain clothes. 

All of a sudden it started to rain like it hasn’t before. All I could do was stand there, my rain cape on and wait. It was a great feeling somehow staying completely dry when all the water the sky seemed to carry come down. The rain poncho is huge and covers my bike (if needed) and me on top. Of course I’m much less airodynamic and to be honest it looks a bit shit. But I could t care less - it did its job perfectly. I kept the cape on for a few more KM, especially as I had found a way of securing it round my body and over my handlebars. At some point though I had to decide whether I wanted to be wet from underneath (sweat) or from the rain. As it seemed to have stopped raining for now, I decided to take it off. The mountains were steep and I ran out of gears to choose from. I had to start sneaking uphill but with some traffic it wasn’t so great. All of a sudden I hear a “clink” at the rear wheel. The sound of a snapped spoke. That wasn’t great news as I need all of them, now more than ever, with all that luggage. After a few km the wheel started to buckle, with the forces that hold it together out of balance. 

I got to the blue pond without any other problems. It was a very popular tourist spot with many buses and cars parked, and even more people running around. I took some pictures and then carefully made my way to Biei, with a mission to find: a bike shop, food, camp spot. 

On the way to Biei, I saw some hobby cyclists (tourists), who must have rented the bikes in Biei. Little did they know that the journey back to Biei was gonna be hard, full-on cold headwind. They already looked exhausted when I saw them going towards the blue pond. I really fancied easy/ simple food for dinner, still inspired by potato and butter for lunch

Eventually I got to Biei, a smallish town, nicely laid out in a grid system. I found a bike shop and then fixed my rear wheel, after burying my inner tube and attempting to fix it 2x. The Schwalbe Marathon is so hard to put on, easy to injure the inner tube. I asked the bike shop people whether it’s sensible to stay in a local park, they said “not really”, but pointed to a “rider house” a shack in town where most travelling folks stay. Mainly motorcycle or bike riders. I thought, ok, then let’s try this.. turned out to be a great idea. Very friendly people, with the host loving there for some months. He said the owner isn’t here but I can stay and leave my stuff as I was going to check the local public bathhouse. The fee was only ¥500 (£3) and it had a converted railway carriage as restaurant. 

I went to the public bath and it was super “local”, it was smokey and showed sumo wrestling on TV. It seems the more local/ rural the more hot the baths are (42C) and the sauna on 110C (not the usual 90C). People were friendly and didn’t fuss bathing much, just washing, maybe quick dip into the hot tub and done. Not for me, wash, hot tub, cold tub, sauna, cold tub - repeat. 

Then I had grilled mackerel for dinner before going to the rider house. The railway wagon had transformed into a busy eatery/ bar with about 10 travellers. We had some more food together and all tried to talk in English/ Japanese. Always fun

Eventually I retired to write my blog but more conversation ensued with the guys in my room who were also playing Mahjong. Great social end to the day, better than lonely in the tent. The guys also helped me plan the next days route, suggesting where to go/ not to go...after much debate

Day 8: Bye, bye city, hello mountains

This is a short one. Just too tired to write after 115Km. I tried using Google maps “walking” function which was much better than the “use car” one. There were 2 parts where it should have just left me on the main road, instead of saving 5 min (on bike) but overall great. It took me about 40km to leave the city scape and go to the country side again. And I loved being away from all the hustle and bustle and back in fresh air, fields, hills and then mountains. 

I visited the Sandan Falls (thankfully just by the roadside) just after a stop in Mikasa, where I had my lunch - ice cream and a bottle of Pockary Sweat. As they had no rice balls, I thought I’d be ok with just bananas - and I was, all day on 4 bananas and breakfast. The ice cream lady was super nice and spoke good English. She told me about Mikasa and that it’s famous for fossils. I bought one for ¥200 / £1.40 (a snail shell), before heading off to Furano. She told me there will be no more food stations for the coming 60km. I’ve had 3 more small bananas and 1.5L of drink...should be ok. 

Hitting the big mountains was good, much better than the smaller and more frequent ones on the coast. I loved being on the road and both, man and machine performing excellently. The rest in Sapporo was needed. I was on the bike for 8h and the average speed no longer moves a full point but just a decimal. I’m at 19.4km/h at the moment, up from 19.3 over last 7 days. That gives me a good indication how long it will take me to get places. I always want to be at the final destination by 4, latest 5 as it gets dark (and cold) by 6ish.

Ive seen more road kill today, a raccoon, which reminded me of Studio Ghibli’s “Pom Poko”, a lovely anime about magical raccoons who are fighting the destruction of their natural habitat with their ball sacks and all kinds of shenanigans. It’s a very critical film though about the advancement of people and the destruction of forests, right here in Japan (but also elsewhere). I’ve seen a few “watch out for bears” signs, and actually saw wild deer, like 6 of them just chilling out by the roadside. 

Furano is famous for skiing and lavender. It’s too late in he season but I’ll visit a farm tomorrow, see what’s still available (am looking for honey especially). I couldn’t be bothered staying in a tent as the camp spot was another 6km away and it was already 4.45. booking.com sorted me with a really nice, cosy and affordable guest house, all the way up in Furano, right next to the ski lifts. After hitting the local area for food i went to the next biggest hotel to use their onsen, that felt good. My lower back is still sore, and probably will stay like that until I stop cycling. I got sunburn on my right hand side as it was super sunny all day and I had the sun blast me. My body is changing I noticed in the onsen. The belly is gone, my legs are stronger and my feet show more muscle mass. Neck, chest and shoulders seem to have added some extra muscle too. My weight is stabilising at 81Kg. 

Tomorrow short (50km) cycle ride first to see the Blue Pond and then go back on myself and go to Biei. This should be too bad and give me enough time to find a good camping spot somewhere and an onsen. I am so happy to have made the decision to go and see central Hokkaido. I love being in the mountains as I’ve seen a lot of coast already, and there will be more...