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 2: 80Km and feeling fruity

What a night. I remember sleeping on the floor isn’t that bad. But only if the air mattress does it’s job, and it didn’t. It’s got a puncture and so the night was spent pretty much on 5mm of plastic made up of ground sheet, tent bottom and whatever was left of the air mattress. That made for a short night, until 3am before the sheer uncomfortableness woke me up. I psyched myself into sleeping again after an hour of tossing and turning. 

The sounds of the forest were eery at night time but also calming. It rained a bit in the early morning hours and the owl and what sounded like pheasants had a short concert. Leaves falling on my tent from the high trees made the rhythm. 

The camping ground was in a beautiful forest of old trees and it seemed very tranquil in the morning, with the sun out. I dried my shirt and a few other things on a makeshift washing line made out of bungee ropes around two trees, got the gas stove out, made some tea before cooking porridge. Great start to the day. 

I had a look at the map and thought with the weather looking as it does, time for some serious cycling of 80Km. That would take me up the west coast all the way to Setana. A small town with all amenities. The first 40km went by pretty quickly. There was lots to see, beautiful coastline, little fishing villages, I stopped at a shrine to ask for safe passage and cycled through quite a few tunnels (maybe 18). I decided to keep my back light turned on all the way as getting off the bike to turn it on/off was too annoying. I made a stop pretty much every 10km to drink some water or have some onigiri (rice triangles, filled with fish/meat/veg). I went for the fish ones and ate 5 across the day. I also had some multivitamin drink, green tea and lots of water. It warmed up pretty nicely to about 25C, blue sky and sunshine l the way. 

The journey started around 10.30 and finished at 4.45. I had lunch at 2 in Miyano, about 25km before getting to Setana. In Miyano I had another 2 onigiri and tea before resting on the hot stonewall that separated coast from human habitation. There were a few fishermen right in the river estuary and a friendly local who stopped next to me explained they were fishing salmon. I could see them with my bare eyes, both in the river and the ocean and it didn’t take long before one got caught. The fisherman picked up a stone and with a few knocks the salmon stopped moving. 

I checked what there is to do in Setana, looking especially for a place to soak myself. I found an onsen inn (hotel really) and thought - perfect. A day night in a bed. This would also allow me to check the air mattress for the puncture and wash my trouser. As I cycled towards Miyano, I passed a crow that timed it’s shit so perfectly, measuring my speed and distance that it caught my right as I passed it. My trousers and front pannier got the most of it.

Bu the time I had lunch I was done, my things were burning and I was already exhausted. But I couldn’t and wouldn’t want to stay there, I had to reach Setana. The last 25km were up into the hills again, just what I needed. Thankfully it wasn’t as steep and long as the day before and having fully pumped up tires makes all the difference. 

With my last strength I reached Setana around 4.45 and found my way quickly to the onsen hotel “Kitahiyama Hotspring”, a pretty good hotel (£65, incl breakfast). It had to be done. My body couldn’t go another night on hard floor. As i got here, I asked for a bicycle shop to see if I can actually buy a foot pump, even if I have to carry it around for the rest of the journey. I also need a higher headset (stem) as my wrists are painful. I’ve probably tried all sorts of ways of holding onto the handle bar, regular, on the horns, just finger tips, back of the hand, one hand...it seems the pressure is too high, with me and the backpack pressing onto them. The bike shop couldn’t sell me anything, it was more of a fixing bikes shops. The friendly owner offered me a Japanese energy drink, which I did not decline. I quickly fixed my rear mud guard onto my frame with some rubber band to stop it from making noise. 

In the hotel, I had my last rice ball before checking out the onsen. It’s pretty decent (7/10 on my onsen score): 3 hot tubs, a whirl pool, the obligatory cold pool, and outside hot pool and a dry sauna. Comes with free hair dryer (usually ¥100). Lots of other stuff like massage chairs etc too. 

The food in the hotel restaurant was surprisingly cheap. Less than £10 for a big pot of Ramen and a huge salad. This was the best idea ever coming here after todays ride. I’ve managed to get sun burn on my left side as I had the sun always next to me all day. There will be more of this tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after...

I’m managing my budget by doing as much camping as possible, to afford the occasional treat. Generally, daily budget of £30 on average, around £15 for just cycling, camping and daily food (with one proper meal, either lunch or dinner).