Tour de Hokkaido
Hokkaido, the northern most of the four main islands in the Japanese archipelago is truly a cyclist's paradise. When poeple talk about Japan, it is usually associated with the urban sprawl of the greater Tokyo area and tiny shoebox-sized apartments that many Japanese and foreign EFL teachers live in. However, there is still some very beautiful and pristine country left in Japan, and most of it is in Hokkaido.
Chris and I spent 13 days in Hokkaido. The first and last day of the tour was spent on the train, so as we could get to our starting point in Kamikawa and then to our departure point, the port of Tomakomai for our return to Sendai City. The 11 days that we were on the road in Hokkaido is one of my highlights of living in Japan for the last three years. The misty mountains of Daisetsuzan National Park, the crystal clear water of Lake Kussharo, the rugged beauty of the Shiretoko Peninsula and the rolling pastures in Eastern Hokkaido have all left an indelible impression on me and the desire to do it all again.
Of course, the tour had its interesting moments as well, such as nearly being run over twice by huge semi-trailers while riding on Route 241 / 247 to Ashoro from Kamishihoro. The road had absolutely no shoulder, so both Chris and I were lucky with semis passing us by with less than a metre separation at over 80km / h. A series of thunderstorms that passed over our campsite at Lake Akan was probably THE MOST TERRIFYIING moment of the whole tour.ly For my CETEFLer colleagues, we definitely had repeated frissons of pure terror in the wee early hours of that morning. When lightning and thunder occurred simultaneously and the inside of the tent became as bright as day for a split second, then you knew that you are in serious trouble. How we ever survived that with trees all around us, we'll never know. Of course, in the middle of this middle of this most frightening experience, we saw one very foolhardy camper walking nonchalantly in pools of accumulated rainwater with an opened umbrella! Lucky for us, we were spared the sight of one fried Japanese camper.
For those interested in the cost, the whole two weeks cost us around 90,000 yen including a return trip on the ferry from Sendai to mokomai (18,000 yen), catching the train from Tomokomai to Kamikawa (7,700 yen) and again from Kushiro back to Tomomakomai. The rest of the money was spent on camping fees, stays at youth hostels (on rainy days), food and onsens (hot springs). If it had been fine for the whole two weeks and we had camped out everyday, then probably about 20,000 yen could have been shaved off the cost of the tour.
If you would like to see more pictures of the tour just click on the words below.
Daizetsusan National Park (slow, it takes about a minute to download)
Lake Akan / Lake Kussharo Region (slow, it takes about 50 seconds to download)
Shiretoko Peninsula (slow, it takes about 50 seconds to download)
Shibetsu / Betsukai (Eastern Hokkaido) (slow, it takes about 50 seconds to download)