4 Sep - Wow, what a day. Let's see if I can remember the stuff we did.
We were away from our Nakashibetsu hotel by 8.30 a.m. Today's terrain was far easier than the previous cycling days. Just undulating really. We had morning tea on a bridge over the Churui river. Home of salmon fishing. Then a few more kms under our belt saw us hit the coast. The rest of the day was coastal cycling, and very nice it was too.
We had a mission for the day. A selfie with a local. Iona and Col won hands down by morning tea with a selfie with a fire fighter. Well done. I got a photo with a chap on a Kawasaki ninja motorcycle. He was mystified and his mates laughed at him.
Lunch was fantastic. I had salmon sashimi and a seaweed rice thing equivalent to a hamburger. Inside was salmon and salmon fish eggs. Scrumptious.
Then off on the optional 50 km ride up to the road end in the national park. So lovely. I saw salmon heading upriver by the hundreds. Some even tried leaping up a wee waterfall. I feel like my life has somehow become even more complete. Salmon in the Leith. And salmon in Shiretoko.
The natural onsen at the road end had been damaged in the recent typhoon and there were no longer any barricades between men and women. Wasn't going to happen. Iona and I decided to ride back and we stopped for the photos we missed on the way up. The headwind made for a slightly tougher ride back to the hotel.
I finished a brilliant day with a fit of the giggles while eating my way through ten dollars (U.S.) of junk food. Ok. I didn't quite finish it all. Some is for the next day when we're away from shops and I need something to distract any bears. Throw the Snickers bar at them and run while they chase the chocolate.
The giggles happened because Iona mused out loud about a career change for her, as an interpreter on Japanese cycle tours. She intends to invent things and resort to charades. She thinks this is a sustainable business model. My insides hurt after hearing that and falling about laughing. Fortunately I was on a chair with no legs, so it wasn't far to fall.
Dinner was a feast. I can't name everything. However, after gamely eating my allotment of salmon forehead (and by this I mean the parts of a salmon forehead that is not flesh, but some weird gelatinous substance that is slightly like cartilage) I turned away for a moment and my bowl mysteriously sprouted two more pieces of salmon forehead. And one looked a bit chewed.
Iona has this ability to put this angelic look on her face. Col has learned to read through it. I'm learning too. And I know Iona doesn't enjoy some fishy things. Two and two almost always makes four.
Tomorrow is short, but a gradual long ride up a pass. Should be a great downhill on the other side. No Wi-Fi for at least 2 days though. See you back in Abashiri.
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