Cycling in Japan 2016 - Lake Kussharo to Nakashibetsu

3 Sep - Wow, that was a huge day.  95 kilometres!

We started with a big Pension Papilio breakfast.  Our guides Dai and Tats arrived from their accommodation and we were soon off.

A few km down the road, we stopped at a natural spring with a sulphorous smell designed for pampering your feet. Oddly, it was a lot like something similar in New Zealand but the Japanese had built picnic tables smack dab in the middle of the spring. So you can eat your lunch and wriggle your toes in hot water.

A few more kms up the road was Iozan volcano with its vents surrounded by sulphur and wee bubbling pools of water. Fascinating. I found out afterwards that the gift shop sold fresh eggs so you could cook them in a boiling pool. I totally would have tried that!

After these touristy activities, the climb for the day started. 10 km up, but with switchbacks. So your cadence changed with the gradient and it was hard to establish a rhythm. But after an hour we were at the top and looking into a gorgeous emerald lake.  Stunning. The mists parted and we got a decent glimpse.

From here, it was a lovely downhill. Tats said we had to stay together and I tried. I really tried. But they went so slow and my bike wanted to go so fast. So I let it. And I hooned down. Scaring massive birds of prey (kites, we think) off the lampposts on the road side as I passed.

We popped into a dairy farm and had lunch. I got this lovely pork rice ball thing wrapped in some sort of leaf. It was yummy. I also had a mango meal. Which wasn't quite so pleasant. Lumpy mango in a bag with a straw. As Col put it, if you ignored the consistency, it was ok. Yep.

I did finish lunch off with an ice-cream with coffee jelly. I was almost expecting more disappointment along the lines of lumpy mango, but coffee jelly was actually good.

Off again covering rolling hills. Some I could get a decent head of steam up and hurtle up. Others needed more effort.

I saw a dead fox on the side of the road. And a few km further a live fox ventured out onto the road in front of me. Toby will be pleased to hear I made the sound of a fox at this point. Yap, yap, yap.  Gave the fox a huge fright and he turned and looked at me and fled back the way he'd come. I burst out laughing.

My left shoulder was giving me grief by this stage. When I stopped for afternoon tea Dai changed the configuration of my handlebars. After that, my riding seemed much easier. Or was it the little red pill Iona gave me (Voltaren)? Whatever it was, I felt much better riding the last 30 km.

Yep. 95 km today. It was cloudy all day, so never too warm. More of the same tomorrow.

Tomorrow is a short day. 65 km. But with an optional 50 km side trip. And the side trip looks totally worth it. I'm doing that for sure.  So another long day tomorrow. But no massive climbs.


Our accommodation is big tonight. And my bed is on a mat on the floor. The onsen was busy. And with no showers in the room, that was where we had to get clean from the ride. I was in the hot water a bit too long and felt very faint when I got out. Oops. Better watch that and drink lots before I go.

Dinner was superb. Set menu with yummy things. Fish. Prawns. Miso. Tofu. Bacon. Lettuce. Tomatoes. Too many things to remember. And Dai gave us Japanese lessons afterwards. Woot!

Right. Time to sleep. Up early tomorrow for an early start.