Rest for the Wicked

It's been a grueling 3 days on the road and we've once again found ourselves comfortably ensconced in a fully-equipped hostel. This time we'll actually be taking a rest day, that is, a day off the bike - so that I might allow my sunburn to heal, and Matt, his various bike-seat related aches and chafy spots.

Firstly, the map:

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from Furano to Rumoi to Teshio and finally to Wakkanai, Japan's most northerly city.

We set out from Furano on a rather sunny morning (hence the sunburn) which somehow still managed to be cloudy enough to obscure our views of the surrounding mountains. (This would be a theme)



One fixture of touring we've found very pleasant is the abundance of "Michi-no-Eki" or Road Stations, which boast restaurants, dozens of vending machines, clean washrooms, souvenir shops and sometimes even computerized maps that report on road conditions in the area. Ideal when you're parched, starving, dirty and need to use the washroom, which is pretty much always the case, for me at least.



Later that afternoon, we hit the town of Rumoi on the Sea of Japan! Reaching the sea is always exciting, even if you've only really traveled 100k or so to get there. We trucked up the coast a little further and found a superb campsite on a bluff overlooking the sea.



A little morning rain forced us to pack the tent away wet. We then continued up the coast under overcast skies and facing a constant headwind. Passing the town of Teshio at dinner-time, we entered the Sarobetsu National Park, which is supposedly a vast expanse of wild, undeveloped wetland. In reality it was a vast expanse of hayfields, wind turbines and more headwinds. We did find a sweet camping spot however - whereas the night before we were lulled to sleep by the sound of the surf below, this time the white noise of the constantly humming turbines did it. (Note to those NIMBY anti-wind power people - you have to be really close to hear it and it's not even that bad!)



The one regret about riding up the coast here is that it was cloudy the whole time, thus obscuring our view of Rishiri Island, which is a 1700m volcano that juts out of the Sea of Japan. If it clears up this afternoon we may still see it, but it doesn't look good!



And finally, we've reached Wakkanai! I imagine Matt will upload some more pictures tonight, so I will now take this opportunity to blab about bike-touring related stuff:
-The roads here have been great, for the most part well paved with huge shoulders, even in the bigger towns. Note to Toronto City Councillors - forget about bike lanes. Just paint lines and create shoulders on every street. Problem solved!
-Drivers have been very courteous about giving us plenty of space
-For some reason - and I'm not exaggerating even slightly here - the sun rises at 3:30am. This is great for getting an early start to the day - we're often on the road by 7:30 - but not so great when 10am rolls around and you're eager for second breakfast, and nothing opens until 11:30. The other result is that it gets dark at 8, so you stop riding at 6 and tend to go to bed by 7:30. Lame, I know.

It's a bit chilly here in Wakkanai. That plus the fact that there's a ferry route connecting the town to the Russian city of Korsakov, which results in a lot of Cyrillic signage around town, a very weird, not-so-Japanese atmosphere dominates. We're going to shamble in to town to try and find a restaurant where they think we can handle seafood (usually we just get pork when we randomly gesture at the menus) and then set out South towards the Shiretoko peninsula tomorrow. Until then,

!

-Also, for Zak: Yes, that is the North Face tent, yes, it's still a little too small for 2, no, nothing will ever smell as bad as your sleeping bag did, and as for chamois cream? I don't know, will have to look up the kanji!