Friday, August 18, 2006

Day 8

Lake Saroma -> Abashiri
Distance: 54km
A rainy afternoon in Abashiri, the last big town we'll hit before heading up to the Shiretoko Peninsula, an area recently given World Heritage Status, and one of the last truely wild areas left in Japan.

It's something of a cliche to say that Hokkaido doesn't feel like the rest of Japan, but it's true, so I'll say it anyway - Hokkaido doesn't feel like the rest of Japan. It's gently rolling green hills, cow pastures, big barns and cornfields seem a world away from the claustophobic mountains and mum 'n pop rice paddies of Kochi. This is Japan's northern frontier.

This is also the frontier's busiest time of year, and the roads are full of fellow travellers, especially bikers and fellow cyclist all of whom give a friendly wave of two-wheeled commradery whenever we pass on the road, which is often. Tonight the rain has driven us to find shelter other than our already wet tents, and we've checked into a very cheap and basic 'Riders Inn'.


We saw a little bit of rain that day...

Posted by Andrew Wallace @ 12:24 AM