Part 3 (Day 12 - 15) - Aomori Shimokita peninsula 青森 下北半島 - Summary

Bicycle touring Japan - Aomori - Part 3

In this post I review bicycle touring experience in Aomori, in the very North of Honshu, Japan, where I spent the last 3 days, including an excellent stay at a temple on Mount Osore. 

Bicycle: 172 km

Other transport: 488 km

Region: Aomori, and a little bit Hokkaido and Iwate

Total riding time: 11:00 h

Total ascent: 991 m

After the agriculture and culture in Iwate, in these 4 days, I went up again North, to the Shimokita peninsula. This had been my original start into the Honshu ride, however due to the bad weather that was forecasted for that region for end September, I had stared in Iwate.

Here an overview map of the approximate routes taken:

The actual routes I took are in the Strava or Garmin feed of each day:

• Day 12 Hiraizumi to Hakodate
• Day 13 Hakodate to Osorezan
• Day 14 Osorezan to Noheji
• Day 15 Noheji to Tazawako Lake

And here an overview of the costs.

Compared to my original plan, I did not ride up to Osorezan by bike, but rather by a very comfortable taxi, and I did not finish in Hachinohe but in Shichinohe, ...  just one number less. (For explanation, see here), because I did not find an accommodation in Rokkasho.

The best of this ride without any doubt was the onsen right outside of the main temple on Osorezan. It is unfortunate that the water is so acidic, so it is recommended to remain only quite short in the water. But I could have soaked for hours there.

Also the entire surroundings of the temple, with the sulfur and hot steam rising between green woods and a crystal blue lake, were incredibly beautiful.

Osorezan is somewhat hard to reach, on the very tip of Shimokita peninsula, but it is definitely worth a journey.

From a bicycle ride perspective, I think the best part was between Oma and Ohata, because the road runs along the coast and there isn't too much traffic. There is some up-and-down before reaching Ohata, but it's kind of okay.

The ride between Mutsu and Noheji and on to Shichinohe was also okay in those parts where I had a street alternative to the main road, and actually there were some. Specially in the part from Noheji to Shichinohe I had for most part very quiet country side roads. There aren't any spectacular sights there, just Aomori countryside.

Regarding gear, I have finally used my shoes. Two days in a row! And I started using my bicycle shorts (instead of the skirt). I still feel however that the skirt is much better as it is cotton, while the bicycle shorts are made from some synthetic material that sounds like "rash-rash" which each step I take. It's okay thought while cycling.

With the outlook of a very rainy Saturday (7/Oct = Day 16) and some general tiredness, I opted to continue for Lake Tazawako and its onsen. And from here, probably on to Akita and Yamagata.

Day 13 - Hakodate to Oma and up to Osorezan 函館から大間経由で恐山へ

Bicycle touring Japan - Day 13

Today I started my ride through Aomori and as a highlight of the day made it up to Mount Osore (the ascent by taxi though), one of the three most sacred places in Japanese Buddhism and a great place to bath in acidic, hot water right from a volcano and just a stone's throw away from the main temple.

Bicycle: 55 km
Ferry: 40 km
Taxi: 14 km
Route: Hakodate hotel to port, Hakodate port to Oma port by ferry, Oma to Mutsu, Mutsu to Osorezan by taxi
Riding time: 3:20 h
Total ascent: 387 m (and this without actually riding up to Osorezan!)
Weather: cloudy and sunny, and a few drops of rain, 12 C


Today ended perfectly. In an onsen right below a temple with hot water flowing in directly from a volcano.

The day however started quite early (but not as early as tomorrow) in Hakodate, where I packed up, and left my hotel at 7:30, in order to be at the port around 8, right in time to buy my ticket to Oma, that I had reserved yesterday.

Around 9 we were allowed to roll onto the ferry. First the motorcyclists (3), then me, the only cyclist, and then cars and small vans.

My brompton was secured to the ship and I went upstairs to a room layed out just with some carpet where we could all sit on the floor. Japanese "standard class" on ships. From my room we had a great view over the ocean:

With me in the same room where 4 Japanese couples, somewhere between 50 and 80 years old that were also travelling through Japan. One couple by motorcycle and the others by car or camper bus. We all exchanged our travel plans and travel impressions. It was actually quite nice with all these other travelers. One elderly men even gave me as a present two origami figures of cranes that have a basket:

(As they are difficult to carry around, I have abandoned them in my room in the monastery below the  Buddhist scroll. Assuming that this is the nicest place where I can leave them.)

Before coming on the ship I had also spoken with the other motorcyclists, as we were waiting together in one area in order to be let on the ship. One was a guy (well, probably in his 50's) from Iceland travelling the world in what will be 2 years on his motorbike. So far he has done Europe, he started in the Netherlands, Russia, Mongolia. Now Japan and then on to North America, Central America, South America and next year summer again up to Alaska.

As I was the smallest vehicle of all, I was the last to leave the ferry in Oma. I then did ride on to the Northern most point of Honshu, where it was very windy. Luckily for me, the wind resulted to be tail wind for my ride. Otherwise it would have been a very hard day.

And then I set off along the Northern coast toward Ohata. Along the road there some algae were drying in the fresh ocean air. Either spread out or dangling in the wind:

The weather forecast for Oma and Mutsu today was: bright sun. However at least initially there were some dark clouds that seemed to bring rain. At some point it even started to rain very slightly and I already looked out for the next village in the hope to be able to hide somewhere and wait for the end of the rain. However instead of rain, at that moment the sun came through and it was sunny (plus some high and quickly moving clouds) for the rest of the day. Until now (19:00), when there was just a surprise rain shower. But from my warm room I couldn't care less. Even my bicycle is inside in the entry hall.

I knew from the Garmin elevation profile that there were going to be some up-and-down and one 100 m hill before coming to Ohata. Luckily the 100 m hill was steep on my end, so I could relatively quickly push the bicycle up, while the ride down was long and not very steep, so also ideal for rolling it down into Ohata:

If you look at my original plan for this ride Ohata was the start for a 200+ m ascent to Osorezan, through a road where I am unsure if it is asphalted or not. However when I reserved in the accommodation on Osorezan yesterday and asked about bears, I was told that yes, there might be bears. Specially on that road, as it is not very much transited. Thanks to these bears I had the perfect excuse for not making the ride up the mountain! (Per the taxi driver the bears in this region are small... but still, don't want to be chased nor eaten even by a small bear)
So I had asked the lady what are my other possibilities to come up to Osorezan. There are buses, but the last left around 14:00 from Mutsu, and no buses from Ohata, or taxis. Originally I had planned to take a taxi up from Ohata, but when I arrived there it was still early, the weather was quite nice and the ride over to Mutsu not too far, nor too hilly, so I decided to go on to Mutsu and take a taxi from there, which were supposed to be cheaper anyway, and I got a bit more time on the bike.

In Mutsu, thanks to Google maps, I found a taxi company and was driven up the mountain directly to my accommodation of the night. In looking at the road I have decided to not ride it down tomorrow, it is partly very steep (one first needs to climb up a hill and then down probably 400 m), slightly moist and partly also covered with fallen leaves. So it would seem not to be a very enjoyable and probably not even very safe ride down. So tomorrow will start with a bus ride down the volcano and then on my bike along the coast of the Mutsu bay.

While the ride today was nice, my accommodation for the night is spectacular! I am staying in the Shukubo of the Bodaiji temple on the lake of Osorezan. A Shukubo is a temple accommodation run by buddhist monks and includes a monks dinner and breakfast, i.e. all vegetarian and quite simple. My room however is so far the best (and largest) I had had on this entire travel, probably around 28 tatami mats in size:

And a room with a stunning view:

As in some previous nights, I have added one more futon to my bed for the night. So it gets softer. Luckily enough in Japanese rooms, there is a cupboard where all the futons are stored in, and as the rooms are meant for more than one person, there are normally spare futons. Which I simply use.

The best of the Shukubo so far however was the onsen. There are 3 onsen right on the grounds on the temple, actually on the way from the main gate to the main temple building, plus one more a bit farther away plus a modern one inside the accommodation itself.

Today in the afternoon I first tried out one on the temple grounds, that gets its hot waters directly from the volcano next door.

Although there is no rotenburo, with the fresh cold wind coming through the splits in the wooden hut, it was like being in a rotenburo. Simply great!

Before I started soaking I did at least a short exploration of the temple grounds in the sunset:

Dinner at 18:00 was a very quiet affair. The few guests, I think we were 12, were all sitting on the same long table, waited for the monk to tell a prayer and then we were allowed to eat. Everyone ate in silence. No idea if that is what one is supposed to do in a Buddhist monastery. And after 20 min the same monk came back said an other prayer and we finished our meal. Actually, while the accommodation is perfect, the dinner was a bit deluding. I had hoped for a very tasty Buddhist vegetarian meal, like the one we had a few years back in Koyasan, but it was just normal vegetable, tofu and rice. No extraordinary tastes.

Now in the evening I will have an other bath here in the more modern bath and then off to bed, so I can get up by 6:00 tomorrow morning, in time for the 6:30 morning prayer that we will all attend in the temple.

As probably to be expected on top of a volcano in a Buddhist monastery, internet connection is patchy. So I wont be able to upload this post until tomorrow, but then with pictures, maps and links.

Bicycle touring Japan - Ride maps

For details on the bicycle tour today in Aomori and Hokkaido, checkout the below maps:

 Here also the short ride in Hakodate today in the morning:

Day 12 - From Hiraizumi to Hakodate 平泉から函館へ

Bicycle touring Japan - Day 12

This post describes my twelfth day of bicycle touring in Japan, today most kilometers in a train, in order to get from Iwate prefecture up to the South of Hokkaido, so tomorrow I can ferry over to Oma in Aomori.

Bicycle: 34 km
Train: 420 km

Route: Hiraizumi to Ichinoseki, then train to Shin-Hakodate Hokuto and on by bike to Hakodate

Riding time: 2 h

Weather: sunny in both locations, but rain while on the train. In Iwate, 22C, in Hokkaido dropping rapidly from 20 C to 12 C


Today was essentially a day on the move. From Iwate up North to Hokkaido, so that I can move into Aomori tomorrow. I know, it is not logical to go from Iwate through Hokkaido to Aomori, but my plan to visit Osorezan starts from Oma. And the ferry to Oma leaves in Hakodate, Hokkaido.

Today in the morning I had a leisurely start leaving the hotel probably around 9:30 and just riding straight into Ichinoseki, to catch the next available shinkansen. I had looked up the train departure times yesterday, but didn't want to stress me out for any specific train... which resulted in me missing the 10:12 shinkansen by only a few minutes. So I took the 11:28 shinkansen, arriving (after one change in Morioka) to Shin-Hakodate Hokuto at 14:37.

If you wanted to see how fast a Shinkansen is when it is NOT stopping in a station...

The ride into Ichinoseki was uneventful, but sunny.

Bicycle touring Japan - Ride maps

For details on the bicycle tour today in Iwate, checkout the below maps:

 As weather forecast for Hakodate was good, I had plotted out a route from the Shin-Hakodate station to my hotel in Hakodate, so rode into town. As with some other shinkansen stations, Shin-Hakodate is quite far from the city, about 20 km. But it was a nice ride, specially initially as the sun was still higher and while it was fresh it was also sunny and riding in short sleeves was still totally possible.

The station essentially is in the middle of nowhere, a plain of fields. Apparently a lot of  onion fields, as the air was thick with onion smell.

I made a brief detour to the port, to see if I could already buy the ticket for the ferry tomorrow. I could not, but I was able to reserve one. Then on to my hotel for the night, selected because of its cheap price, 4000 Yen, no meals included.

View from my  room

At the station I had even gotten some tourist information material about Hakodate, it seems that the most famous spot is Hakodate mountain to see the city by night. But when I arrived to my hotel a cold and strong wind was blowing and I figured that on top of the mountain the wind must be even stronger... so laziness got the better of me, and I just stayed in my hotel room.

Bicycle touring Japan - Ride maps

For details on the bicycle tour today in Hokkaido, checkout the below maps:

Part 1 (Day 1 - 6) - Hokkaido - 北海道 Summary

Bicycle touring Japan - Hokkaido - Part 1

In this post I review my first week of bicycle touring in Japan, riding down from the very North of Hokkaido along the Sea of Japan to the South, then skipping on (by bus) to Sapporo and discovering there a very nice bicycle road. 

Bicycle: 271 km

Other transport: 2670 km

Region: Hokkaido

Total riding time: 18:15 h

Total ascent: 1,043 m

This first week of bicycle travelling in Hokkaido was also the first time for me to be on the road for more than 2 days, probably since I was a child and did some 3-4 day trips with my father.

Below an approximate (!) map of the rides ...

...  the detailed maps of the rides and more description for each day can be found here:

• Day 1
• Day 2
• Day 3
• Day 4
• Day 5
• Day 6

And here for an overview of the costs.

From the stuff I brought (see here), I did not use:

• any of the rain gear
• the shoes
• any of the bicycle repair stuff
• 1 of the two cardigans
• the fleece jacket

Now obviously rain gear seems to be important, as well as the bicycle repair stuff. I hope that I will continue to bring it only along without ever needing to use it. The cardigan and fleece jacket would have been handy had the weather been colder, so as I will restart riding late Sep/early Oct, I think I will still bring them. I have more doubts about the shoes. I definitely prefer riding in sandals and last year was riding in sandals until November... But if it rains, wouldn't closed shoes be better? Also off the bicycle... But those shoes are heavy... Difficult decision, but I think I will continue to bring them along. Although I "fear" that I will only rarely / never use them. 

In general I enjoyed the week quite a lot, the weather was absolutely ideal for cycling and also the region of Hokkaido I picked, I think was great for cycling, at least for me. There was really only 1 day with some up and down, but in the end I managed without needing to ever to push the bike or without giving up and hopping on a bus. So that was great. I noticed however that I need every now and then a day "off". And either do something not so much on a bicycle, e.g. some cultural activities, or simply just a relaxing day. I think specially once I will set out for the longer trip around Japan, I will need every now and then (maybe at least once a week) a rest day and also some time in the same location. That should assure that I can either rest that day or visit something local (and thus also spend less time on the bike, or no time) and it would also make washing clothes easier, if they can dry an entire day in one place. 

I am however definitely still very much motivated to continue my travel re-starting from end September, once I am back from Europe. I kind of have the feeling that 2 months will not be enough to do all the travelling I had hoped to do, so will need to choose wisely, but also according to weather, as this really influences a lot how much I can enjoy a day on the bike. No cycling in rain, I hope! 

Pre-booking the accommodation in Hokkaido was a good idea, as the coast between Wakkanai and Rumoi is not very densely populated and I could have easily got stuck somewhere. I however still hope that in other, more populated areas, pre-booking, at least so many days ahead will not be needed. But I also think that I am not the type of person to just ride the entire day and then search for an accommodation once I have arrived somewhere, even in a big city. At latest around lunch, I should have found my accommodation for the night (via internet) and then ride towards it.

The best cycling in Hokkaido was probably the first part from the Northern peak off Wakkanai (Noshappu) down the coast to about Teshio. Specially the first kilometers on the 無事カエル road were great.

Further down the road, after Haboro, traffic became more intense, and the landscape didn't change so much compared to the previous days, so nothing new. I could probably also have avoided to ride into Rumoi, which is a more or less industrial city and as such not very nice. Well, none of the cities / villages I came through was nice as such, but Rumoi was also industrial. So maybe taking the bus already from Obira would have been a good idea... but well, my self established goal was Rumoi and I made it until there.

The other cycling highlight was the cycling road from Sapporo to Kitahiroshima. Unfortunately I only road about half of it. I should have researched better and maybe I could have used it also for a part of the road to the museum. 

In summary, I am happy to have started the ride of Japan! More to come at end of September / early October.

Day 6 - Sapporo to Kitahiroshima and back to Tokyo

Bicycle touring Japan - Day 6

This post describes my bicycle tour of Japan, today around Sapporo including a visit to an open air museum and then back home to Tokyo by plane. It also includes one of the best bicycle roads I have seen so far in Japan. 

Bicycle: 33 km

Train: 26 km

Plane: 1070 km

Taxi: 23 km

Total: 1150 km

Route: Sapporo - "Historical Village of Hokkaido" Museum - Kitahiroshima (until here by bike) - New Chitose Airport - Tokyo

Riding time: 3 h

Total ascent: 209 m

Weather: sunny, 24 C

Today was already the last day of this first week of travelling through Japan by bicycle. Now I am flying back to Tokyo and on the day after tomorrow I will leave for 3 weeks to Europe, no bicycle... Well, probably that's a lie, as I hope to buy a bicycle in the Netherlands, just for use around the city.

My last day started with a breakfast in the hotel room, as the complimentary breakfast at Toyoko Inn did not look very inviting.

With a relatively late start I set out through Sapporo to the "Historical Village of Hokkaido" Museum, which I already had wanted to visit when I was in Sapporo in February this year, but I thought that visiting an open air museum under the snow wasn't a good idea. So I went today.

I had planned out the ride from central Sapporo to the museum on Garmin, while I was preparing for this trip, but I had planned it from Chitose to Sapporo, instead of the other way round. What I discovered today is that it is not possible (or at least I don't know how), to invert the route directly on Garmin. I would have needed to do this on the iPad and then load the course again. However the Garmin planning web page (as well as Blogger) are not working very well on the iPad. And anyway, I only discovered that the route was the other way round, once I was already starting the ride. I could still see which street to take on Garmin, so it was kind of okay.

I also discovered that Sapporo is a city apparently entirely made for cars. Streets are enormous, often 4 lanes or more, and as it is so easy to drive, many people DO drive. Which makes Sapporo not a city that I could enjoy on bicycle. However, read on, because there is actually one of the best bike rides I have ever made in Japan also in Sapporo!

In the open air museum, examples from old (Meiji or Taisho era) buildings from Hokkaido have been reconstructed. While in the real Hokkaido (as elsewhere in Japan), old buildings are barely remaining, in this museum it is old buildings only. Which are all quite nice. Even the old station of Sapporo has been transplanted here (the yellow building at the right of the picture):

One can even take a horse drawn tram through the small - fake - town.

As I had a late start and wasn't very quick in reaching the park, I did not have so much time in the park, but still enough, as only the main explanations are in English, while inside many of the buildings there are more detailed exhibitions, which are Japanese only, and for sure not all of them are interesting anyway.

And I had one more agenda point for today. Actually two: bicycle road from Sapporo to Kitahiroshima and soaking in the Chitose airport onsen. Both accomplished :-)

I had read about this bicycle lane from central Sapporo to Kitahiroshima on this blog, but I still had a hard time finding the road, as I could not find on the internet a real map of it. So once I had finished in the museum, I set out to find this road. Google maps does not know about it, but with some information from the blog above, and Google satellite view, I was able to find it. And this cycle road is GREAT. It was built on the old train tracks from Sapporo to Kitahiroshima, which means that it is quite wide and with gentle slopes. It still has a small hill to get over before reaching Kitahiroshima. Actually on the top of that hill is the "Bicycle station" (自転車の駅). The lane winds gently through a forest and after the busy and polluted streets of Sapporo it was heaven to be on this totally quiet lane.

On the Garmin map below, the ride starts at 2 h 15 min. I also took photos of information boards along the road (which are in contrast to what I could find on the internet) very detailed, and have posted them here.

After taking a lot of pictures of this wonderful bicycle lane, I arrived at Kitahiroshima station in comfortable time for the 15:37 express train to New Chitose Airport.

After checking in the bicycle, I still had enough time to relax in the onsen, which is located right INSIDE the airport. Just go up to the 4th floor. It is not very well indicated downstairs, but if you ask, you will be shown to a specific elevator that leaves you right in front. The onsen is modern and with a lot of amenities, but still at a reasonable price (1500 Yen). Unfortunately it does not have a view over the runway. Actually it does not have any view at all, probably due to the fact that Japanese when in an onsen want to see nature (which is hard if your onsen is located on the top floor of an airport) and one-way windows don't seem to be a frequent feature. But it was still very nice to clean myself after a day in the heat (bearable, but heat) of Hokkaido and before boarding. I relaxed in the rotenburo and timed my departure perfectly so that I did not need to wait anywhere before embarking.

Well, so this was my first week of travelling by bicycle. In the next post I will write a summary of my impressions and lessons learnt.

Bicycle touring Japan - Ride maps

For details on the bicycle tour today in Hokkaido, checkout the below maps:

Day 5 - From Haboro to Rumoi and Sapporo 羽幌から留萌経由で札幌へ

Bicycle touring Japan - Day 5

This post describes my bicycle tour of Japan, riding down the West coast of Hokkaido and arriving finally after 5 days in Rumoi, the goal for this leg of the tour. 

Bicycle: 52 km

Bus: 150 km

Route: Haboro to Rumoi (and then on by bus to Sapporo)

Riding time: 4 h

Total ascent: 153 m

Weather: sunny and some clouds, 22C

Today in the morning prior to starting the day, I was not looking too much forward to an other day along the coast. More hills and the same landscape as in the previous 4 days. I was also thinking that I need more things to do apart from cycling. But in this region here there is only landscape to be looked at. Which I do while cycling.

But well, then I got on my bike, got my fluids at a vending machine and set off. The initial kilometres were again full of hills. Not as bad as yesterday but still, up & down. Not something I was looking forward to.

But then after Tomamae the road became flat, so there was "only" the headwind to fight against. Which was quite strong, but doable.

I started the day at around 9:00 and arrived in Rumoi around 15:30, including some breaks along the road.

The accommodation I stayed in tonight, seems to be quite famous in Japan, specially for motorcyclists. The owner also has a booklet with key information of all guests and a photo like this one:

I had a look at the previous bicycle rider guests, and we all stand behind our bikes, as if they were some kind of deer we had just killed by bare hands. Me included. I should have had a look at the motorcyclists, to see what their expression was. The car drivers were more looking like patting a well behaved horse on the back.

Also today the road obviously led along the coast, which is a very windy (and today South - North windy) road. So windy, that many of the villages along the road are protected by high fences against the wind:

The villages did not get nicer and actually I would say that about 30%, if not more, or all houses I saw today, should be torn down. They are abandoned since many years, falling in bits and pieces, and essentially only a heap of rubbish, but as they can be still considered a "house", I guess that the local administration cannot just declare them illegal rubbish.

In a Northern part of Obira, I had a relatively early lunch, which looked good (also by the fact that people were lining up outside at 11:30, in this relatively remote area! But I have to admit, that at least the dish I took, fresh tuna on rice (とろ丼) was actually not as nice as it looked like:

Shortly after the lunch break, I also came by an "Important Cultural Property", the house of a fish merchant family in the trade of herring at the beginning of the century. It seems that herring was mainly fished for use as fertilizers in agriculture, and less for eating the fish as such. These merchants had an enormous building, right on the shore, where they lived, but more importantly where the hired fishermen from all over Japan were staying for the fishing period.

Luckily the street stayed flat even after departing the museum, so that after just an other 2 h probably, I was in Rumoi. I also noticed that Garmin sometimes sees things that don't exist. Per Garmin, at this location a "killer" hill so steep that at least for the descent an elevator would be required, should exist...

And then arrived to Rumoi, an other not nice town in Japan. Not even a decent onsen in town!

So I went up to the JR station and then looked at Google sensei, who proposed to take a bus instead, which, obliging me, I did.

As soon as we were out of Rumoi, and I was looking from the comfortable bus, at the landscape I thought, I should be riding here...

But instead I road by bus to Sapporo to my Toyoko Inn, just outside of the station. No onsen here either, but a bath tub, where I took a bath, short, compared to the previous days of soaking. Then I went off to a shopping mall under Sapporo station in search for something nice to eat (resulted to be sausages, beer and then some pancakes).

Now before dropping to bed, I need to have a quick look at tomorrow. My general plan is to go to the open air museum just outside of Sapporo, visit it and then either ride to New Chitose airport or catch a train somewhere along the road. I also remember that there should be an onsen right inside the airport-shopping-mall-thingy, which constitutes New Chitose Airport. Would be nice to soak off the sweat prior to boarding.

Also today no cyclist in my direction, so either I am the quickest of all (I am 100 % sure, that if anything I am the slowest of all) or probability mandates that I cannot meet any of the cyclists in my direction, if in the opposite direction there are only about 10 cyclists per day (assuming that there would be the same number of cyclists in both direction, at which speed would I need to go in order to meet one???)

I also totally resisted the temptation to jump on a bus along the coast and I even never did push my bicycle up any hill in these first 5 days of solo bike touring :-)

Bicycle touring Japan - Ride maps

For details on the bicycle tour today in Hokkaido, checkout the below maps:

Day 4 - From Asahi Onsen to Haboro 旭温泉から羽幌へ

Bicycle touring Japan - Day 4

This post describes my bicycle tour of Japan, sill continuing riding down the West coast of Hokkaido from Wakkanai towards Rumoi, today reaching Haboro after some up-and-down. 

Bicycle: 43 km
Route: Asahi onsen to Haboro
Riding time: 3 h 40 min
Total ascent: 343 m
Weather: sunny and some clouds, 20 C

Today not too many km, but a lot of hills. I didn't count them, but probably about 10 times up and down again.

But all these hills also left time for sufficient onsening. Today in total I probably soaked about 2.5 hours. As I had stayed in an onsen hotel yesterday night, I took a bath first thing in the morning. The pools changed over night (i.e. Women and men's onsen change every day), in the one I was this morning the water outside was light brown, like rust, while the other rotenburo was of quite dark water. And then in the afternoon, after arriving in Haboro I went straight to the Sunset Plaza onsen at the beginning of the town. Initially I was completely alone in a rather large onsen facility, but later on other bathers also arrived. Here the rotenburo was greenish and not very hot, so that one could spend hours on end in the water soaking. Which I did... I only needed to get out every now and then, to get to the washing machine or dryer, where I was washing my stuff. I had hoped to wash yesterday, but no washing machine at Asahi onsen.

Between these two onsen experiences, there was obviously the ride of the day. The first 6 km were slightly descending and I was lucky enough not to meet a bear! Which seem to be living in the woods around the onsen. I only encountered some tanuki, including one who seem to have been feeding close to my bike. Again no pictures of them. Actually one I saw yesterday afternoon for quite a long time while soaking...

After a few km on the coast, the up and down started.

At about the half way point, is Shosanbetsu. A small village, but with an astronomical observatory next to the local onsen).

This village was not really nice either, but better than others.

They even got a specific mascot for their village. Featuring the observatory:

Japan is also the country of the post offices. In the 42 km I road today there were at least 5 post offices. In one of them I bought some stamps for a post card I got:

All the up and down from time to time was also rewarded with nice views of the coast:

Only to give way to more hills:

On the top of the hills I normally stopped briefly, got something to drink and then continued on. But sometimes I also took a bit more time to take some pictures.

Just before Haboro, I came to the monument for the Ororon (オロロン). It looks very similar to a penguin, but apparently it is some other kind of sea bird, which lives on an island in front of Haboro.

The bird also very kindly lends its name to the road along the coast. Ororon line!

From the "penguin" down to Haboro, where I stopped at the onsen hotel. Unfortunately the two other attractions of Haboror were closed, the rose garden, although in full bloom was closed for reconstruction works, and the sea bird museum closed because of Monday. So I enjoyed a melon ice cream in a small bar (that frankly looked completely closed, but wasn't, nor was I the only guest in the 10 min I was there...).

And then the second soak of the day (see above).

As on previous days, my riding was over in the early afternoon. I think today I arrived at the onsen at around 14:30. But I stayed so long in the onsen that I arrived to my accommodation of the night just shortly before 18:00, although I had promised to come by all means before 18:00, as I had registered for dinner. However, when I arrived, the landlord suggested that I should leave again immediately... to have a good look at the sunset, which was going to start a few minutes later.

There is a place on the top of the cliffs, very close to the minshuku of tonight where one could enjoy the sunset:

No clouds at that time :-)

Then back to the minshuku and to dinner, which was delicious as promised by the bicycle rider I met two days ago on the evening of Day 2.

The room itself is relatively small, and not too welcoming for anything else but sleeping. But we also have a big common room, restaurant, where the 3 guests of the night are sitting. One motorcyclist and one elderly guy, who I think came by bus.

Today the number of cyclists I met was quite low, I think only 4, and again no one going in my direction! Motorcyclists were aplenty as before. And even one hiker.

Bicycle touring Japan - Ride maps

For details on the bicycle tour today in Hokkaido, checkout the below maps: