Late start after a big cooked breakfast in our wee studio apartment. Not only farewelling the pleasant city of Asahikawa, but Orlaith too – great touring buddy who found plenty of interesting things to see, and kept us on our toes with each morning’s “question of the day”. Back out of town the way we came in – cycle trail up the Chubetsu River. That only lasted five kilometres as we left the river to head through farmland on the slightest of climbs. Another rice area, difference in this one being a staggering amount of earthworks for new, larger rice fields.
Asahidake in cloud again.
Oh, there’s the airport – didn’t see Orlaith but.
Surprised, but pleased, to see a few Massey Fergusons in this lot.
Rice growing gave way to extensive onion and potato crops around the trendy little town of Biei. Seems bus loads of tourists come to see the flowers and gardens, before heading up to the Blue Pool – where we were also going, after lunch and getting supplies for overnight.
Gently climbing, cycle trail ran beside the Biei River pretty much all the way to the pool. The water was so clear, and unsurprisingly looked pretty blue – apparently from aluminium coming out of a volcanic area.
Many more of those flood control weirs up this way.
The Blue Pool wasn’t all that exciting. As indicated earlier, many bus loads of people – so decent people watching.
Seemed the pool was artificial.
Looked pretty green to me, the Biei River was bluer.
I still can’t work this map out, and I was there. Usually they make some sense.
A short distance up the valley from the pool is the Shirahige Falls, with some good viewpoints. It started to rain heavily enough to curtail our viewing. What we did see looked pretty.
Climbing a bit more to finish the day, it stayed wet enough that choosing a hostel bed over camping was the attractive option. The adjoining onsen was notably excellent too. Cooking in a proper kitchen also far better than over a gas stove in the rain. To our amusement, we were complimented on the meal we cooked by some of our Japanese hostel buddies.
Seems I also remembered to take a couple of photos to show what a typical Japanese hostel dormitory room is like. Not dissimilar to others, so long as proper slipper etiquette was observed.
Twas a very nice park in the city, and a free campground too – we did find a lot of those in Japan.
Typical cooking shelter at campgrounds – well used to those long concrete sinks.
Squirrels were a different addition to this place. 
Just as we were leaving, this one showed they’re quite used to people.
Hello there.
Various varieties of rice had been planted to make a picture.
This year it was honouring a local javelin hero.
This is what it looked like at ground level.
Got a view of Asahidake in the distance though.
Finally snapped a photo of these curious rice field half-tracks for my nephew.
A promising entrance to a bike shop.
New bar ends anyone?
Weird to be somewhere with bigger streets and many big signs.
Worth a short queue outside in the heat.
Furrito Alley for dinner at an izakaya.
Many small dishes – fish, pork, asparagus and potatoes most noteworthy.
Quite a large bottle. We were amused to see the glasses filled to overflow into the small dish beneath.
Required some method not to spill it everywhere.
Very poor timing out here.
Nice to see little rail cars still trundling around the countryside.
Not the Canmore I was used to.
Amused by the replacement of the maple leaf in the flag.
Curious.
Curiouser.
At least it was cooler up here. (That’s the summit elevation, bit misleading.)
Path flat for a little before beginning the climb. Plenty to look at though, misty peak, nice lake and some geothermal activity.
Up we go. Pretty rocky and loose, but easily walkable.
This section was better underfoot!
Pausing to look around most worthwhile.
Volcanic colours starting to show. Also, typically well-covered Japanese hiker.
We, on the other hand, not as nearly protected from the sun in our bike gear.
I do like fumarole fotos.
Misty clouds continually blowing through as we ascended; occasional views.
Fair bit of traffic, but not overwhelming.
Made it to the top to find we were only three hours’ walk from Kurodake – where we’d been two days before. 
Not much of a view down the way we came.
But summit lunch wasn’t bad – some views in the opposite direction.
Bit clearer on the way down.
A bit neglected early on it soon became a top-notch piece of trail and then very well used.
Giving the climbing legs another work out trying to get a better view of the falls.
Lack of traffic meant being able to stare more at the impressive canyon walls surrounding us.
A path on the outside of a galleria – more pleasant.
Don’t think that bridge is going to get us across; backtracking involved.
River still looking dirty through these flood control gates.
