Chocks away and we were off to rapidly lose 800 metres of altitude to the valley floor – all to the soundtrack of self-defence artillery practice booming alarmingly close by.
Another post-apocalyptic mower.
Fifteen kilometres along the flats to the ski town of Furano. Unfortunately too late in the season for the famed fields of flowers, but golden rice plants and many, many more onions enough to keep us interested.
Would be fun to return in the winter to all the ski runs we’ve seen covered in grass…
Up a steep hill to the ski area base station – as there was a big bike store, still couldn’t find a replacement chain for Rachel. Back down again for early lunch as no services on the afternoon’s planned route.
Out of town, we turned onto a minor road to take a direct, hilly option – only to discover it was a complete rat-run with many trucks and no shoulder or sidewalk. A heavy shower promptly soaked us and sent us back down to the major valley floor route – which was far quieter and had a big path.
Into Ashibetsu, under the watchful eyes of a former-recreation area, now privately owned, statue and pagoda. Lingered around a large visitor centre as more heavy showers came and went.
Leaving the valley we’d been riding down for forty kilometres, we popped over a small hill to Utashinai. Formerly a booming coal town of almost fifty thousand people, now there is no mining and only a couple of thousand people. Curiously, there was a distinct Tyrol feel to the place, in a Japanese way of course – an attempt to diversify and attract visitors. Was quite nice, but couldn’t see that it was really working.
Still a bit damp, the local museum seemed a good option. It didn’t look that big but inside it was extensive – partly due to the large basement devoted to mining equipment. We were charmed by the Japanese staff who helpfully guided us around with a modicum of English – but amused as he kept slipping into Portuguese! It was unfortunate that Ian was no longer with us to appreciate and explain the mining gear.
There was also a large room packed with all sorts of domestic items from the last century. Seems I’ve reached an age that things I remember using in childhood are museum worthy (none pictured below, if anyone is wondering).
Subaru’s first mass-produced car.
Pleasant rail trail took us eight kilometres down this valley, past plenty of abandoned buildings before we popped over once again to the next valley.
Kamisunagawa was even more down on its heels. Not much open, we rode through town heading for a campground.
Old mining shaft repurposed as a micro-gravity test facility.
The campground was apparently closed due to no electricity for the floodlights (suits me), so we enquired up the road at the large hotel. Campground definitely closed and somehow the hotel was full (seemed unlikely judging by the parking lot and general vibe). But it was raining again so we got a good ticket-machine dinner and made use of the onsen.
We loitered a fair bit after bathing, waiting for the rain to stop. Just as we were about to venture out into the dark, a staff member found us and said we could camp in the garage as it was so wet (was wet) and cold (was not cold). For some reason I was imagining a large underground garage – but bivvying in one of those prefab steel single garages suited me just fine.
This could have easily been in the museum we visited.
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.
Many more of those flood control weirs up this way.
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.
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.
