Forecast rain never arrived, so we ventured out for a tiki-tour. Back over to the west coast to start a loop that would take us past Cape Noshappu.

Managed to avoid such a fate by taking things easy, and being able to ride a bike.

Reused-buoy art.

Fish drying racks, we think.

Big listening station just behind the cape, and its fishing harbour.

The ferry returning from Rishiri – we’d be on that tomorrow.

Returning to Wakkanai, a steep climb took us up to this observation tower and the museum at its base.

An English audio guide online helped somewhat with understanding some of it, but internet coverage in the bottom of a big concrete building – not so much. Main point that stuck was the proximity of Sakhalin island (forty kilometres to the north) – that at times has been controlled, completely or in part, by either China, Russia or Japan. Japan’s control being during its expansionist early twentieth century, Russia reclaiming it at the end of the Second World War.

Monument to nine young telephone operators that stayed on to keep communication lines open as Russia retook Sakhalin, staying to the last before taking suicide pills.

Few more days before we’d be back to ride along that coast to the northern most point of Hokkaido.

Wakkanai and another wind farm.

More perfect fruit, some a hundred New Zealand dollars each!

Local seafood market for lunch.

First example I saw of bowsers from the roof; saw them occasionally after that.

Searching for an outdoor shop, we found it in this otherwise closed up shopping precinct. Very helpful staff and a great store – we got what we needed.

Also found a bike mechanic to try and get rid of the annoying click from my bottom bracket – interesting little workshop.

Popping down to the ferry terminal to investigate what we had to get on the ferry to Rishiri the following day, we noticed our first elaborate coloured cover. We had been spotting a few different manhole cover designs in different places, but they’d all been cast iron. Eventually realising that every town has their own, spotting and photographing them became a small obsession for the next three months.

A little planning for the next few days also possible.

Just as well I’m not fond of whisky… Supermarkets would be even more perilous.

Back to the local onsen to hangount, cabinet food tonight, with a little live music.

Slightly cooler night, may have managed some sleep – but still didn’t need to get my sleeping bag out for the first time in Japan.

Bit of company packing up.

An easy, flat day of coastal riding to the northern most city, Wakkanai, awaited us. A lot of dairy farms, but very few cows seen. Animals inside most of the year, grass taken to them from the fields – mostly seemed to be hay. We got quite excited if we spied any cows outside.

Open fields, no muck or fences.

Cows in there somewhere.

Easy smooth riding very much assisted by a tailwind.

Occasionally we stopped at quiet fishing harbours for a bit of shade and a drink machine, interesting to see various items laid out readying for the next catch.

Pictorial signs continue to amuse, if not entirely inform us.

Even more coastal protection being made and set. In places it seemed a lot of concrete being used to protect open fields.

One of the bigger wind farms we saw; a bit like the solar farms, wind turbines were generally in small groups and spread around northern Hokkaido.

Had to stop for a photo as we crossed the 45th parallel.

Quite the change from the coastal landscape that requires long tunnels.

Always more snacks to try – these were good, but I wasn’t sure how well they’d survive in the heat; well, that was my excuse for eating them quickly.

Largest hill all day, all of fifty metres to get over to Wakkanai on the other coast (as Hokkaido narrows in the north). Different style of wind turbine.

We found our first rider house (basic accommodation for motor cyclists and bicyclists). It was an experience, run by a chain-smoking eighty-odd year old woman, the fug of cigarette smoke pervaded. Our windowless bunk room was overwhelmingly damp and musty. But there was an onsen next door, with a bar and kitchen – a much nicer place to hang out, with some live music too. Enough daylight left for a bit of wandering; on the northern extent of the island and no doubt exposed to a lot of weather the town had a harder edge to it than others we’d seen.

The deer didn’t seem to mind though.

Typical community police station.

A third language on the street signs here – Sakhalin Island (Russia) being so close, there’s been some cross-settlement over the years.

Cute mini-trucks make for even cuter mini-campers.

Rest day tomorrow as a lot of rain forecast. After a week of little sleep in the heat, I was looking forward to it. I certainly didn’t have the energy or patience for enforced-fun in a foreign language at the stale rider house – I skipped the late “compulsory” round table of introductions and singing some song about Hokkaido and went to bed.

Delayed start to the day’s riding as it was still drizzling first thing. Slightly off our route to the north of the island, cherry orchards were a draw for someone – but we all balked at the price of aesthetically perfect fruit, something we’d continue to do for the next few months.

Something else we’d become familiar with – small community groups out keeping their place up.

Marigolds particularly popular in many places.

Waiting at the cherry orchard…

One of those places where the size and grandeur of the dead centre surpasses the rest of town.

Arriving at the first large town of the day, I was keen to find something to treat the intense itching and swelling of my left arm after the previous day’s hornet sting. After a couple of pharmacies, I found a soothing gel that proved most useful.

Never seen a tall bowling alley building before; maybe that’s why it struggled to stay in business.

Urgency to ride was not so high that we could miss a patisserie.

Sun out, we were back on the bikes along the coast.

Various animals holding fences around worksites another feature all the way around Japan, much more interesting than death by a thousand cones.

Around noon, a large museum right on the coast drew us in. I was hoping for lunch, but instead was interested, so far as I could understand, to learn how large the herring fishing industry was in the early modern settled history of Hokkaido (which being late nineteenth century, I later learned, was much later than I expected). While some was dried for food, mostly the herring was processed and sent to the south of Japan to be used for fertiliser.

Building used for processing the herring, quarters for the cheap labour, and owner’s residence as well.

Glass buoys always seemed a bit fragile to me, but they must have worked ok or we wouldn’t have seen so many surviving examples on our travels around the coast.

Predictably, a konbini was not far away for lunch supplies.

We found some green space below a temple to stop.

Occasionally I remembered to take a photo or two of some of the abandoned buildings that plague the countryside of Japan.

With rural depopulation and those left aging, and I think there are some tax reasons that make walking away from property advantageous, the number of buildings decaying (at various stages of decline) we saw was staggering. Along this coastline, it was particularly noticeable.

Getting into bear country it seems. Hopefully they’re not this big, nor with alarming and disturbing electric eyes.

Sometimes the street furniture got a little overwhelming.

Passing temple.

And I thought the bear above was disturbing…seems they have giant penguins too.

Pleasant late afternoon cruising towards our campground.

Camping huts, alongside the popular and free tenting area. Further up the coast, tomorrow’s ride.

North to Rishiri, a volcanic island we were aiming to take a ferry to in a few days.

Just a standard campground observatory.

Campground lighting was often excessive in Japan and kept me awake (I had to buy an eyeshade eventually) – this bordering on the ridiculous.

Tents erected, we wandered down to the seaside to take in the sunset. Well worth it:

After that spectacular display, we got back into the habit of cooking our dinner on a picnic table. I skipped the onsen trip that night, can’t have thought I needed it after an easy day’s biking in sub-thirty degree temperatures.