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July 29, 2017

Hokkaido Touring Day 11: Okhotsk Cycling Road & Unexpected Reunions

English | 日本語
Last night it was hard to sleep because of the noise of cars on the road and the snoring of the campers who came after me. But I woke up around 5:30 AM and had breakfast with the bread and coffee I bought yesterday.
After that, I took care of the bike chain. On the way to the restroom to wash my oily hands, I had a 20-minute chat with a rider on his motorbike YAMAHA MT-09 from Otaru.
I was back to my tent but the sun still not yet rise up. I need to wait until the sun comes out for drying the tent. So I went to a guy who suggest me to pitch a tent here and I gave him a bottle of chu-hai for his kindness. And then I asked him where the laundromat was. He kindly told me again and would show me around, but I refrained from doing so because it's hard to getting there on a bicycle and a bike.
By the way I did not take a picture of the commemorative lake side photo yesterday, so I shot it.
I left at 8:00 AM and didn't seem to be too tired from yesterday. On the way to the laundromat, as it happen the rider from the gas station gestured me out that there was over there. He's really nice, isn't he?
However, after I quite lost, I was able to get to the laundromat finally. I never mind there have been the place he told me or not. It was relatively cheap, 700 JPY for washing and drying. I'll be washing all the laundry that I had accumulated today.
Next to the laundromat is convenience store Lawson, there is a power supply and WiFi in eat in corner. I was allowed to use it until the end of the laundry. It was so convenient. If you see Lawson, you might want to take a break to be actively.
After a short ride, I found the Okhotsk Bike Path. It had been recommended that I should go here before. As soon as I entered, I saw a variety of scenery in the forest, in the fields, by the lake, and so on. It was nice to be able to taste them with no car traffic ! However, it seems to merge with the public road on the way, so It is a bit unfortunate that I can't go to Lake Saroma with the same atmosphere.
I encountered two motorcycle tourists on the way. It looks like a father in the front and a mother in the back with a child on their back seat. When I talked out to them at the traffic light, they were a family of four from Iwate prefecture. I asked to the father what do they do because of the small amount of luggage, he said they are staying in hotels and lodging. Well, they are touring by motorcycles, but the style is similar to the car touring, isn't it ? But it is much different from using cars that they can feel the clean air enough like a bicycle touring ! The signal changed and they went ahead.
Approaching from the "Tokoro Ruins Forest" side of Lake Saroma, the road to the "Tokoro Ruins Forest" is not accessible I continued on along Lake Saroma. In this touring, I took video footage with an action camera, took photos with a digital camera, and those for sending on LINE are shooting with my phone. Today, I tried shooting video with the digital camera instead of the action camera. It's easy to shoot because the images can be monitored. How's the video? I'll have to check the battery life too. But I think it would be better to take pictures and videos on a digital camera and the camera and the phone could work together... (I couldn't use the video on the camera because the blur was so bad.. And as I write this article in 2020, everything have been on just one smartphone !)
I joined route 238 from Lake Saroma and entered a soba noodle restaurant to have a meal. Surprisingly, the motorbike touring family I met before was eating soba noodles. I talked with the father for a while. It is interesting to meet people on a trip.
Speaking of interesting reunions, while I was stopping at a roadside station after this, I saw a Super Cub (motorbike) traveler. And then we met at the same campground tonight. He said he had ridden 400 km from Chitose and it was his hobby to conquer all the roadside stations in Japan. He said he's going to ride around to Nemuro tomorrow and visit all the roadside stations in Hokkaido. He says that even with a load of camping gear, the fuel economy can be 70 km/liter.
Instead of the Kimneup Campground I had planned to go first, I went to Gokayama Park (500 jpy), which is a little bit further down the road, where the hot springs are nearby I decided to stay at the campground.
I got a smooth skin in 'Tulip's hot spring' near the park (500 jpy), and the water was not too hot and pleasant. I bought ramen noodles, salad, and a can of chuhai on the way to return the campground.
When I started to cook a dinner, I threw out the vegetables I carried around because they were hurting. I forgot to buy a iced water bottle today, but I need to take care of them even in Hokkaido because the bag I bring for vegetables is not a refrigerator.
Tomorrow, I'm pondering which I'm going to ride 130 km/day to the free Ustaive Senjojiki Campground, or to stay on schedule. But I need to charge my MacBook, so I'll have to take some time to break touring.

From Lake Abashiri to Goshikayama Camp Ground 97km

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