Hokkaido Touring Day 20: Lots of gifts

English | 日本語

I wake up naturally when the outside goes light. It's hard to wake up early when I'm at home, but when I go camping, I can wake up almost at sunrise. It's strange.

I made a cup of coffee in the pavilion and ate melon bread as a breakfast. The laundry was dry. My last washed long-sleeved t-shirt was a little damp, so I decided to just put it on the bike as usual and start riding.

It's just hot today. And it's a headwind, which makes it slow. Only at times like this, I have to run 120 km.

Google Map tells me to go a mountain road in Akabira city where I would cycle for about an hour. However, there is some distance on the map, but it seems easier to ride, so I changed the course not in the mountain.

After cycling for a while, I was stopped by an elderly man. He took out 1,000 jpy from his wallet and tried to hand it to me. He told me that he used to ride a bicycle in the past, just like me. But He can't ride now because of his physical condition. Many strangers were very kind to him then, now he is cheering for the bicycle travelers as they did to him. I decided to take it gratefully, taking that feeling into account. I was not allowed to take his picture or name, but the memory is still fresh in my mind. I'm sure I will do the same thing in the future. But it's strange. If I hadn't changed my course earlier, I wouldn't have had the chance to meet him like this.

When I reached Sunagawa City, I found a sign for the straightest road in Japan. It was National Route 12. I decided to cycle on it because it looked interesting. The road has a lot of traffic as if it was a major road, the side of the road is a constant stream of shops. It is a little different from Hokkaido I have seen in the past, I felt like a city.

There is a roadside station in the middle of the road, I decided to take a break. While I was drinking coffee, I saw an elderly crunchy cyclist and talked to him. He said he is a diabetic and is riding his bike everyday to lower his blood sugar level. Apparently the cause of his diabetes is alcohol (he said), but he can't stop drinking, so he cycles in order to drink ! We set out to take care of each other's road and health.

I managed to complete the straight road and went for a while before stopping for lunch at Roadside Station Mikasa. This was the best roadside station I had ever stopped at, and the food here was unparalleled. There was a market where food shops gathered, and I stopped at a farmer's shop there to have a boiled cane and tomato smoothie, and other I had fried cheese potatoes at the store. They were cheap, tasty and filling.

The next stop is Ebetsu City. I take a picture of the university my daughter is attending and send it to her on line. Afterwards, while taking a supply break on a small river bike path in Atsubetsu Town, I looked up the route to today's accommodation. . Just here, I changed course because It seems better to go along the river and drive along the railroad tracks. After a while, when I took a detour due to road construction, an employee induction said, "How's this trailer?". OMG, if he knows this Travoy trailer, it's obvious that bicycling must be his hobby ! We talk for more than 10 minutes, even though he is at work.

I finally arrived at our destination just before 4 PM. As I was checking out the place across the street, the lady at the shop in front of me said, "Oh, you're so cool. Here, I'll give you some" and she gave me a bag of oranges. I thought it was a strange day to receive much gifts, but I was grateful to receive them.

The inn is a cafe from the outside. In, there is a door in the back of the room was the dormitory beyond that. There is quite clean and a place to sleep is like a capsule hotel (2500 jpy per night). For now, take a shower and rest. The hotel guest is free to drink, so I get an apple juice and ate a wasabi sandwich to commemorate, it was quite delicious.
I went to the laundry afterwards. While doing laundry, when I went to thank the lady from earlier, she again offered me tea and melon! I listened from her talk. What a surprise, this store just opened on July 19, and the reason to start this ship is the neighbors are having trouble buying their vegetables. I've heard a lot of things and I was about to leave, when she got a phone call. While talking to the caller, she asked me if I would like to go with her because they were going to eat. It was an unexpected turn of events, but this was the trip, and I gladly decided to join them.

We had dinner with a woman who runs a publishing company in Hokkaido. I heard she is publishing books about camping in Hokkaido, so I bought a copy from her. We both ate and drank well. I heard a lot of stories and again, it was all a treat.

Today It has been a magical day of travel, with so many gifts given to me.

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From Kami-ashibetsu to Sapporo 120 km