Tuesday 19 June
Day 11
Memanbetsu to Utoro (Shiritoko NP)
90km (total 923km)
A beautiful ride today, with great variety; rolling farmland
and off the main road for the first 30km out of Memanbetsu, then straight
stretches (with rough head-wind) for the following 30km into Shari, then
beautiful coastal riding along the
Okhotsk sea to Utoro. Beautiful!
Along the way, I called into the Shari service centre and
got a yummy crème brulé soft serve ice cream. Yum!
About 10km out from Utoro, I pulled over to see the Oshin
Koshin falls, which were very unique and beautiful. Apparently, they are a famous feature of Shiritoko National
Park, and deservedly so!
When I reached Utoro, I called into the service centre to
browse at the food and souvenirs for sale, when I bumped into the Lovely
Japanese guy who I had met at the Forest Campground, and again in
Hamantonbetsu! He actually came up
behind me, and seemed very happy to see me! We sat down for a little while and he asked about my
progress (was impressed by how much distance I have covered), and he said that
he and his wife had been at Shiritoko for a few days, waiting for a fine day to
take a bear-spotting cruise. They
had done that in the morning, and he reported seeing several bears (Eeek!).
I am staying at the Shritoko Kyampu-Jo site tonight, which
is lovely and grassy, with a short and scenic bushwalk nearby with lovely views
of the sea and harbor. It is
only ¥400/night and there is a really nice onsen just down the road, which I
enjoyed visiting to clean off the day’s dirt and sweat (¥500).
Ohhh, also I went into town to look around and buy some
dinner (7/11 sandwiches!), and when I went to the Shiritoko Natural History
museum I was met by a very kind and enthusiastic young guy (name), who spoke
good English and helped me out by providing some English-language guidebooks,
including a “National Parks of Japan”.
He was really excited to hear that I am Australian, and showed me his
“Australia” key-ring and said that he really wanted to travel to Australia for
holiday. So, I provided my contact
details and said I would love to catch up if he comes to Adelaide.
I managed to get a beautiful sunset photo of the sun setting over Utoro harbour, from the campsite. It really is a stunning part of Japan.
I was only really planning to cycle back to Shari tomorrow,
but 30km might be too little effort for me (!). I may make it down to Akan National Park… perhaps I should
have booked a morning-tour somewhere into Shiritoko… should have thought about
it this afternoon!
Beautiful sunset pic! Looks amazing - and the wildlife so close by is awesome too (as long as that doesn't include bears!!).
ReplyDeleteLoving all the icecream updates too - reminds me of the "Fanta discoveries" in Cambodia or the crazy paddle pop flavours in Thailand (corn flavoured paddle pop; strangely yum!).
Keep on enjoying your travels, and I will keep looking forward to the updates...
-Elisha.
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ReplyDeleteHave you tried out your awesome firecrackers yet? That camping spot sounds like a good opportunity!
ReplyDeleteNo, luckily I haven't had to use the fire-crackers yet, and I hope I never will have to! I am being super-careful and always placing my garbage into a bear-proof cage (they are everywhere in Hokkaido) and never, ever, sleeping with food in my tent... fingers crossed that I avoid bear encounters!
ReplyDeleteElisha - yeah, there is heaps of ice cream on offer around Hokkaido. It is Japanese dairy-country! There are heaps of little road-side cafes selling soft-serve along the road that it would be impossible to stop at them all. Also a shame that it is really too cold to eat a lot of ice cream - just today I passed up trying some lovely-sounding flavors in favor of a hot chocolate!