Friday 15 June 2012
Day 7 – Wakkanai to Rishiri Island
It was cold this morning, so a little difficult to get out of my sleeping bag this morning
in order to make it to the ferry on time (departing 7:30am). I packed my things, had a quick
breakfast with the Danish guy (Lars??) and then was off to the ferry terminal
with not a minute to spare!
I made it just in time to comfortably wheel my bike onto the
vehicle deck, ensure that it was strapped down tight, and be escorted up to the
passenger deck. I got a 2nd
class ticket, which is actually quite comfortable – there is a choice of seated or japanese-style floor lounges
to choose from. I guess that
first-class passengers have their own cabins or just nicer lounges… 2nd
class is fine for me!
Rishiri Island was beautiful. It has a large snow-capped volcano at its centre, called
Rishiri-Fuji, which you can climb up.
I decided to walk along a 12km path through the bush around part of the
island instead.
The camp-site I stayed at was very nice too, with toilet and
cooking facilities and well manicured lawns for pitching my tent. Plus, it was right across the road from
a public onsen so, after getting back from my bush-walk in the afternoon, I
walked across and got super-clean!
For the most part, I was the only other woman in the women’s onsen, so
that was quite nice.
Again, it was a very cold night, but I have plenty of warm
clothing and a good sleeping-bag, so I was cozy inside my tent.
I have been so fortunate to have good weather during this
holiday. Only one rainy day and a
few blue-sky days even! Long may
the good weather continue!
Thank you very much for documenting your journey. My wife and I are in the very early information gatherting stages of planning a length of japan trip and blogs like this are very encouraging and valuable resource.
ReplyDeleteIf you're still monitoring this, in your entries, you've called out a couple times that the campgrounds have toilets. Did you find that finding a toilet when needed was an issue? Is it an anomaly to find toilets at campgrounds?