Shikotsu-ko (Lake Shikotsu) BIKE TRIP!
One day in mid-August Maeve and I decided to bike 50K to a beautiful volocanic lake south of Sapporo. It was a great adventure. I brought my new(ish) ultra lightweight tent and we set off at....2 PM. Maeve is a Trooper (notice the capital "T") because she did the ride on an over-worked liver and a few hours of sleep. I am a self-proclaimed trooper because I did the ride on Carrie's bike which was crafted for the likes of Santa's Helpers and Oompa-Loompas. It was kinda like riding a BMX bike with 21 gears. But neither of us complained and we enjoyed the lush Hokkaido scenery and gear 1. We spent two solid hours going uphill, but it really wasn't too bad...just ass-aching. When we arrived at the campsite it dawned on us that we had NO food; not even gum or candy. The only resaurant had closed at 6:00 and it was just after 6. Our first thought, of course, was to politely "eikaiwa" some Japanese folks in the hopes of scoring food, but we were smelly and tired and not in the mood. Instead we approach two women near the closed resaurant and begged them to make us some food. And then we had a feast! Well....kinda....we each got an ume onigiri (pickled plum rice ball) from the ladies. Then we were given a small fresh water salmon on a stick from an old man. Then we were given a can of flavored fish each!! It was all delicious. The best part is that we feasted in front of 5 different beverage vending machines, so we got gatorade and water and soda and tea and hot chocolate!! (We had planty of money...just no where to spend it!)
The next day we went swimming in the lake (2nd deepest in Japan!) and then headed into the tinnie-tiny town to get lunch. After a corn dog and some tako-yaki (octopus pancake balls with mayo, sauce and dried fish flakes) we headed off on the 60K ride home. After a beautiful hour and a half ride we hit the outskirts of Sapporo and cruised home via roadsides and bike paths. All-in-all, it was one of the best summer weekends I've had in Japan! Bonus ending= an hour soak in the local sento bath 1 block before we reached home! And it had a menthol pool to sooth my sunburn!!
The next day we went swimming in the lake (2nd deepest in Japan!) and then headed into the tinnie-tiny town to get lunch. After a corn dog and some tako-yaki (octopus pancake balls with mayo, sauce and dried fish flakes) we headed off on the 60K ride home. After a beautiful hour and a half ride we hit the outskirts of Sapporo and cruised home via roadsides and bike paths. All-in-all, it was one of the best summer weekends I've had in Japan! Bonus ending= an hour soak in the local sento bath 1 block before we reached home! And it had a menthol pool to sooth my sunburn!!
posted by katenjoys at 6:45 AM
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