A quiet day today.... we hung out in our luxurious cabin for one more day as we were all a bit tired from yesterday's effort. We chatted to our neighbours, an artist and his lovely family from Taiwan. Elsie got to play, first in the indoor play area and second in the outdoor play area which we finally found. We also walked up to the top of the hill to look down at the lake. A rather relaxing day. Getting ready for the train trip to Asahikawa tomorrow. Fingers cro...

Wow we made it to the top of Japan! 725km after setting off from Sapporo and after a glorious sunny ride from our cabin at Fureai Park we waited our turn for a picture with the monument. Elsie chose that moment to become camera shy so we went and had some lunch (yummy fresh seafood) then came back for another go. In writing this blog I guess I often miss writing about those everyday interactions we have with others. I've mentioned that Elsie gets so much attenti...

Goodbye beautiful islands! Everything had got quite wet overnight but the rain had pretty much stopped plus we had a kitchen shelter to pack our gear up in. So we set off yet again and made our obligatory stop at SeicoMart for morning tea (Elsie wanted a sausage and Edamame and that is exactly what she got, I wanted a coffee and the obligatory Kara-age chicken and that is what I got!). Once everyone was satiated we took off to the southern end of the island to h...

Sadly we had to check out of the cabin as it was fully booked for the weekend, but not before we made the most of lying around inside for a bit. Went back to the play hall for another round and some lunch then set up camp in the camping area. Later we biked around the corner to see the lake and the bird sanctuary. Then more playtime in the play hall, you get the drift. Elsie got more and more confident, climbing up the ropes and stairs and going down the big sli...

Yay! We made it to Wakkanai. 76km for today and all possible because of a fierce tailwind (up to 50 km an hour). At times we didn't even have to pedal. Plus it was mostly flat. I did have to go back a km or so when we lost our flag and it was such hard work in comparison, plus I didn't find it. We followed the coast road which was miles and miles of beautiful but desolate coastline, just a toilet/ rest area every 25 km or so. One had an inside area so we kept war...