June 15

Hakkodate - Otobe


After all the hard riding we've been doing, this actually seemed like a bit of a day off.  Temps were good.  Mid to high teens in the morning; mid to high twenties in the afternoon.  Very muggy since we spent so much time next to the ocean.  The one hill we had shortly before lunch didn't even qualify as a climb in RWGPS.  

We started out the first 14 km on a divided highway, but it wasn't very busy.  We backtracked to where we came off the ferry the other day.  The port area appears to be thriving; very busy, with lots of boats, trucks and warehouses.  Nothing very pretty about it; just very functional.  




As long as we were along the coast today, we periodically had these signs indicating (I'm assuming) the height above sea level - maybe to measure waves during storms or tsunamis.  


We headed south for a while before we finally swung around to west and then north.  For quite a while we could see over to the Mount Hakodate observatory, where we were two evenings ago.  It was interesting to see up close some of the distance structures we could see that night.


The city of Hakodate is to the left of the mountain.

We were by the ocean at low tide.  We saw quite a few people out harvesting something from the tidepools.  Mussels or shellfish, maybe?  Also - quite a strong ocean smell as we went.  But - no cicada sounds today.


Not sure of the purpose of these..........

Pretty foggy out there today.



Another village that has seen better days.



At about 40 km we headed inland.  For pretty much the rest of the day we saw these arrows hanging from poles on both sides of the street.  I'm guessing it is to indicated to the snowplows where the edge of the road is.


And - it wasn't until we turned the corner at 40 km that we saw our first rice paddy of the day.  They certainly didn't look nearly as healthy as what we've seen on the more southerly islands.


Saw clusters of these beauties a few times.

General views.  Some wheat being harvested in the fields.  Snow barriers up the hillside.   



Here's the entrance to the tunnel that we avoided by doing the climb-du-jour on the unmaintained road.  And some pics from the detour.





Back on the main road, and on to lunch.


Typical views on the road across the island.




We've seen a few logging trucks on the road today.  This village, with some logging industry, actually looked quite prosperous.





We didn't really see anything distinctively Japanese today; all the homes and buildings were very western looking.

Where you see windmills, the wind is sure to blow.  Thankfully most (but not all) of the wind today was a tailwind.


And then at about 80 km we were over to the west coast.






The town of Esashi looked to be doing well.  


This three-masted tall ship was prominent on the waterfront.  I went to investigate a bit but couldn't get too close.  Here's what AI has to say about it:  The famous three-masted ship associated with Esashi is the Kaiyo Maru.  It was a legendary wooden steam frigate built for the Tokugawa shogunate in the Netherlands in 1867, which sank in a violent storm off the coast of Esashi in November 1868.  A full-scale replica of the ship now serves as the Kaiyomaru Memorial Museum.




Roadside shrine du jour.



An Esashi exhibition facility for Japanese traditional folk songs.  


More coastal views



Solar and wind power.


We were on an official bike route for part of the day.


As we turned the final corner toward our hotel and away from the coast, it was good to see that we were on the tsunami evacuation route.


I was in at a decent time today.  No showers in the rooms; onsen baths for all.  Lovely pink (girls) and blue (boys) outfits that made us all look like we were ready to head out for our shift at the nursing home.  We're just about the only people at the hotel tonight it seems...........

A similar day tomorrow..............


Stats for the Day:

Garmin:  101.3 km.  1656 feet up.  1632 feet down.

RWGPS:  102.5 km.  698 m up.  694 m down.  



Otobe

Population:  4,000

Wikipedia:  Otobe is a town located in Hiyama Subprefecture, on the west coast of Hokkaido.  It is on the western side of the Oshima Peninsula and faces the Sea of Japan.   









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