(The following entry is from my paper diary, hence the quotation marks. Comments may follow at the end. These are written after the completion of the trip.)
Day 2. Saturday, July 17, 2010. Otoshibe to Lake Saroma Youth Hostel.
The alarm rang at 4:00 and I started preparing to leave as soon as possible. Finished my other purchase at the Seicomart (Koonibe?) - a salmon onigiri. Took a few pictures just south before reaching Omu.
Passed through Mombetsu, stopping first at the first junction south of the river bridge. Saw one of the same single cyclists as the previous day plus a group of three. When I arrived in Yubetsu at 10:30 I bought things for lunch plus a 2-liter bottle of Aquarius for 200 yen - half the price as what I was paying for 500 ml bottles. The lunch: 6-slice bread (thick), a pack of cold meat, 5-pack of sliced cheese, 1 ripe tomato (128 yen!) and 3 cucumbers. These latter two I had a craving for. A-Coop isn't a supermarket but a kind of super convenience store. Ate lunch at the shrine on Rte. 238 after it heads south again out of Yubetsu.
Ran into some long hills and couldn't gear down as far as possible, but put my brain on minimum oxygen and pushed my way up trying to ignore the slope and distance.
Finally got close to the hostel at 2 pm. Saw a fox in the narrow, tree-lined road perhaps 300 m from the hostel. The manager happened to be outside when I arrived so I could confirm that there was space for me. He seemed impressed that I had arrived by bicycle. Repacked my gear for tomorrow - a task I will repeat until I find the best arrangement. For example, I'll strap my rain gear an rain shoe covers to the front rack as I hear rain in in store in the next few days.
One of my two roommates (sharing an 8-bunk room) is a 65 year old former IBM man whom I spotted near the "michi-no-eki" at Saroma. He was walking then, wearing a conical hat and a Japanese-style jacket. Name is Mr. Ida. He's hiking (walking?) from southern Kyushu (Kagoshima's southernmost point on the Kagoshima City side of the bay). Says it'll be 2,700 kms. He said he made a similar "walk" in 2008 starting from Cape Sata! Brings me down to earth!
Took a bath - sunburn on my right leg not as bad as I feared. Didn't apply enough sunscreen I suppose. Dinner, 1,200 yen, was different scallop dishes. Rather nice. Had three bowls of rice as energy for tomorrow. No chance of onigiri to take along.
Hope to leave tomorrow at 4 or soon after. The manager guessed as much and seems fine with him, but I must confirm my understanding.
(Little supermarkets were great for fruit and sandwich fixings as well as cheaper drinks. The scallops for dinner came from Lake Saroma and were prepared several different ways. I later found that some other hostel managers were just as enthusiastic about the meals they offered. I had visited the Lake Saroma YH in July of 1980 shortly before leaving Japan. At that time, there was a girl from Gifu Prefecture working there as an assistant. We took a bicycle ride together and had a picnic by the lake. I wondered what had become of her 30 years on.)
A more detailed time line:
4:30 am., left bus shelter south of Otoshibe
5:10, photo of former JR line railway culvert
5:35, in Omu
8:05, in Monbetsu
10:40, in Yubetsu
1:10 pm., photo of Lake Saroma sign
3:45, arrived at Lake Saroma YH
No comments:
Post a Comment