(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 5. Tuesday, July 20, 2010. Karakachi Pass to Furano.
I broke camp as described above and reached the pass summit at 5 a.m. Quite windy, cloudy, but not cold. The summit itself had a viewing platform and good toilet facilities including enough space to put my bicycle inside and lay out my sleeping bag. Neutral smell in the entry way. However, though only 3 km. from my camping place, this I could not have known the night before. Even if I had, I was nearly spent when I did stop!
The wind I headed into downhill was very strong. So the bottom of the long descent was the village of Ochiai which has a train stop. Took a picture of the Sorachi River which flows through Furano. In Ochiai it's not much more than 10 meters wide.
I reached Minami Furano at 8 where I bought some things at a convenience store. When I asked about a rubbish bin (in Japanese!) the manager answered "We have no dustbox." in stilted English. Why not in Japanese when I addressed him in his language first? And why no rubbish bin?
I ate breakfast at a "michi-no-eki" with a small lavender garden - I discovered that natto is not only cheap, but probably an excellent food to start the day.
I arrived at Furano Station at 12:25 p.m. having covered 84 kms for the day. Tourist Information gave me the names of 2 hotels as I didn't want to cycle out to Nakafurano Station and the YH. That would have added about 10 kms to the next day's ride. No luck in town, however, so I decided to try the hostel which actually wasn't so far out of town. However, after walking my bicycle to the top of a very steep hill where the hostel was located, the first thing the woman manager asked was "What is your name?" In other words, I knew she wanted to know if I had a reservation - which I hadn't. I was out of luck even though it was obvious I was traveling under my own power which, in England and maybe the USA, would have meant finding a space for me even if on the floor. No soap in Japan though.
So, I biked back into town. The second hotel Tourist Info recommended was also full, so I asked one more time and tried the "Natulux Hotel" near the station. The only single left was 10,500 yen but I took it. Quite an ordinary room, but the shower felt great. I tried to find a yakiniku place recommended by Tourist Info but failed. So, I settled on take-out McDonald's (They mistook my order.) followed by three donuts from Mr. Donut (a real taste of Tokyo in the wilderness of Hokkaido!). I had meant to save the donuts for breakfast, but found out that McDonald's drive-thru window was open from 12:00 - 6:00 a.m.!
All in all, I didn't think much of Furano town. I didn't see any lavender there, either!
Total distance: 84 kms
(December 23, 2010. What a difference daylight makes. The night before I was a bit jumpy. Before I reached the spot where I pitched my tent, I heard the sound of something paralleling the road downhill from me. Whatever it was seemed to be following me. Creepy. Speeding downhill from the pass the next morning was a delight no less so for putting distance between me and the Karakachi Pass.
If I spoke better Japanese I might have asked the hostel manager in Nakafurano to let me at least put up my tent next to the hostel and use its facilities. I recall the time during my 3-month tenure as manager - and sole staffer - of the Grand Canyon Youth Hostel in late 1988 when a young Japanese female tourist was delivered to the hostel door by a park ranger who found her walking the center line of the empty, pitch-black village road after 9 p.m. one night. With only 19 beds the hostel had filled up minutes after re-opening a 5 p.m. I couldn't and didn't turn her away. I told the ranger that letting her stay would be a direct violation of AYHA's lease with the insurance company in Chicago that owned the accommodation rights in all of Grand Canyon Village (They operated the 5 or 6 hotels and lodges in the national park.) and might endanger the annual renewal. I then winked at the ranger. Catching that gesture, he said that he had used hostels in Europe years before in his youth, then set the girl's suitcase down and left. Granted, there is a difference between a mid-day and a nighttime arrival, but rules can be bent if there is a will to do so.)
A more detailed time line:
4:00 am., left site on grade up to Karakachi Pass
5:00, arrived at Karakachi Pass
7:50, in Minami Furano
11:10, in Yamabe
12:25, arrived at Furano Station
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