Each summer my partner and I try to take two weeks to cycle and camp. Last year we did this in eastern Hokkaido, this year we chose northern Hokkaido. In August, we packed up our bicycles and took them in bags on the train to Wakkanai, which is a five-hour train ride from Sapporo. Wakkanai is the northern-most train station in Japan which means that it attracts many travelers who want to tick it off their bucket list. We were surprised on arrival at how many other cycle tourists there were. Many we talked to were planning to cycle the length of the country in less than a month! Our first challenge after putting our bicycles back together was climbing the very steep hill to the camp ground in the rain. The campground of course has a great view over the ocean and also has lots of green grass and trees. It also happens to be free. We stayed there a couple of nights and were delighted to see deer roaming through the campground in groups at dusk munching on the soft green grass.

We were surprised when we ventured back into town for the onsen that there were many bikers and cyclists free camping near the port under an apparently famous water break. I can’t imagine it would be very comfortable but it was definitely popular and there was no hill-climb involved!

After a couple of days in Wakkanai making use of the internet and power points at the train station to finish writing a paper, we rode our bikes onto the ferry for Rishiri Island. Rishiri Island has been on our ‘to do’ list for quite some time due to its fame as a mountain island, climbing straight out of the sea. The ferry takes 1 hour and 40 minutes to reach Rishiri, and if you pack up your bicycle in a bag, you don’t have to pay extra for it. However, as our bikes are not the folding variety, packing them into bags is a time-consuming and frustrating process, so we decided to pay extra to ride them on as vehicles. To give you an idea of the cost, we paid 2,180 yen each as passengers and then another 1,330 yen for each bike for one-way from Wakkanai to Rishiri.

On arrival we quickly found a cycle road that spans almost half the island. We cycled through green trees and over huge bridges that spanned across gorges, it was amazing that the investment had been made to make these bridges just for cyclists! Of course from the bridges there were great views of rivers flowing through bush leading to seaside villages on the coast.

Rishiri is not a large island and we easily cycled around half of it in one day. Unfortunately the cycle way is not particularly well sign-posted and we managed to miss the turn off for the famous Himenuma Lake. But we found plenty of other pretty spots to make up for it. In the evening Mt. Rishiri emerged from its cloud cover and looked like something straight out of the Lord of the Rings movie, rugged and challenging. We eventually stopped and decided to free-camp on the coast at Senhoshimisaki, very close to a spotted seal who lives in the confines of a sea pool surrounded by rocks.

After a gorgeous sunset in the evening, we woke to heavy rain in the morning, which ironically eased only after we had packed up the tent. The area is famous for seaweed and we were able to buy some and have it sent to friends in Kyushu. Along the road there was a fresh water spring where we filled our water bottles and chatted with a couple travelling through the islands by car. Cycling on to Kutsugata Misaki Koen, super strong winds were blowing the rain around, and we had to choose our camping spot carefully to ensure the most shelter from the gales. We chose to camp right under the light house, which was on top of large rocks, a very picturesque spot. The Kutsugata campground had a great visitor centre house with views over the ocean, great for sunset and also just sitting and continuing to write my paper!

We enjoyed tempura at a local spot followed by onsen at the local hotel. There was a festival scheduled for that night but it was postponed due to strong winds — we saw tent poles bending! The next day we made our way back to the port for the short ferry trip to Rebun.

Rebun greeted us with uninspiring grey skies, but after cycling along the road for some time the coast caught our attention because out in the water there were seals basking! They were a somewhat strange scene as they lay with heads and tails standing up very stiff, almost like statues, but after watching them for a while we did see them move. We saw several groups of seals like this as we cycled so we were stoked that we had chosen the smaller coastal road rather than the inland road.

Our campsite was super windy again at Funadomari, but very green and next to a lake and many walking trails. We found a local sento too, where the water was piping hot, but the locals were describing it as lukewarm! In the morning, after walking up one of the hill-trails and seeing a deer resting with its fawn in the trees, we got on our bikes and rode to the end of the spit to see what we could see. It was a fun ride especially because we left our gear at the campground because we had to return that way. So with light bikes we sped off and up the hill to look for islands further north. The sun came out at some point and my thermometer told us it was 31 degrees! Unbelievable so far north! When we returned to the beach at Funadomari, it was looking gorgeous — white shell covered sand and clear aqua blue water. There was no one swimming but that didn’t stop us. It was too hot and too inviting to refuse, so we enjoyed a swim and were surprised that the water was not nearly as cold as we had expected — it was rather pleasant in fact. The weather remained gorgeous for our cycle back to the port saying goodbye to the seals along the way. We decided to have lunch at the port before getting on the ferry and found the restaurants to be very busy and to be honest, nothing special. The ferry ride back to Wakkanai was packed as many people were travelling during the Obon holiday period. Back in Wakkanai, the weather was once again clouding over and we decided to have a break from camping. The Wakkanai Takikawa Hotel gave a us a nice break from the outdoors and I resolutely finished writing my paper there before we left to the unknown places of Northern Hokkaido the following day in ridiculously strong winds. Our goal was to cycle back to Sapporo in time for a local festival we had promised to participate in. To be continued….