Wrap up warm kids we're off to Hokkaido

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So the journey continues northwards towards Hokkaido and to temperatures 10 degrees lower than the main island via a rather long train journey which takes us through the Japanese equivalent of the channel tunnel.
First stop on the itinerary is Sapporo, the prefectural capital and japan's fifth largest city.
We were both pleasantly surprised at how cosmopolitan and lively the city was as I think we were expecting something a lot smaller given its location and pleased that it was easy to navigate around as it used a more western grid system.
We had plenty of time to explore around the sights around Shapiro centre ,take a pleasant but bracing stroll through Odori Koen and sample some of Sapporo's famed beer.
Given my slight obsession with visiting zoos in other countries (yes it happens every holiday) we payed a visit to Maruyama Zoo. It was a long walk there but well worth it if just to see the cherry blossoms starting to bloom and the vibrant atmosphere created by the scores of people who had flocked there for hanami. Despite the cold weather, people had staked their claim on their viewing spot (mostly via the means of a large blue tarpaulin) and had set up barbecues, picnics and of course ice boxes full of alcohol.
An enjoyable time was had at the zoo and it was agreed by all, well two of us, that Red Pandas are possibly the cutest animals on the planet (have you ever seen one angry? I suggest you find a video as they are even super cute then).
With that it was on to Biei where we were staying seemingly out in the middle of nowhere in a family run pension, so this meant we had to wait outside the train station for the owner to pick us up. Standing out in the street and not knowing who was picking us up or any details about these people it kind of felt like we were waiting for some kind of blind date.
When they turned up in their people carrier we were whisked away to a building which indeed was in the back end of beyond and we were left wondering how we would explore the area the next day...
This was answered the next morning by the owner who kindly offered to drive us to a bicycle hire place after he had recovered from laughing at Martin's suggestion that we would walk round some of the sights (how were we to know!)
So the bikes were hired and off we set looking resplendent in our nifty cycle helmets (ahem!) with our route map to hand and the information that it should take about 4 hours to complete.'Should' was the operative word as a wrong turn near the start of the route led us about a couple of hours astray.
Nevertheless if was a wonderful experience and at times it was easy to forget that you were in Japan as the scenery and area in general has a very European feel to it. I imagine when all the fields are full of flowers in the summer it would be breathtaking- and most likely a lot busier!
It was off to Lake Toya the next day and my word was I aching after 6 hours of cycling...

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