Japan, Hokkaido , Day 8

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Day 8. Lake Saroma to Abashiri

The floor bed was quite comfortable again but the deep sleep was rudely awakened at 4am by the fishing boats powering out to sea. The sound was like a huge lorry with no silencer outside the window going nowhere. After 15 mins of this I realised that we had left the window open and promptly closed them and reduced the noise by 30 decibels to 95 in just a second. Consequently we were late up but were treated to a 'get your own' breakfast which included some westernised food such as scrambled egg and bread. The temperature was pretty high again at about 30 deg. C when we got away at 9.15. The going was generally quite flat today with only about 400m of climbing in 55 miles and was very interesting following the coast all day. Now we are by the sea the type of bird to be seen is changing from crows, sparrows and other song birds to herons, kites, ibis and what we believe to be a sea eagle. I will post pictures so that you can correct me if I am wrong. The kites were to be found near the many fishing ports since they could scavenge the offal and the throw away fish. They were quite tame and flew really close overhead, which was quite fascinating. One stop was at the end of the spit, which almost encloses the lake from the sea, and is a Wild Flower Reserve containing a range of flowers including some very pretty yellow lilies. About 20 miles today was ridden on an old railway line closely following the coast which had many sections of over one mile without a bend. There was an old loco with a carriage also on display at the side. Lunch was the traditional noodle soup, which I quite like, preparing us for the final leg up to the the most north easterly point of Hokkaido. There is a lighthouse at the point at Cape Notoro and a statue of a warrior, or could he be an ancient fisherman since there was a fish way above his head on the pillar. Here we had a view of the sea of Okhotsk. Nice run down to Abashiri to the B&B and a rest day tomorrow. A dip in the Onsen first and a night in town to forage for our own food. Is there a MacDonalds? We we nt to a small restaurant selling Japanese savoury pancakes which were very good, followed by a donut and coffee at 'Mr Donut' - the fat Japanese will be coming with these establishments opening up, mark my words. It goes dark at 7.15 so we hiked back up the hill in extremely poor light for a night at 30 deg C in our room. Peter is now looking for a fan.

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