Hokkaido Summer: The Takikawa Midnight Sun

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Takikawa – Furano

41 miles

I awoke to the sound of a natural cuckoo clock, the skylark’s reeling also soon following suit from where he had left off the previous night. I was surprised by how well I’d slept on my first night back under the stars. Being broad daylight already the night had quite simply flown by. I yawned raucously and felt for my watch, 3:30am. ‘What!!!’ I exclaimed to myself. Summer had truly arrived in the north. I decided not to be hasty, the air around me was still cool as I lay motionless in a reptilian state for at least another hour or so as to allow my being to warm up. And it wouldn’t take long, today would rise to a sweltering 34.7°C. Just a mere few miles out of Takikawa and I would be sweating like an undercover steer in a queue at Burger King. The climes giving me a positive outlook, really boosting ones morale knowing that the cold wintery days of the previous couple of months were finally behind me, the nights of shivering myself to sleep were over. I hoped.

Following close to the Sorachi River I would pass the towns of Ashibetsu and Akabira as the surrounding terrain began to take on a more hilly trajectory, a teaser perhaps for what was to come as I approached Hokkaido’s mountainous core.

By noon I would find myself in Furano, my arms and face burned raw from the sun’s intensity. Just south of town lay the Log Yukari Guesthouse, a hidden treasure at the base of a small mountain where an aged gracious Japanese couple would greet me. Cicadas from the surrounding forest were screaming as Shinobu-san gave me a small tour of an assortment of innovative cabins and facilities to which he had mostly hand crafted himself. It must be nice to actually be good at something, I envied him.

I would also come to learn that I was the night’s only guest in the cabin’s eight man dorm, perfect. And as soon as Shinobu-san had left I stripped off, doused my throbbing face and forearms with Aloe Vera and settled down upon my bed in my boxers like an idle waif. Again, perfect.

PS: If you’ve enjoyed myblog then you may enjoy my as of yet unpublished book of my venture around Japan. Something that with a little help from friends and strangers I’d like to publish for the whole world to see. Please if you have the time could you take a look at my Kickstarter campaign at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/675565076/tokyo-to-tokyo

I appreciate your time, thank you.

STATS

2/06/2014

34.7°C

Today Mileage – 41.6m ODO – 1411.7m

Today RT – 4hrs Total RT – 150 hrs

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