Onsen Explorer. Day 7. Hokkaido. Well, my washing was dry after a broken sleep caused by a bony pillow and a nameless person who chose to go bar chasing in the night and coming back flicking switches to make our room resemble a lighthouse on the Outer Hebrides. Away at 9am for a 20 minute walk to the station for our train to Aomori and the connection to the Shinkansen train to Kikonai in Hokkaido. What a sleek machine this is, and so smoothly gliding along in luxurious splendour. The weather is favouring us again, setting out at 8am in 19 degrees and getting hotter. Ken was waiting for us at Kikonai Station, where we donned our cycling clothes for another day in the saddle. The weather was significantly cooler on Hokkaido so jackets on for ... read more

Onsen Explorer. Day 5. Furofushi. Aomori. Japan. What a delight on this tour to have such wonderful Japanese meals with such a variety of seafood and veg. We don’t always know what we are eating but sometimes it is better not to know and taste it with your tongue and not your eyes. The Sake wine is very good too. Would you like some more Vicar? Don’t be silly. That is yesterday’s dinner out of the way. Now for the excitement. We were in bed at 9.15 only to be woken at 22.22 by my mobile phone screeching a siren and shouting in Japanese. Almost immediately the bed started to shake from side to side for about 30 seconds followed by loud shouting on the tannoy speakers outside. Apparently there had been an undersea 6.8 earthquake ... read more

Onsen Explorer. Day 3. Monday 17 June. Sakura Onsen It was raining when we arrived yesterday and it lashed it down all night. Things are looking bad for today. It has been decided to take the local bus at 9.20 to iutfirst break stop in the valley at Ishinoto. Despite this bad news we had a good stay at the Ryokan with the relaxing onsen an amazing meal last night and a good Japtbreakfsst this morning. These Ryokans are certainly not 5 star hotels but traditional hostels with wooden structures, flimsy sliding doors and fibre or paper walls with tatami mats on the floor of the rooms. During the evening meal someone comes along and makes up your bed of a thin futon on the floor with a bean bag pillow and a nice duvet. Sleep ... read more

Onsen Explorer Day 14. Tokyo-Friday Today a visit to Asakusa and the large and busy Senso-Ji Temple. The road down to the temple was something else, lined with wooden stalls selling everything any tourist could ever want. I didn’t say ’need’ you note. Very touristy of course but very interesting. There were many Japanese girls dressed in Kimonos, which I found were available for hire at 2000 JPY (£14). Many were posing for photos whilst most were just enjoying being dressed up. The socks were split at the big toe so that flip flops, or wooden clogs called Getas, could be worn. The western people stood out as more plump than the locals but even here in the city the girls are looking better fed than the country ones, who look rather undernourished. On our way ... read more

Onsen Explorer Day 12 The Onsen tour statistics. Cycled 792 km climbed 6,500m. Wednesday Otaru. We are now on a wind down to our tour and now in Otaru, which is a big tourist area down by the canal. Just a few Europeans were seen, most were Japanese taking selfies or being led around by tour guides with flags akimbo. We saw a large French cruise ship in port ready to leave with people making their way with suitcases. Fit young men were seen pulling very smart large wheeled carriages and many tourists were seen taking canal cruises overseen by several artists working on the canal pathway. Another British car was seen today, an Austin Princess 1300 Vanden Plas which had seen better days with peeling veneer and sills made of body filler. We wandered up ... read more