We went for luxury last night. A hotel room. Slept like a dream. Just as well we did, because as soon as we had cycled the 20km from Wakkanai to Cape Soya (the northern-most tip of Japan) with a howling tailwind…
the weather turned sour. The next three hours were spent head down squinting into a horizontal-rain storm, wind so strong as to threaten to blow us off our bicycles. Somehow Haidee kept stoically positive throughout.
We were passed numerous times by pelotons of university cycle touring club members, hurtling down the country. Some groups aimed to cycle at least 150km a day, by their own beaming admissions.
On our radar was the Hamaonishibetsu campground. We were hoping for a nice tree-lined sheltered campground to pitch our tent. We got nothing of the sort. The campground was free, but so were the elements. With thunder rolling in the distance, we had no choice but to pitch the tent and hope for the best.
The campground did have a couple of redeeming features however: A massive outdoor covered stage (we cooked dinner on our stove there as the rain pelted down) and an onsen (thermal spring) only 2 minutes walk away. We had a soak in the hot baths and then hung around watching TV in the communal lounge till closing time (10pm). It was still raining when we dashed to our tent.