SBK Japan

Day 3

Woke up to the beautiful fresh, dry air of a fine day on Shiretoko's west cost overlooking the bay below. Had slept for 7 1/2 hours and everyone was gone except for last night's bleeting deer, no more than 4metres away on the other side of the electric fence, and the youngest member of the previous evening's troop. He was there setting up his fishing gear in anticipation of the Aleutian monster he'd travelled so far to snag.
Had some breaky and packed up camp and got the fisherman to roll my bike around while I sprayed some link saver on the chain. Saw the sorry state of his cb400's chain and we moved on to his next. Hope he made it home on that thing.
It was a beautiful day so tied the jacket over the pack on the back and prepared for a little warm weather riding.
1st stop was to be the Shiretoko 5 lakes. So swung right out of the campsite and proceeded up the 334 which offered a great view back over the bay.

And a gossamer omen on the distance hill tops

Following the procession of tour buses and minivans, turned off onto the road to the 5 lakes and what a sweet piece of road. Managed to find a gap in the procession and enjoyed the twisty downhill road before finding a packed carpark and a long walk to the viewing location. Couldn't be bothered with the walk so swung around and avoided the entrance fee to have another run at that choice twisty again before rejoining the 334.

The 334 was a great twisty hill climb that kept on climbing as the temp gauge kept on falling. About halfway up, was questioning the decision to ride jacket less as it was getting cold! Then the fog started and got progressively thicker until a blind man's guide stick would have come in handy.

Near the top, with about 10metre visibilty, i had a true pucker moment when, on a narrow section of sweeper flanked by a rest area, a parked car appeared suddenly out of the mist right in front and a tour bus inching it's way down the hill in the opposite lane. It went something like this: HOLYCRAP! BRAKE! Can't stop, 2 metre gap-shoot it. F##kin idiot! -back into blind fog- HOOOOORN! As quick as it came it was gone, my heart rate had spiked and the horn may as well have been a fog horn.
The climb levelled out and came up on the tail of a harley train with hazards on so settled into the tail of the train and followed those hazards. Bloody cold and covered in dew, putted on thinking it must get warmer going down the other side. It did, but only marginally. Hitting the east coast, swung onto the 335 and headed south for a food stop a friend had recommended. The roads were wide and straight up here with a real harsh environment feeling to it. Something like the southern coast of WesternAustralia. All rusty, dusty and wind swept vegetation. Took a stop here to don the jacket and warmer gloves. Made a huge difference.

Some time later pulled into the recommended food joint for the seafood ramen. Man it tasted good after freezing my ass off earlier.

While sitting there a familiar face came in all bent and frozen. Nobu-san the mechanic from Marutomi who worked on my cb's flogged front wheel bearing. He was similarly frozen and in need of rider fuel so we feasted together while catching up. He was heading north on a 2 week adventure while I was heading south. He said the weather was no better where he'd come from and advised rugging up. Was good advice.

Jumped back in the saddle and headed south again. Stopped off on some peninsula where Russia can be seen in the distance.

Then continued south for that days goal, Nossapumisaki. Saw some cool scenery thru the swamp lands along the way.

Then onto the most Eastern point of Hokkaido, Nossapu misaki.

Coincedence had a rider I'd shared breakfast with at Noshappu, on the north west coast, there at the same time and we took photos for each other before going our seperate ways again. But just before we split things got a bit freaky.
A Minivan rocked up and these long legs stepped out of the drivers side in a real short miniskirt. A variety the mind tickled. But following the legs up showed a suspiciously narrow set of hips and a really manish head. We were moving saddle sore slow and the legs produced a video camera and pounced on my breakfast buddy to take some shots for him/her. Took this as my cue to make a hasty retreat, leaving breakybuddy to fend for himself. Sorry champ. Got prepped to roll and the minivan chugged out of the carpark before me. Soon passed it but found it was in hot pursuit so put some horsepower to the tarmac and left Miss manish a horizon or so back.
A ways down the road, pulled into a combini to get a snack and access the map for sleeping locations. It was a busy place and a few people approached me for a chat. Cool friendly place I thought. The sun was sinking and a nice golden glow was falling over the place. Drifted around the side of the combini for a better view of the setting sun(set quite early there incidentally) and was enjoying the fresh air, peace and solitude the barren landscape offered up. Was really chilling out when: "MumbleMumbleManishvoiceMumble" turned to say hello and CRICKEY! It's Frankenstein! The legged minivan had me cornered at the back of the combini. So, I was stumped as what to say. Thought about getting out of it by feigning a complete lack of Japanese and Micron's usual blurb came to mind: "Nihongo tabemasen" but I luckily shelved this before Frankenstein could teach me other wise and made a hasty retreat for the safety of my bike and helmet. The FZ1 never started so fast and the front wheel was barely on the ground for the 1st few gears out of there.
A bit further down the road a tower with the riderhouse symbol hanging from it appeared in a barren stretch between the road and the beach. No more than some buildings and sheds, with a scaffolding tower, in the middle of nowhere. Must've been 5km in every direction to civilization. A bit Hotel California I thought but there were already some other bikes there so pulled in and inquired as to availability. The owner was gruff and direct but accommodating and soon had me signed in and setup for the night.

Place had a nice restaurant come bar building separate from the sleeping quarters, was clean and a welcome respite from the camping of the past few nights. Besides it was cheap. 1st you paid 1500yen. Then you ate at the restaurant and got 1500yen off your bill. A big feed and a few jockeys, with a bed and futons set me back 2300yennies. Good deal. Just before dinner came out of the sleeping quarters to find another GR on the doorstep taking photos. "Hey" I said. "Hey" he said. That's how I met Cameron from Osaka on a 900Ninja.
The riderhouse had a good atmosphere of like minded comraderie and when I entered the restaurant 5 guys at a table gave me a big hello and invited me to their table. Cameron was already there and we had a good night swapping road tales and recommendations while discovering that we were all from far away, except 1 guy from Sapporo, and the guy sitting next to me lived only 15minutes from my office back in Yokohama. It's a small world.
The talk went on with the Olympics bringing sparodic interest and cheers, until around midnight when everyone drifted back to the sleeping hut.
Another interesting day and Cameron had lured me into joining him for his route the next day. But rain was on the way.