SBK Japan

Day 6

Buzzzz!tikitik.Buzzzz! tikitk Buzzzbuzzz. Eh! What the? Who?What?Where the hell am I? Crikey I hate waking up... . but I hate flies more! And waking up 4 hours after you've gone to sleep with furry beer gums and flies all over you is just the pits! Now comes the where ? again. Oh yeah that fruit shed type place in the middle of those endless pastures of green fields. But where the hell have the flies come from? -memories of fly blown toilet pit- Oh HELL NO!

Welcome to Day 6

4.30am the flies came a buzzin. I rolled over. I covered up. I swatted and flicked but those pesky pricks weren't gonna let me get back to sleep. I finally gave up the hiding around 5.30 and took the fight to them. Killed my fair share without waking everyone up but they were like starfish. You kill one but seem to create 5. So I got up and went to survey the early morning terrain. Once outside, the flies let me alone. Seems they were averse to light. And the sun was just up. A beautiful if cloudy morning.

Went back in after relieving the previous nights beer to pack and snack. Everyone else was still asleep and I did my best to remain stealthy. But as the brain begun to wonder at the surroundings, realization hit. What a shithole! Notice the dirt floors.

Well it was dirt cheap(pun intended)
Then Micron the morning troll flew from his flyblown slumber, mapple in hand ready for another day of northern adventures.

Micron's posse ready to roll

We mounted up and headed out for the local flower park which brightened us up.

Next stop was a loop around Biei's recommended roads. A nice hill climb that was cut short by rain and fog. The higher we wnt the thicker it got, so we retreated for the lowlands. And it was a good move with warmer clear air. Poor Keiko looked like she was gonna freeze up there. This is where we got a little lost in the search for breakfast. Never fear the Mapple is here, not that Yui cared. Seems the flies had stolen some of his sleep too.

I was already fed and left the others to feed and sleep a bit while I took in some of the local scenery. Big open flat valley lined by low mountains and criss crossed with horizon seeking roads. While figuring out where exactly we were I noticed a one carriage train putting along adjacent the road I was on and decided to scoot over for a closer look. The train was gone but the station was a time piece so I pulled up for a pic. While digging the camera out from under the maps, ferry tickets and random bits and bobs in the tank bag I didn't notice the cop car approaching. When I finally found it, I looked up and there they were, slowing and doing a uturn to pull in behind me. What the? Bloody helicopter! Must be.. I thought. I fiend innocence, kept the visor down and gave em a questioning "ok" sign. The younger driver looked cold and the older co driver was brow deep in paper work. Oh-oh! Doesn't look good. So I flipped the visor and the cold face seemed to turn to terror and the older one shot to attention. Gave em the "ok" hand signal again and the older guy smiled and 'ok'd back. So, camera in hand I strolled across the road and started snapping away. 'Go Away, just move along', I thought. Here's the relic

A few snaps later, turned to see young stoney face crossing to my side of the road with a folder in hand. What to do? Scooby do style, I thought to scamper off into the rice fields, but to where? Kept cool and just crossed back to my bike and mounted up. Then I saw it. The lights about 1/2km away down the road. They were busting people for running the red. Not interested in a foreigner taking pics of backwater train stations. If only they knew. Hahaha! I chuckled, as I tootled off in search of the others. Great place Hokkaido.. .
Found the crew, Yui sleeping again, but on the carpark floor of the combini this time. We mounted up and headed for the next piece of blacktop entertainment.
Views were good and the downhill was great. At the end we stopped and decided to part ways. They were going east and I west to meet up with TR rider Cliff, a Niseko local(or so I hoped). Riding a bit further south together we split off with big waves, Hokkaido style. Good posse there. I was headed for the 465-38-274 loop before tracking west though. Nice road but the slow meandering sliver before me slowly hypnotised me and the lids became very heavy. Dangerously heavy. Time for a stop. So before falling off my ride I pulled into a michinoeki and did a Yui with the feet on the bars and passed out for a spell. Woke up a little groggy but better and took a walk to get the blood moving. Staggered off down a path and found some hidden scenery.

And an old bridge nature was reclaiming brick by brick

Well, I guess you can see by my subject matter I wasn't really with it. But the forest air and all them minus eons flying around was refreshing. Emerging back out of the undergrowth, the FZ1 looked ready to roll and then I spotted em. Black and white pado cars don't camo so well in such lush green. In the carpark on the opposite side, behind the roadside hedge, were the fuzz lying in wait. Not for me(I hoped) but maybe for passing hooligans. My bout of drowsiness had been a godsend. After plugging in the head gear and donning the helmet a few riders went past at a decent clip and with a scrabble of rubber on loose gravel mrPlod was in pursuit. Pulled in behind for the show. They kept accelerating, me about a km back, but at 130kph, at the end of the straight, the pado car eased off and the riders were nowhere to be seen. Disappeared into the twisties. Good job fellas. But now I had the black and white between me and the coming twisties. Then brake lights, uturn and back they went from whence they came. Let the twisties begin. Had a good run around that loop and pulled into Shimukappu to figure out how to get over the mountains to the west. Decided to stick with the 274 which looked interesting.
It was interesting but also packed with traffic heading west. Had to dart and weave and slide down the side a fair bit until getting past the odd slow truck or bus holding things up. Once past the 1st truck the road was clear and the FZ cleared it's throat for a howl up the hillclimb. It was nirvana after the stress of dodging traffic. But the fog soon started to thicken and then the rain and then foggy rain and then peasoup. Bloody cold peasoup up top. It was day 6 and it didn't seem to bother me much though. Suffered the same disillusions I'd fallen for in Shiretoko that things would be better on the other side of the pass . The air got warmer but the rain was getting heavier and heavier. Had the wet weather gear on so it wasn't too bad. After a couple hours of foggy heavy rain though, the water was seeping in here and there, the gloves were soaked and the cold was starting to bite. Sure kept me awake though.
At HigashiOiwake, gave in and jumped on the expressway trying to outrun the rain in the area. Unfortunately it was everywhere. Around 6pm, exited at Chitose and went looking for shelter. Nothing! Decided on a 2 metre overhanging roof at a combini. Jumped off, got out of the weather and stripped off the gear. Called Cliff who reported the weather no better there and advised heading for an onsen to hole up. Good advice. To tell the truth, I'd been slugging along all afternoon with the goal of catching up with Cliff and looking forward to some Gengis and had refused to give in to the weather. He sorted me out and set me on a safer, more realistic track. Thanks Cliff.
So back on the expressway and heading south/south-west. Almost ran out of gas AGAIN before exiting and finding a gas stand at Muroran. A blessing in disguise really as exiting the expressway which runs along the shoulder of the high plains and descending down into clear fine weather, got to ride over the big Baybridge there as the sun was setting. Beautiful! Fuelled up and went back over the bridge with an orangey pink glow lighting the westward skies. A good omen as that's where I was heading.
Well more rain up on the expressway for the next 60km or so and then it faded away and the air began to feel warmer and drier. Exiting the expressway, stars were evident here and there and so was a healthy dose of traffic. No problem. Ferry didn't leave till 3am, which left me 7odd hrs to float on down to Hakodate. So I opened all the zippers and let the wet jacket flap in the wind and did a lot of standing riding with the wet weather pants pulled down some to let the sweaty moisture out too. Funny how when you do that the tailgater behind drops a fair way back.
80 or so kms later, floating along the escarpment expressway leading down to Hakodate, I discovered what all the hype was about regarding the beauty of Hakodate at night. With a clear sky, the hourglass shaped peninsula of lights capped by HakodateYama under a near full moon was a sight to behold and kept me in awe long enough to forget about taking a pic. Damn. Made the hard slog worth it though.
Once in Hakodate, found an onsen hotel and soaked away the days woes and then hunted for some grub. The concierge said to head for the morning market area, it was around midnight, and try some miso ramen. That sounded just about perfect. It was.
Around 1am, belly full and feeling a little drowsy , headed for the ferry docks. Used the cool 2D bar-code reader machine again and it shot out my paper passage back to Honshu. Took the bike around to the preloading area and asked one of the dockers what time to board. 2am. Don't be late. Fair enough. It was a little cool out so headed in to the big terminal for the 45 minute wait and found a recently vacated sofa. Bad move. Sprawled out and next thing I know I wake up alone in a foyer that had previously been packed with fellow road weary bikers. Time check-2.15. Oops, late but not fatal. So shuffled outside, got yelled at by the same docker and skulked the FZ into the big-slow old ferries belly for the tie down. This hour of the morning and the ferry was chocablock full with bikes/cars and huge trucks. Obon eh?
Seems I wasn't the only late arrival. A husband and wife on CBR 600/1000s were also being grilled so we made a hasty retreat upstairs together. I couldn't make heads or tails of the ticket and neither could they so we just headed into the main tatami deck and locked for numbers or something that may have matched the tickets. Nothing. Then I spotted a door with a similar big kanji as on the ticket and pointed it out to the others. That was us. Opening the door I suddenly remembered Yuko the super secretaries words, ".. . . you'd better get a sleeping cabin on the way back.. ." I'd totally forgotten and said a big thank you to her for booking it anyway.

Stripped off, hanging everything on the hooks in the bunk, and climbed into the best bed I'd had in 6 nights. Soft mattress, real pillow, real clean sheets and blanket and within nano seconds I was out.