Mittwoch, 21. August 2013
Freitag, 16. August 2013
Summer vacation - Rishiri to Sarobetsu
On Rishiri Island I first took the bike, provided by the hotel. The bike route started directly at the hotel. The route has some quite nice bridges, that can be seen from the ferry already. I did a short side trip to a lake.
As the clouds became bigger and bigger, I decided to turn around and do the rest of the tour around the island in the car. On my bike ride I saw quite some insects and started my collection of pictures. You find an extra blog entry for these. On the car tour I saw several berries, which completed my berry collection. And I came by a rock where the sea gulls were feeding their young ones. Finally I passed by some mire with more berries and flowers.
On my way back to the main island of Hokkaido I faced a slight challenge, getting on the ferry. So far it was easy, as there were only a few cars, that wanted to enter and plenty of time. So I could just take my time and all space I needed to hit the middle lane of the ferry, going backwards (all ferries here are loaded, driving in backwards, so that you can leave fast, going forward). I never thought, it would be so much different, driving backwards, sitting on the wrong side of the car but it is (at least for me). Leaving from Rishiri island it was much more busy. There were loads of trucks, that wanted to leave the islands besindes quite a bunch of cars. So this time I had to hit my lane without my usual slalom. As the ferry staff obviously saw my scarred face and realiyed my slow speed, they took over. One guy walked besides my car and opearated the steering wheel, while I only had to push the gas pedal. 'Manual automatic' Japanese style :-)
On the main island I visited the big mire of Sarobetsu with some more nice flowers, where a shower surprised me.
As the clouds became bigger and bigger, I decided to turn around and do the rest of the tour around the island in the car. On my bike ride I saw quite some insects and started my collection of pictures. You find an extra blog entry for these. On the car tour I saw several berries, which completed my berry collection. And I came by a rock where the sea gulls were feeding their young ones. Finally I passed by some mire with more berries and flowers.
On my way back to the main island of Hokkaido I faced a slight challenge, getting on the ferry. So far it was easy, as there were only a few cars, that wanted to enter and plenty of time. So I could just take my time and all space I needed to hit the middle lane of the ferry, going backwards (all ferries here are loaded, driving in backwards, so that you can leave fast, going forward). I never thought, it would be so much different, driving backwards, sitting on the wrong side of the car but it is (at least for me). Leaving from Rishiri island it was much more busy. There were loads of trucks, that wanted to leave the islands besindes quite a bunch of cars. So this time I had to hit my lane without my usual slalom. As the ferry staff obviously saw my scarred face and realiyed my slow speed, they took over. One guy walked besides my car and opearated the steering wheel, while I only had to push the gas pedal. 'Manual automatic' Japanese style :-)
On the main island I visited the big mire of Sarobetsu with some more nice flowers, where a shower surprised me.
Sonntag, 11. August 2013
Summer vacation - Rebun to Rishiri
After the 8 hour walk (6 for me, as I did only the second half) I needed a break anyways. So it was good to have a slow day, starting a bit later (breakfast at 7:00), with the only target to get over to Rishiri island. The weather was not cooperative. A lot of low clouds. But before the ferry left at 11:30 enough time to check out Momoiwa. This end of the island I had not yet visited. At the beginning a lot of fog and clouds but finally it cleared up and I could see the `onion`. The walk to the lighthous would have been a good one but maybe I come back another time. The island is definitley worth it.
On the way to Rishiri island a lot of seagulls followed the ferry, attracted by the food, a girl provided (see separate blog post 'Moewen' for more pictures).
Approaching Rishiri Island I saw several high bridges and was surprised about these. Later I found out, these are bridges for the bicycle route, I took on the next day.
The island itself has not much to see. The Rishiri fuji is the main attraction and this does not work for me due to my knee problems. So not so much to see but at least you can not get lost. There is only one street on the island and it takes about 2 hours to get back to the beginning...
Summer vacation - Rebun 8 hour walk - part 2
The blog entry a few days ago shows the first part of the 8 hour walk, the so called 4 hour walk. The rest of the 8 hour walk I did on the next day, cutting the 8 hours short to (theoretically) 5 hours, as I had to get from/to the bus stop.
The four pictures of the map show an overview of the tour, starting at the very top in the middle, where the toilet symol is shown. This is the bus stop. From there going in the direction of the P at the left top side but taking the black shortcut, that goes through the a of Nishikamidomari. Then following the red line all the way down below Sasadomari to the beach, where I met a bunch of boys, eating the sea urchins, they just got from the sea.
Then climbing over the rocks along the beach to Ueannai and from there in a steep climb up the hill and down on the other side to the P in the right bottom corner of the first map picture.
A wonderfull tour, very remote. Sometimes quite steep next to the path. I´m glad, it was not wet. I understood, why my host family was worried `you go alone?`. But they were OK, when they found out, that another group of 8 guys, staying over night at the same place, would do the full 8 hours tour. So they would find me, if something would go wrong (unless I would slide down one of the cliffs, off course).
This time not so many new flowers. More berries (see also separate blog post). And a lot of impressive landscape. First a lot of that low to high bamboo, that covers the ground here like grass in the Alps. Then going over into a forest, similar to the alps. Just some plants in between, that do not really fit.
And last the impressive cliffs, going down into the blue of the ocean. In between the path was very narrow and steep. At one place a rope helped a lot in the descend. At the end a nice slide down in the sand (you also could bypass it but you missed a lot of fun).
Now the pictures to all that text:
The four pictures of the map show an overview of the tour, starting at the very top in the middle, where the toilet symol is shown. This is the bus stop. From there going in the direction of the P at the left top side but taking the black shortcut, that goes through the a of Nishikamidomari. Then following the red line all the way down below Sasadomari to the beach, where I met a bunch of boys, eating the sea urchins, they just got from the sea.
Then climbing over the rocks along the beach to Ueannai and from there in a steep climb up the hill and down on the other side to the P in the right bottom corner of the first map picture.
A wonderfull tour, very remote. Sometimes quite steep next to the path. I´m glad, it was not wet. I understood, why my host family was worried `you go alone?`. But they were OK, when they found out, that another group of 8 guys, staying over night at the same place, would do the full 8 hours tour. So they would find me, if something would go wrong (unless I would slide down one of the cliffs, off course).
This time not so many new flowers. More berries (see also separate blog post). And a lot of impressive landscape. First a lot of that low to high bamboo, that covers the ground here like grass in the Alps. Then going over into a forest, similar to the alps. Just some plants in between, that do not really fit.
And last the impressive cliffs, going down into the blue of the ocean. In between the path was very narrow and steep. At one place a rope helped a lot in the descend. At the end a nice slide down in the sand (you also could bypass it but you missed a lot of fun).
Now the pictures to all that text:
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