Day 1 Chitose to Tsukigata 78km

The sun is up before 5am in Chitose. We all slept well after our overnight flights and our little container cabin was very comfortable and quiet. We got going about 7.30am and initially followed some big roads that either had a wide bike lane or a wide footpath. We noticed a small sealed road running along the Ishikari River that looked nice so we decided to follow that. We made Shinshinotsu by lunchtime and found a nice little traditional restaurant for a nice bowl of ramen noodles and a beer. The afternoon lunch was quite warm and sunny. We continued on our small riverside road, which at times turned to gravel, but it was ok. It eventually took us nearly all the way to Tsukigata were we stopped at a nice council camping place on a small lake. We setup our tents beside the lake and then went for our first onsen for this trip. Onsen is a wonderful thing about Japan, such a luxury to feel so clean and relaxed.Read more