Hidaki to Atsuma 85km

Japanese people are very quiet campers. The campgrounds are very spacious, but even so you hardly hear a peep from about 8.30pm till 8am. They all enjoy their campfires and bbqing, but it's done differently as you would expect. Campfires are generally made in a flimsy wire frame type contraption, that I am sure would result in wide spread bushfires in Australian conditions. The Hidaki campground is very picturesque and it sits in the middle of the beautiful Hidaki Range. Today was a long ride down out of the mountains, but against a stiff wind. We had to ride beside a relatively busy road as there was no alternative. It is still very safe with a good verge, but at times noisy. Halfway down the valley we stopped and visited another Ainu Museum, which was really well set out and provided great information. We were glad to hit the flats and divert off to a small gravel road following irrigation channels. We made numerous stops at small shops for supplies to refuel ourselves, and eventually made our target, RV Forest 310 campsite, which sounded like most other campsites on google, but it was quite different. It was a rough cleared area in the forest with spaces for camper parking with power outlets etc, a great sink and kitchen bench area, and more importantly a donga that contained toilets and a hot shower. There was no one there and it did not appear anyone had been there for some time. There was heaps of firewood, so we made a small fire and had a nice camp. We set up our tent on a small wooden balcony beside an old silver bullet caravan, and slept well.Read more