Farewell to the Ezo Rider house, a great spot a day off the bike. (Learnt much later that Ezo is an old word for Hokkaido.)

A little backtracking out of town, past the Mt Io volcanic area, before turning south on quiet roads to the town of Teshikaga and resupply (food, food and gas canister – konbini and DCM).

That’s a different way of loading logs on a truck, don’t think I’d ever see the like in NZ

Leaving town we took country roads for ten kilometres through river flat farm land before rejoining the quiet highway for a sustained, wiggly climb. A very cloudy day, but the humidity had returned to keep us sweating. But pretty gentle riding, and plenty of trees to look at.

Occasional peaks of mountains off in the distance. The closest one being Mt Oakan, the volcano which formed the caldera lake Akan.

Another abandoned building, just past the road summit – an old roadhouse, or visitor centre? Nice to stop for a bit.

Long galleria to break up the arboreal view.

Shortly after joining a busier highway, and reaching Akan, there was some walking to be done to the edge of Lake Akan. Fortunately or not, not enough time to continue to the summit of Mt Oakan. Some good West Coast style trail – gnarly roots, moss covered…

Into the touristy town of Akan for lunch and a wander past bubbling mud pools – reminders of a different part of home.

A lot of coloured covers in the streets – eye-catching.

Bit of time at an Ainu culture/handcraft street of shops aimed at all the tourists. My appreciation of such areas is not high, so only the one photo. Most of the crafts were wood or antler carvings – I probably should have taken a closer look, but little chance I was going to buy anything and then carry it for weeks.

Twenty more kilometres mostly climbing to camp beside Lake Onneto for the night. Last little bit on a gravel road off the highway, beautiful riding through close forest. Unfortunately a little late for the cafe still to be open, but a nice campground covered in by big trees. Another enjoyable, despite the gloom, day on the bikes – nice to be in the hills.