Jo Blogs in Hokkaido 2021

Apparently, Abashiri on the shores of the Okhotsk sea is absolutely freezing in winter, but fortunately, in August the temperature was perfect (although we did get a bit of rain). We had rented a gorgeous cabin on the edge of the park and used it as a base for exploring the Shiretoko national park - bear country! Fortunately, we didn't run into any bears. I loved just knowing that they were in there. We did see deer and plenty of birds though. We took a cruise up the coast and then did hikes in the national park (after attending a mandatory lecture and safety briefing).              

The next few days contained only short drives to parks, farms, trees and lakes to see wonderful flowers and scenery. We also took the ropeway up Asahidake and enjoyed hikes around the mountain and watching the steam come out of holes in the volcanic rock. We visited a few art galleries, but our favourite was the Goto Sumiya gallery in Furano - it also did a wonderful lunch. We stayed in this gorgeous house in Biei called Farm Cottage - there was no one around and we loved it.         

From the ferry in Hakodate, we still had a long drive up to Yoichi where we had booked an Airbnb for a couple of nights. We messaged our hosts to let them know we would be a little late, then settled into the journey - without audio accompaniament as our phone batteries were running quite low. We had been listening to Mythos by Stephen Fry - read by Stephen Fry himself. We re-told our own old travel stories instead "Remember when we were in Chile...." We made it to the comfortable and modern apartment in our mud-splattered car, cooked a simple homemade dinner then had a bath and an early night. The next day, after washing the car, we headed to the Shakotan peninsula - specifically to Cape Kamui and Shakotan cape. We enjoyed a day of fantastic views, lovely hikes and fresh seafood including the local speciality, sea urchin. We tried to visit the Nikka distillery in Yoichi, but unfortunately, it had suspended tours due to COVID-19. We tried some local wines in town instead...

After leaving Lake Towada (chilly, raining), we drove through the Towada-Hachimantai national park. It was raining heavily and the road was poor, although we did pass through an impressive gorge. There were a lot of ill-kitted out people walking along the river path mostly on the road, so we think must be 'must do' tourist attraction of some sort... we powered on up through the axe handle of this far-flung peninsula in Aomori.  We'd booked a nice hotel in Mutsu, but had time to stop at a tourist attraction before checking in. We chose to visit Osore-zan bodai-ji temple . It is one of Japan's most sacred sites and sits on the shores of a stinky sulphurous crater lake in the mountains. We found the place quite creepy, indeed it apparently has the atmosphere of the afterlife. After this detour, we checked into our rather lovely hotel (the  Mutsu Grand Hotel ) and had a wonderful relaxing onsen and an early dinner in the French restaurant.  We were up and on our way again b...

Next stop was Lake Towada in Aomori prefecture - a beautiful and peaceful crater late high in the mountains. We couldn't find any Airbnbs on Lake Towada, so booked a nice onsen hotel with a lavish dinner included! The next day, we walked around the spookily quiet, grey lake, ate apple pie before making our way to our next destination, Mutsu.