Firstly whilst I remember , let me say I only got one job application for the job I advertised. I hired her on the spot. Excellent choice !
So somewhat reluctantly we head north again to Aomori which is at the top of Honshu and the ferry port to go north to Hokkaido ( to pronounce put a plum in your mouth and say “ Hock a dough “
We wind up the pretty coast and whiz past a town called Honcho. I wonder to myself if the local mayor is called the Head Honcho?
Then I finally work out why the GPS keeps me off the expressway system. It is nothing to do with fastest time / shortest distance argument . The official speed on the expressway is 70kph or sometimes 80kph. On the ordinary roads it is 50kph. But often the expressways bypass towns and takes a longer route so on the time algorithms in the GPS the expressways miss out on both a shortest time and shortest distance basis. But they are by far the quickest as they tend not to have traffic lights I got up courage today and firmly over rode Elizabeth who resideth inside the GPS She gave a hard time yelling “u torn” at me all the time. I squared my jaw. I dug in. I won. I have to say she was a lot more subdued today when I over rode her again
I hate to admit this but today we stopped at - it is hard to type - a Mc Donald’s. . Only for the free wifi of course! There we met an aged Japanese hippy who was a cartoonist
We push up north and find the ferry terminal at Aomori. . The next ferry to Hokkaido leaves in 2 hours. We grab it
I ride the bike on board. But whoa, I am not allowed to strap it down like on the New Zealand Interislander ferries. It gets strapped down for me thank you very much.
In the distance there is a familiar shape. It is the Seabourn Sojourn on which we travelled thru the Suez canel 2 years ago.
As we settle on board our new cruise boat in our riding gear and sit in our plastic chairs and eat our food from the self service machines with cheap plastic chopsticks one thinks wistfully of the fine food and champagne being served just over the way on the Seabourn boat. I wipe the saliva from both sides of my chin with my cheap paper towelette.
It is a three and a half hour trip to Hakodate at the bottom end of Hokkaido We arrive at 9,00pm. Riding the streets in the dark ( interesting ) we find our hotel. Another good day.
So now today. We decide to head up to Sapporo - about 400 km away. Wow , the temperature drops from 28 deg C yesterday to 12 deg C today. The rice paddies have stopped and are replaced by arable and pastoral farming. With the rolling landscape and the trees it just look like rural Europe. So do the villages. And just to finish it off there are roadside warning signs showing foxes, bears and deer jumping out of the roadside bushes on to the road.
Talking of rice paddies, while I remember, is the rice harvested from them in a paddy wagon ? That is what 7 hours on a bike does to you.
We stop for petrol. Filling the bike is a serious task. It takes two - one just to hold the hose. I think they are Mexican brothers - Jose and Hose B !
We get close to Sapporo. The cherry trees are in full blossom.
And thus we get to Sapporo - Japans fifth biggest city. Population nearly two million. And it is as easy to ride into as Invercargill - well almost. Note to self - must have a Sapporo beer tonight !
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