Day 4: Wakkanai to Abashiri 327km

During the night, the strong winds turned into strong winds AND rain!  We were pretty exhausted from the full day yesterday (and were both wearing ear plugs), so we didn’t really notice until 9AM, when we finally woke up.

Still feeling groggy, we slowly got ready for the day (some of slower than others…).  We casually made our way to Cape Soya, the actual ‘northern most point in Japan’, unlike the claims made in Rebun yesterday.  On a clear day you can easily see Sakhalin, but it was foggy/rainy, so we couldn’t (though, we got to see it from Cape Noshappu in Wakkanai a few days ago).  Took a couple of photos, had a relaxed (and somewhat late) breakfast, then started on our way south to Abashiri.

The weather wasn’t the best, so we didn’t stop for anything more than toilet/food breaks.

For a while, it was looking like the sky was going to clear for a spectacular sunset as we were passing by Lake Saroma, but it didn’t, and it quietly got darker.

Abashiri is quite a nice town, lakes, rivers, mountains and plenty of trees.  Seems alive too, unlike many smaller fringe cities in Hokkaido.

Trying to save money, we bought some cheap vegetables/lamb, and had a quiet BBQ in the park between the river and the supermarket carpark.  It was quite good too!

We quickly gatecrashed a friend’s evening, though they were all exhausted from a late night on Friday, and a big hike today, so we left them to rest.  However, before we left, a short amount of time with access to real Internet was enough to get my iPhone tethering problems sorted out!  I’m online again!  With so many visitors at her house, we retreated back to the michi-no-eki a few kilometers down the road for another night sleeping in a carpark, surrounded by strangers doing the same.  It’s free and there are toilets.  Can’t ask for much more.