Lake Shikotsu – Oshamanbe 82 miles A multitude of mountains paved the way for the 60-mile stretch between Lake Shikotsu and Lake Toya. With the comfort of clear skies, I made exceptional progress, my only concerns being the weekend drivers who drove by as if they had just been given a day pass to behave…
Tag: Adventure cycling
Hokkaido Summer: World Cup Karaoke Mountain Man
Sapporo – Lake Shikotsu 53 miles Between an 8-hour karaoke binge and England’s next World Cup match, I’d had very little time to rest. Normally, a 4am kick off would have been deemed an unheard of feat, yet I was still running on an excess of alcohol fumes and raring for England’s next humiliation to…
Hokkaido Summer: Back to the Big Smoke
Mashike – Sapporo 74 miles When I awoke I was able to add a new tick to the list of places slept upon my journey thus far: Hostel – ✓ Baseball Pitch – ✓ Park Bench – ✓ The House of Pubes – ✓ Hotel – ✓ Tsunami Evacuation Point – ✓ Refugee Shelter –…
Hokkaido Summer: Waterfalls & Grizzlies
Sounkyo The 1,984 meter Mt Kurodake can be tackled in two ways, hiking or cheating. Be in so it was my day off out of the saddle I decided that it would be in my best interests to opt for the latter and cheat my way to the mountains summit. I‘d achieve this by firstly…
Hokkaido Summer: The Loins of Hokkaido
Asahikawa – Sounkyo 50 miles I was up and about early, not quite reeling from a hangover as I was still drunk. But the day ahead was playing on my mind and I needed to get moving before the whole world imploded for no apparent reason whatsoever. Kev would point me in the direction of…
A Tale of Snow & Piss
I awoke early from my slumber knowing that today a formidable task lay ahead of me. One that had been lingering in the back of my mind intrepidly for some time. For today I would attempt to tackle the Bandai-Azuma Skyline, my greatest feat thus far. The road traverse’s for some 30km through the Azuma…
A Return to Nikko
The ascent up to Nikko was a steady one, yet despite all the training over the past week or so I found it surprisingly draining. I think every now and then the body just needs to recharge, all the physical exertion obviously taking its toll, which is exactly what I planned to do upon arrival…
The Naritan Waiting Game – Part II
The rain came earlier than expected, and it really wanted me. I’d read it was due to kick off at around 8am, it was now 2am and I found myself getting wet. I’d not used my tent tonight as it wasn’t an option, I was encamped upon my sleeping map on the concrete base of…
Up the Boso
The park I had found to make my nest in for the night was ideal, but again the climes were not. By 4am I couldn’t bare the cold anymore and was up and about looking for a fast food outlet to bide some more time until sunrise. Again like in Chichibu I found a 24…
A Corporate Refuge
When the previous evenings rain had simmered I’d found myself a small park to hold fort in for the night. With rain in tow it was a mild enough night, yet I still slept uneasily. As I was packing my gear away at dawn I was greeted by an old man and his poodle. I…
Tokyo to Tokyo 