SUNDAY 21ST MAY - BACK TO WHERE WE WANT TO BE

Hakodate redeemed itself to some extent today in that, after checking out, we found the road up to the top of Mount Hakodate which overlooks the city. Unfortunately we are back to very hazy weather so the views weren't as good as they would be on a clear day but quite a spectacular spot. Our hotel is one of the buildings facing the water. It also needs to be reported that, after some exploration last night, we found a very Japanese restaurant with an English menu and one staff member who spoke English. We ate our meal sitting at a bench. The mackerel fillet I had, using chopsticks, was really nice.

From there, we set the GPS for the Shikabe Kanketsusen Park, an intriguing little place right on the ocean front which is a thermal park where you can cook meals using the steam coming out of the ground. It also has a geyser which very obligingly blows its top every 15 minutes.

We then returned to the 70 kph expressway but only had to spend about 80 klms on it today. I have noticed that the law abiding citizens tend to drive at about 15 kph over the posted speed limit so, by adopting that policy, we were less of an obstruction on the road and the time passed reasonably quickly.

 

We are now back where we like to be, tucked away in the forest at the Hotel Kanronomori in the Niseko ski area. Obviously there isn't any skiing happening at the moment but we comprehensively toured the area this afternoon and saw plenty of infrastructure. It must be very busy in winter. We were planning on doing some walking but, as we came up the expressway this morning, we saw a number of illuminated signs warning of lightning and, sure enough, as we were touring the local area this afternoon, a storm came through, so no walking.

The major landmark in this area is Mt. Yotei, often compared with Mt. Fuji for obvious reasons.

 

As we passed through one of the towns this morning, we saw the most impressive display of cherry blossoms yet seen.

Tomorrow, we head to Otaru, a comfortably short drive away on the coast north of here.