Day 6: Hakodate - A city with a view

31/8

If you recall my last post then you remember that the 10th typhoon was about to pass over the southern part of Hokkaido. This meant that continuing to Hakodate after 17:00 would be too reckless. Instead I camped in the station with Fujita and 3 other people who missed the last train, I guess. 

In the morning we packed our things and discovered that there was no electricity. The power shortage would last for another 80 km. or so. This meant that all convenience stores, restaurants and vending machines were without power and therefore food suddenly became a scarce resource. 

Not the only problem caused by the typhoon. There were branches and even whole trees covering the roads and sometimes it was impossible not to drive over a big pile of twigs and this made me worried since getting a flat in the middle of nowhere is just as much fun as one could imagine. 

I left before Fujita because I wanted to go sightseeing in Hakodate, and my plan was to leave for Aomori early the next morning. That way I could make the next 176 km in the mountains without having to worry about time. (This part of the plan is actually the the one I'm doubting the most, I might change it and even skip Nikko. My bike is simply too heavy to deliberately go into the mountains just for sightseeing.)

Now, this typhoon brought more craziness to the game. I was scavenging through one town for food and a found a Seicomart. I though why not try this one.
Two girls were standing in there and it was quiet as a tomb. No music, no light, no other customers and I thought to myself: "this is why they have music". I ended up buying a small bag of mixed nuts... So much for lunch. 

The town before Hakodate was very nice, probably my favorite town so far in Hokkaido. It's called Nanae and it has some really nice long roads leading to Hakodate with pine trees along the way. Amazing!

But things was going to take a turn for the worse, I survived the dreadful wind and the massive piles of fallen trees, but a small piece of metal punctured my back tire and this meant that I had to carry my bags and bike for 3 km. through the city.. This was horrible. I was unsure where the nearest bike shop was so I decided to change the tire myself, but I couldn't make the pump I bought fit the valve so I ended up going to a bike store called Chill Nowa, awesome bike store btw. and the owner is super chilled, he helped my out and I learned a few tricks. I also got to use the new tube I bought, but in the beginning we thought it was to big, once we tried it on it was okay though.
Thanks of the day goes to the owner of the store! And I only paid 500 yen, my impression was he didn't want to get paid though, what a guy!

Then I spent some time in the nearest McDonald's, without buying anything of course. Just there for the free WiFi. Searching for things to do the day after. Suddenly I got a message from Fujita about meeting him on Mt. Hakodate, now the view from the mountain is one of the best in the world and it was spectacular. But I had to wait 40 minutes to get up and 25 minutes to get down, and it was overpriced. But worth the time for the view, yes! 

For dinner we had burgers from a local burger chain called Lucky Pierre, I'm sure there is a story to this chain which I will research later, but it was awesome and since I didn't had lunch I order two, just to be on the safe side. Tomorrow, early sightseeing and then on to however far I get between Aomori and Akita. 

And this concludes my trip for Hokkaido. 700+ km.

Distance: 110 km. for the trip itself and 7 in the city
Time: 5.30 hours and 6:30 including the city.
Departure from last location: 8:30
Arrival: 15:30, and then I got a flat...
Condition: loving contempt, but worried about mountains tomorrow!
Quote: pls tire, why you no work no more!?