September 13, 2025
Day 11 — Shosambetsu to Rumoi
Marilee here.
The thing about beautiful, idyllic, FREE campgrounds is — lots of people want to go there. They get crowded.
We went to bed in Shosambetsu with a reasonable-to-us-North Americans amount of space around our tent, but at about 8 or 9pm some new arrivals began setting up, and we could tell they were fairly close to us. And the set up went on and on. And on and on and on. At 11:45 stakes were still being pounded and lengthy whispered conversations were being held, probably “what’s this pole for?” And “I’m missing grommet 11-b.4, can you find it for me?”.
And in the morning, all was revealed:
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We had no time to meet our new neighbors however, we had to get on the road to Rumoi, south down the coast. Our weather apps were in full panic mode about an approaching storm and we wanted to get there early enough to hunt around for an available hotel.
Various hotels showed up on Google maps in Rumoi, but very few of them were bookable online (in English at least), so we were going to try the old school method: show up and smile pathetically at a hotel clerk in the hopes that they take pity on you. Which can be time consuming, so we were hustling to get going.
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We were following the coastal highway south, which had great views BUT
- Lots of long climbs (and precipitous descents)
- A howling headwind
- The busiest traffic we’d encountered yet (all drivers following the Immutable Laws of Traffic, of course).
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About mid-day, we encountered a sign informing us of a “site of cultural significance” coming up, so we pulled off the road to investigate. It turned out to be the Hanada Family Fisherman’s Lodge — the former residence and business of an early 20th century herring fishery.
Although the family home and the business were both in the same building, there was a sharp division inside between the area that would have housed the employees who processed the herring, and the family’s living area. The employee area was essentially one large room ringed with elevated sleeping platforms, with storage areas for tools underneath. The family’s living space was much more elegant, with room dividers and passageways demarcating the different rooms by function.
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It was a fascinating glimpse into a vanished way of life. The herring fishery in Hokkaido is apparently all but over.
Our ride ended in Rumoi, where our search for indoor accommodation was unsuccessful (we suspect there was a baseball tournament happening that weekend, as there seemed to be an awful lot of teen boys in baseball uniforms around). The search even included locations that purported to be accommodation in Google Maps, but seemed to be some sort of rooming houses, with Tom bewildering whoever answered the door, and that person bewildering him right back with a flurry of Japanese.
Anyway, we set up our tent in the municipal campground, which was a thin a strip of sites facing out towards the ocean, and hoped for the best. Rain was starting as we headed out for some dinner. We were luckier with dinner than we’d been with hotels, finding a cozy local curry house run by two friendly older ladies and apparently with a devoted neighborhood clientele.
Soon after we returned to the tent, the storm started in earnest, and gathered energy throughout the night. At first it was just heavy rain, but in the early hours of the morning the wind got going, and between the howling wind, the pounding rain and the crashing surf, we didn’t get a lot of sleep. But our little tent was a champion, keeping us dry all night long.
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4 months ago
Today's ride: 82 km (51 miles)
Total: 512 km (318 miles)
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4 months ago