Day 15 — Sapporo to Lake Shikotsu - Tom and Marilee Retire to the Road

September 17, 2025

Day 15 — Sapporo to Lake Shikotsu

Marilee here.

Spoiler alert: this post ends with me having my first swim of the trip — and it was wonderful!

Also wonderful was our exit route from Sapporo- more than 20kms on a beautifully paved cycle path! After another hearty breakfast, getting our money’s worth at the buffet, we hauled our many bags down to the lobby and reloaded the bikes. It always seems incredible that our massive mound of luggage fits onto two bike frames — and that they’re rideable afterwards.

A few zigzags through Sapporo streets and we found our way onto the cycle path, and that was it for navigation for much of the morning — after that it was just gliding along the green, tree-shaded corridor through the city, nodding greetings at the residents out for morning strolls.

Goodbye Sapporo! The view from a bridge as we exit the city.

And the other direction. Lots of green space by the rivers.

A pause on another bridge, jacket no longer needed.

We debated what this building could be, and I won: a university.

As they say, all good things must come to an end. Our lovely cycle path delivered us to a train station on the outskirts of Sapporo, and our navigation devices told us to pick up our route on the other side of the tracks. But how to get there? We tried detouring around the station but all roads seemed to deadend at the tracks. In confusion we returned to the station, where closer examination of the building revealed a small sign saying no riding bikes here. But could you then walk a bike through the station? Yes indeed, you could.

So we continued on our way, on roads now, until early afternoon when we encountered our next challenge: a military base. Google maps wanted us to continue straight through the base. “But Google, there are men with semi-automatic rifles blocking the road. Are you sure this is a good idea?” Google said yes, yes, this was the most direct route, just go for it. So, remembering how it had been right at the train station, we cycled up to the sentry gates and made inquiring noises: “us go here?”

Uh, that would be a definite “no”.

So, not very surprised by that response, we started looking for a way around the base. but it was quite large and sitting just where we wanted to go. Frustrating! Our detour took us right through cornfields and farmyards, but eventually we got back to regular roads that seemed to be taking us in more or less the direction we wanted.

We ended the day’s ride back on cycle paths, this time through Shikotsu-Toya National Park. These were also nicely paved and leafy, like the paths in the morning, but they were overhung by some type of tree that apparently drops branches frequently. So riding underneath them was an obstacle course of dodging fallen branches, stopping occasionally to pull out sticks that managed to wedge themselves between our wheels and mudguards.

I took a lovely nap under this sign. Note the stick-bestrewn path in the background.

Let’s see, what else happened?Oh yes, SWIMMING! We arrived at our campsite on Lake Shikotsu, which is an ancient caldera and the second deepest lake in Japan. Knowing it was so deep I expected it to be too cold for swimming but a quick wade confirmed it was a very swimmable temperature. A young woman from a nearby tent came to chat and I asked her if you could swim here (there was no one in the water). “Oh, you’d better ask the camp caretaker” she advised. So I did. “Dangerous” I was told. Why? “The water is very deep.” Mmm-hmmm.

Reasoning that “dangerous” is not “no”, I went swimming anyway. And as noted above, it was wonderful.

Today's ride: 79 km (49 miles)
Total: 746 km (463 miles)

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