Day 20 — Lake Onuma to Hakodate - Tom and Marilee Retire to the Road

September 22, 2025

Day 20 — Lake Onuma to Hakodate

We were in no rush to get going today, as we only had 40 km or so into Hakodate, and a hotel booked which probably wouldn’t let us check in until mid afternoon.

We basically lolled around the campground, shivering in the damp dewy chill of the morning watching from the shady side of the lake as the sun hit everything before it hit us. Once we got the sun we took our time basking in it, and ensuring our stuff was dry, especially the tent, before we moved out.

We didn’t get rolling until well after 9. The ride around the lake was glorious. Perfect temperature, flat and calm, idyllic views.

Islands in the lake, that is what we are

We saw many signs for evacuation routes for Mt. Komagatake. It apparently caused a tsunami in 1640.

As we got got closer to Hakodate, we once again extended the trust to Komoot to devise a calm route into the city. And it did pretty well! We did have to have a stretch on the highway, but soon we cut inland along long stretches of empty road along greenhouses and small farm plots. It was quite serene and interesting.

A lot of construction signage relies on cartoon characters. These l’il bunnies will keep you from rolling into the ditch. Plus they have garden boxes!

I put a hundred yen in but it didn’t go anywhere

As we got into the city proper Komoot did its usual thing of devising routes like you’re trying to shake the cops. Up this alley, wrong way along this sidewalk, sometimes I think it’s going to have us go through someone’s kitchen. But it all worked, and before long we found ourselves at Goryokaku Park, which was a few blocks from our hotel. As we had time to kill, we did a lap of the starship shaped moat of the fortress at the heart of the park to see how it would look on the Garmin. We then sat on a bench, got some green tea ice creams, and watched the world go by.

Early evening was a stroll around the neighborhood, checking out all the bars with weird names. I found one where I thought I would be at home.

Dinner was conveyor belt sushi, which was a more sedate affair than the time we had it in Osaka years ago, but it was a good feed.

Tomorrow we play tourist again!

37 km, 152m elevation gain. Somewhere along the way, we passed 1000 km on this trip.

Today's ride: 37 km (23 miles)
Total: 1,025 km (637 miles)

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