I first wanted to go to Hokkaido after I read a few articles in a bike magazine. The article told about all the people that come to ride in Hokkaido during the summer. I saw Hokkaido's scenery in pictures and decided to go and see it with my own eyes.

Since I wanted to travel for as long as possible, I had to save money for the trip. The budget I had for the trip was 250,000(about $2,200). In order to save that money I worked long hours for about one year. During this year I could not spend much money on things I wanted to do but I knew that the big tour was waiting for me and that helped save the money.

On July 18^th I boarded the Hokkaido bound ferry in Tokyo. The ferry travel took about 30 hours and cost 40,000 yen ( return ticket ). On the ferry I stayed in an open area for 14 people. In order to save money I brought bread and noodle cup so I did not have to spend money at the restaurant. ON the ship there were many riders but at that time I still did not talk to people.

On July 20^th at 0500 I arrived in Tomakomai port in the south of Hokkaido. On that day I met with some friend I made last year while riding. The meeting was in a rider's house in Bibaushi.

Rider's house

Rider's house is a place where travelers can stay paying no more than a 1,000 yen. The local people wanted to help travelers and made these houses cheap so those budget travelers can also enjoy traveling in Hokkaido. In some of the places it is enough to order dinner or breakfast and there will be no bed charge.

In most places there are dormitory rooms. There are separated rooms for men and women and in most places you have to bring your own sleeping bag. All in all it is a cozy place to stay and you can meet a lot of other travelers and exchange information. Rider houses are found only in Hokkaido and not in other parts of Japan, which helps in attracting young riders who, travel on low budget.

I stayed in Biba House for over 10 days. During this time I did some part time jobs in the rider's house and traveled to Furano and the surrounding area. This area is very famous for its nice scenery and flowers.

On July 28^th my boyfriend Takahiro Sakai arrived and we decided to go up north.

We left on the morning of August 2^nd on the way to Rebun Island, about 300 km away. On the way we stopped at Hokuryu. There we saw the biggest sunflower field in Japan. There were sunflowers everywhere you looked and it was very beautiful.

On August 5^th went to the small of Rishiri. It is located near Rebun. The island is very small and after going around it, we went to Rebun on the same day.

On the island we stayed in a youth hostel called Momoiwa. This hostel is very famous among Hokkaido travelers and is known for the its lively atmosphere. The place was even better than what we heard and we had a great experience. Unfortunately the weather was bad and we did not manage to see a lot of the island. On August 7^th we reach Soya cape which is the furthest north you can reach in Japan. It was raining and it was very cold so we really felt we are way up north.

From there we went southeast to Abashiri to meet a friend who was working in a riders house there. With a group of people, who stayed at that rider's house, we rented a Canadian canoe and went from Lake Abashiri all the way to the sea. The scenery on the way was beautiful. The ride was about five hours only but it was so cold that it felt like 50 !!!

We continued east staying in camping sites on the way. On the way we saw hot springs and even one that is a waterfall. On the way we heard about a famous horse race in Sapporo which is the main city in Hokkaido and decided to go see it. Sapporo was 600 km away and it took us about two long days to get there. We stayed 4 days in a camping site in Sapporo checked the area and even won 5,000 yen at the horse race.

From Sapporo we headed south to Dounan. Not many people visit this area but we thought it was great. One of the most beautiful places was Cape Kamui and the lights of Hakodate city at night. We left Dounan and headed to Shizunai. This area is famous for breeding racehorses and as a retiring place for old racehorses. There we saw the most expensive horse in the world, Lammt Arra. We saw the horses crossing the river on their Way to the grazing fields. It was especially beautiful because of the foggy weather. After visiting the area we continued east again on the way to Kaiyoudai which we heard to be a very interesting spot where you can feel the world is round. At that campsite we met Takahiro's friend and together we toured the hot springs in the area. We saw a lot of foxes, deer, squirles etc.

We set our way to Rebun Island again because we wanted to see the parts we could not see on the first time. On the way, we camped on the parking lot of a farmer because the campsite we intended to stay at was closed because to a bear that appeared in the camp. In Hokkaido there are many people that will open their house to travelers and give any help they can.

On September 6th we arrived in Rebun for the second time. The next day we managed to see the part we wanted to see so much. It is an 8-hour walking course along the coast. It was a very tiring experience but it was well worth it. I think this was the most beautiful place I visited in Hokkaido. After visiting Rebun we went south to Furano and onwards to Muroran and there on September 16th we said goodbye to Hokkaido.

All in all we covered about 9,000 km, saw lot of untouched nature, a lot of wildlife and met a lot of interesting people. It was an unforgettable experience.

Yuko Manabe Is riding mainly off road bikes. She started riding in 1994 and currently is riding a Yamaha TT 250 R.