Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch Cherry Bomb!
Today’s Shiroishi Cycling Road. Cherry blossoms are in full bloom!
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There are many kinds of cherry trees. Some of cherry blossoms look whitish, other pinkish.
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Cherry blossoms last only for one week.
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A bridge on the Shiroishi cycling road.
People can look down rows of cherry trees from here.
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Cherry blossoms up close.
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Toyohira River Cycling Road. The bridge behind is “Mizuho Ohashi” (Mizuho Bridge).
The water was swollen once again due to yesterday’s rain.
Today’s travelling distance: 52km
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Takino Kaminopporo Cycling Road
The third day of our bike ride.
First we passed the gate of the Sapporo Art Park.
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Then the gate of Takino Reien (cemetery).
The replicas of Moai statues can be seen.
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And this is the gate to Takino Suzuran Park.
Can you see those carp streamers in the picture above?
They are to celebrate the “Children’s Day” on May 5th.
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After dropping in at “Sport DEPO” in Ohmagari, a shop that has a lot of cycling goods,
we went into the Shiroishi Cycling Road.
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The Shiroishi cycling road has a lot of cherry trees and they are now in bloom!
Today’s travel distance: 53 km (33 mile).
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Breakfast at Royce’
The second day of our bike ride.
But alas! The northern part of the Toyohira River Cycling Road is not opened yet,
because it is still covered with snow.
The cycling road is on the right, and the blackish thing that the excavator is working on is snow.
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So we decided to take country roads instead.
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The good view from the road along the Ishikari River.
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Actually today’s our goal is to go to the ROYCE’ shop in Ainosato.
Royce’ is famous for its chocolate, but its breads and pastries are also great.
Today’s travel distance: 59km (37 mile).
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Toyohira River Cycling Road and Shiroishi Cycling Road 2012
Toyohira River Cycling Road at last!
We went on bike ride for three days, and this was the first day.
Now the snow on the cycling road was removed completely!
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The river is swollen because of the melted snow.
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Riding through the Toyohira River Cycling Road, and then Shiroishi Cycling Road
and Kitahiroshima Elfin Road, we arrived at Kitahiroshima Cycling Station.
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And then this is the Kitahiroshima Railway Station.
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The good thing about this Kitahiroshima JR Station is that you can go inside of the
building with your bike!
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This cycling path (“Elfin road”) runs parallel to the railway and also through the woods.
It’s really nice to ride through the fresh green of May!
Today’s travel distance: 63 km (39 mile)
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Cos all I want to do is
Bicycle, bicycle, bicycle!
But look at that great wall of snow!
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Most of the road is dry, but the road shoulder and sidewalk still have
a lot of sands that were sprinkled during winter (so that cars or people wouldn’t
slip on snowy slippery road). Sometimes they have snow, too.
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Never-ending ups and downs in Komaoka and Takino.
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Okay, but that was a couple of days ago, and this was yesterday.
The temperature went up to 8 degrees Celsius!
But the Toyohira river cycling road was still covered with snow.
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So I took a regular road and dropped in at the Hokkaido Shrine.
There are 1,000 cherry trees in the precincts, and
the cherry blossoms become beautiful in spring.
(Well, spring has not yet come to Hokkaido, thus no cherry blossoms yet.)
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The shrine is in Maruyama Park, which is a good place to walk around.
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This shows part of 80 kinds of wild birds that can be seen at Hokkaido Shrine.
Hokkaido Shrine is also a good place for bird watching.
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Golden Slumbers
My dog was apparently sleepy on my lap.
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And soon she fell asleep.
Wow, a Snow Miku mouse pad can be a good pillow for a dog!
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A Hello Kitty shop in Hokkaido
If you are looking for Hello Kitty items in Sapporo, this shop is the right place to go.
It’s in the Sapporo station underground shopping mall,
and the huge Hello Kitty in front of the shop will welcome you!
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And even if you miss the shop, you don’t need to worry.
There’s a Hello Kitty shop in the Shin Chitose Airport, too.
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You can get Hello Kitty goods that are available only in this shop!
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