First day in the saddle

I'd mentally traveled this part of the route many times already. Back when I was planning the route. Oh, how beautiful it was in my dreams. On one side — densely wooded hills, so tall you have to crane your neck to see the top. On the other side — the sea, light blue with a mirror surface, and I'm riding along the very edge, just a bit higher up. That's how I imagined this picture, and that's how I see it now. But now I hear the seagulls and the sound of waves, I smell the sea and feel the breeze on my face.

From Wakkanai, a steep descent leads to the coastal road. It's like I'm diving from it into the sea, and after 30 kilometers I find myself at Cape Soya — the northernmost point of Japan. They say on a clear day you can see Sakhalin from here, it's just a bit farther than to Wakkanai — 43 kilometers. I peer into the distance, but today there's fog over the sea.

A Japanese couple with their ten-year-old son approaches me. — Excuse me, can I ask you a question? — Yes, go ahead. — Our son was given an assignment at school... — I never quite understood what the assignment was about overall, but they asked me where I'm from, where I'm going, and my age. All of this was carefully written down by a child's hand in a questionnaire, and my age was circled.

I ride holding the handlebars with one hand, dancing with the other — the songs playing in my player are one better than the next. People in passing cars look and smile. Bikers raise their left hand in greeting. ALL bikers passing by raise their hand up. At some point the road went into the forest, cars stopped passing by, and I found myself alone. Even despite the music in my ears, I hear the silence around me. Approaching a bridge over a small stream, I took off my headphones and heard the sounds of real forest, birds and rustling leaves, and when everything went quiet for a moment, a fish splashed in the stream. A passing motorcyclist broke the silence.

It's hard to write about the road. It's full of beautiful views and sounds, emotions and thoughts. I see seagulls, endless sea, a rusty boat on the shore, a heron standing in the water. Many details creating the mood of the road. But all these details crumpled into a heap when I saw a deer. A big, meaty deer. It looked at me with big eyes, but at that moment my eyes were bigger. I didn't even immediately think about my camera, but when I came to my senses and started getting it out of my bag with trembling hands, the deer turned its back to me and hopped away. I found a campground in a field near a windmill. There are many bikers here, but there are cyclists too. It was already getting dark and the wind picked up, so I decided to spend the night here. I set up my tent and went looking for a shower. — Where's the shower here? — I raise one hand above my head and rub my head with the other, miming a shower. — Over there. — the Japanese man points to a building a hundred meters from us, while squatting down and making the same motions with his hands as me. — Onsen. — Onsen?? I'd heard about onsen before, and even got detailed instructions from a friend about what you need to do there. The moment of truth had arrived, exam day.