The next day there was no trace of the rain and both sun and brilliant green had returned. And the change in my itinerary enabled me to enjoy the area in great weather. Again, sometimes life works out.

One of the major goals for this day was     to check out a bikepath that supposedly went along Lake Saroma. Turns out it only goes for a short distance along that lake and then along the coast to another lake (Lake Notoro), all around that lake and then along a bit of Lake Abashiri and eventually all the way into the city of Abashiri. It turned out to be quite a bit better than expected and was the highlight of the day. This is near the beginning of the bikepath, with the ocean often visible off to the left and the bikepath running through alternating farmland and wilderness.