Hokkaido Patchwork Road

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Asahikawa

   It has around three hundred and fifty thousand people, a long, cold winter and a reputation for ramen, furniture and sake. The city sits at the confluence of several rivers, and its wide streets and big sky have a frontier feel that suits the island.

   Read the complete Asahikawa write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Asahikawa is where the day begins. Next is Patchwork Road.

2. 2. Patchwork Road

   The hills around Biei in central Hokkaido are so regularly patterned that visitors compare them to a quilt, and that is the origin of the name. Fields of wheat, potatoes, beans, sunflowers and flowers run over low rounded slopes in strips of green, gold, yellow, brown and purple, bounded by rows of larch and poplar and separated by narrow farm roads. The Tokachidake range, a line of volcanic peaks that smoke gently from time to time, rises on the horizon, and the whole scene shifts with the season, from the pale green of early summer to the gold of harvest and the white sheet of winter.

   Read the complete Patchwork Road write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Patchwork Road comes up about 24 km into the recorded legs. Next is Biei.

3. 3. Biei

   Biei is a small farming town in the middle of Hokkaido that has made its living from being looked at. Its fame comes from the hills around it, the rolling patchwork of crops that stretches to the Tokachidake range, and from a few specific photogenic sights, including a pond so blue it looks fake. The Blue Pond was created by accident, after dams were built to protect the area from mudflows from the volcano, and the water is coloured by minerals suspended in it, mainly aluminium compounds that scatter the light. It shifts from milky turquoise to deep sapphire depending on the weather and the angle of view, and in winter it is lit up after dark.

   Read the complete Biei write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 29 km into the recorded legs you reach Biei. Next is Furano.

4. 4. Furano

   Furano lies in the middle of Hokkaido, in a basin ringed by the Tokachi mountains and the Yubari range, and it is known for lavender. The fields of Farm Tomita and the surrounding farms turn purple in July, and visitors come from across Japan to see them. The climate here is continental, with hot summers and cold, snowy winters, and the long hours of summer light let farmers grow lavender, melons, potatoes and onions. The town is small, and the settlement of Shimo-furano is right beside it, while Ashibetsu, a former coal town, lies thirty kilometres or so away.

   Read the complete Furano write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Furano closes the day.