A highlight of this varied route is the Mutsu Bay Ferry. In all likelihood, you’ll see dolphins. We saw three separate pods on the short 1-hour trip. The serious cycling starts soon after getting off the boat, however. A long, steep climb takes the route way up above the impenetrable cliffs of the Shimokita Peninsula western coast, and the route dallies up in the high country for a while before plunging back down to the ocean. From there it is another couple of stiff ups and downs before arriving in Fukuura.

If you’ve taken the 2pm ferry the day before, camping at the Wakinosawa ferry terminal overnight, then it would be perfectly conceivable that you’d make it a further 15km along (i.e., up and down) the coast to the Gankake Park campground (佐井村がんかけ公園). As it happened, however, we were caught in the tiny fishing town of Fukuura near sun-down. One feasible option would be to camp at the primary school at the upper end of the village. There’s running water there, and at the lower end of the village there are public toilets.

We opted instead to sample what rural Aomori had to offer in the way of bed and breakfasts – or minshuku (民宿) as they are called in Japan. For 6,000yen each for the night, we stayed at the unassuming Namie-sou minshuku, and were treated to motherly-like care by the lovely owner. A massive seafood dinner and breakfast was included.