Sobetsu fruit village

Since the bus to Noboribetsu Onsen that crosses a beautiful mountain pass doesn't seem to operate anymore, probably due to lack of custom, I had to replace that day's visit to a sulphurous valley with some other activity.  I decided to take the Sōbetsu fruit farm walk. I walked east along the lake shore. The islands in the middle of this caldera lake were always in view, though a bit hazy.

Japanese landscape always looks muted to me and underwhelming compared to some European landscapes. Also green predominates. This is probably because of the high humidity and because I've normally visited in summer or thereabouts. I think that in the cold of winter the air would clear up and the views become crisp. When I was looking at Hokkaido on Google Maps, it seemed that more than half the contributed photos were taken in winter. I am sure they are more dramatic than summer photos. But Adam told me that you really have to bundle up in the Hokkaido winters because any exposed skin will freeze. Brr, not to my taste.

The path was well marked on the guide and on the signs. The Japanese are thorough with detail. When a hostel guide says ride the bus for 8 minutes, they mean it. The first part of the walk took me up a litle hill. The path was heavily overgrown. Either it's not used much or they just wait for winter to kill off the undergrowth. However there were guides in the form of 36 Buddhist plaques on the path. I seem to remember that 36 is an important number in Buddhism. I'm sure a check of the Internet will verify this.

At the top, I obtained a view overlooking the lake. Then the path became a sometimes paved and sometimes gravel road along a ridge for a couple of km, and descended past orchards to the fruit village of Sōbetsu. This was the part I was interested in.  I went to a barn with a crowd of tourists.  From the Cantonese conversations, they were from HK or south of China. The peaches were nothing special, but the grapes tasted like melon and had a jelly-like pulp, reminiscent of Zinfandel grapes (which are purple).  Unfortunately they were also expensive. Those must have the ones I saw growing on raised frames on the last leg of the walk.  There were many similar barns all along this stretch of the road; the area is obviously a tourist bus attraction.  I didn't see any cherries, perhaps too early for those. I finally bought a tray of plums.  They were alright, not fully developed, perhaps it was too early in the season, but it doesn't get fresher than from the orchard behind the barn.

The local veggie store had pictures of the farmer next to their produce. Auditability in the food chain, hahaha.

At a convenience store I saw a tray of sashimi with rice for only 420¥. Good, that would be my lunch then. Pretty good value considering I got salmon roe with it too.