Mount Usu

We woke up in Hakodate to blue skies this morning and lovely views around the city but we picked up a car, for a day this time, to drive up to Sapporo with some stops on the way.

First up was Mount Usu (not photgraphed), an active volcano which last erupted in 2000, and we got a cable car up to near the top where we had almost 360 degree views including to Mount Yōtei which is the first photo above. We could see that volcano for almost the whole drive up here and this was the clearest we'd seen it. There are 20 active volcanoes on this island, Hokkaido, and loads of signs that this was a very active place a long time ago.

We headed. up to the Noboribetsu Jigokudani Valley (Hell Valley) which is an explosion crater of another volcano which has exposed hot steam vents and sulfurous streams so it was very stinky! 

On we headed north to Sapporo and dropped the car off. Once in the hotel Ms H was on restaurant duties and found us a suitable place, we cooked our own wagyu beef and drank Sapporo beer before walking back. Sapporo seems a busy place!