Since the past 2 days were mainly on busy, boring highways, I wanted to have some more fun today. I knew I wanted to finish my cycle in Niseko, but instead of taking the 75km straight there, I detoured along the east coast first to go see Lake Toya. I woke up very early at 4:30 and was out of my campsite by 6am. I got a coffee at Seica Mart, a convenience store chain that seems exclusive to Hokkaido, then hit the road. Today was completely blue skies and sunny, up to 32°. The first 50km of the cycle was along busy, truck filled roads, but sometimes I got the opportunity to break off the highway and see the coastline. Between Rebun and Ōkishi, there were some beautiful coastlines views. At one point I stopped to film and there was a big snake right next to me! I freaked him out though, as the closer I got the further he ran away. Once I made it to Toyoura I was able to finally buy some sunscreen. My arms were a bit burnt from yesterday, so today I completely covered up from head to toe - long sleeves, long pants, socks under my sandals, gloves and a towel hanging out the back of my helmet to protect my neck. By 10:30 I was already at Lake Toya. This was by far the most beautiful lake I'd seen in Japan. The water is crystal clear, the edge of the lake ranged from pebbles to beaches. Directly in the middle is a small, round island. It's such a cool lake. Around the edge were multiple artwork monuments, including a big face and three lions. After walking through the park, I got my lunch nearby. I found a place and they said the whole menu was gluten free! I got the venison special, because I've never eaten venison before. It was nice! After that I cycled along the western side of the lake. There was a really cool small, tall Buddhist shrine built on the edge at one point. It was a really gorgeous sight. After that I left the lake and started pedalling upwards. By now the sun was scorching and I was on a road with trucks flying by again. This uphill felt pretty difficult in the blazing sun, I ended up walking the last leg of it. Once I was at the top altitude I coud see the view of Moun Yōtei, a looming volcano that I was slowly making my way towards. These sections were through farmland backstreets and the views were incredible. I passed another bikepacker, but we didn't stop to chat. Just before Niseo was the final tourist destination of the day. Ostrich feeding! You could pay for a bag of feed for ¥100 and hand feed them yourself, which was really funny. Finally at Niseko, I arrived in good time at 5pm. I had called the campsite in town to ask to stay there, I was originally planning on camping at a free site under Mount Yōtei but figured there was no point pushing even further to get there since this one was so chea at ¥700. Because I could stay in town, I had the time to use the local big onsen and rest area, where I charged some of my things since by this point almost every electronic I owned was dead or about to die. At the campsite I met Lucas and Dianna, a Canadian couple (or maybe just friends???) that have been cycling from Kagoshima for 2 months. They met while living and working in New Zealand, he is going back to Australia soon to finish his working holiday and she's going back to Canada. It was great to share experiences, as we had both cycled from the southern area of Japan! While they were lucky enough to not have dealt with boars like I had, Lucas had seen a black bear on his cycle about 20m from him! I was a little jealous.