Saturday broke to what can only be described as "the full Scottish" weather wise. However, being hardy and stubborn buggers we had decided to go to the morning Market in Hakodate so we were bloody well going. After breakfast though of course.

As it was included in the price we had breakfast in the hotel restaurant and it was incredibly good with an amazing array of choices. Considering the price we paid for the room it was nothing short of spectacular. MyStays Hotels just gained another load of points – we’ll be using them again! (They had only recently taken over Hotel Nets in case that comes up in a search; it confused us a bit at times.) I wish I’d taken a load of photos to do breakfast justice but never mind - there are plenty online.

Now stuffed to the gunwales, we looked at the weather again, put on our jackets since we are not umbrella people so that would do, and out of the hotel we went...

…and straight back into the conbini we went.

To buy umbrellas.

Good God the rain was coming in horizontal!

Tram to the main square and then battled on to the market, along with about half a million other drenched people who were huddling inside. I think the spider crabs in the tanks were dryer. The market is definitely worth seeing but perhaps in the dry. Won't lie though; not a huge fan of the crabs being displayed live on ice with their legs all bound up so they can't move. I know their time is almost up but at least the ones in tanks get to move about a little during their last hours. Yes I know that I'm being a bit hypocritical since neither of us is exactly vegan, but still...

Wombled about the market for a bit waiting for the rain to bugger off, but it was even more stubborn than us so we girded our loins (ooer missus) and headed for the Kanemori Red Brick Warehouses a bit further up.

Once we got there (soaked despite the umbrellas which honestly spent more time inside-out than right-side in) the warehouses were again worth seeing but a bit over touristy with coaches disgorging endless parties of people on sightseeing junkets. Still, better than being in the rain and there was some genuinely really nice stuff amongst the overpriced nonsense so we bought some early Christmas presents. Tracey is organised like that.

Since the rain had eventually subsided (a bit) we headed back into town while the going was good and then into Tully's Coffee when the heavens opened yet again. We like Tully's - good coffee!

After quite a bit of time waiting for the weather to clear up we binned it and tramped back to the tram and the hotel for Netflix, hot sake and even hotter baths. Much better.

By mid-afternoon it had cleared up (TFFT) and so it was off to see what Yoshida San had recommended on Facebook and what is billed as a 3 star sight in the Michelin Green Guide (who knew that existed?)...the view from Mount Hakodate.

Which you access from the Ropeway…

Or you do when it's not closed for annual maintenance.

Guess when that is? Yep.

So it was the bus replacement service for us. Cheaper than the ropeway and probably normally not an issue when the ropeway is working but the queue was fairly large when we got there and MY GOD did they pack us in! The bus was standing room only when it left the main bus station and we picked up people at four stops until you couldn't have got a cigarette paper on board.

And then the climb up the winding mountain road, with sheer drops to one side began. You know when you can hear the voice of the newscaster in your head... "and a tourist bus in Hakodate has gone off a cliff killing all 129 people on board...." Not a fun trip. Made friends in adversity with an Australian couple who were having just as “fun” a time as we were which I’d like to say helped. I’d like to but…

Eventually made it to the top and spent a few minutes thanking the deities of the 10 major religions we'd joined quickly on the way up, then trouped round the observatory to see the view.

Ok, so yes it was worth it. I get why it’s listed on every tourist route ever. You do need to stake a claim to a good vantage point though as there were already a gaggle (the correct group noun) of photographers with tripods who were blatantly Not. Moving. For. Anyone.

It took about an hour for it to get dark and it did get a smidge chilly. Perhaps even slightly more than a ‘smidge’ – maybe a ‘tad’. Tracey binned it a few times to go to the shop muttering darkly "you could just buy a postcard FFS". Not the point though eh? It’s important to take your own shots otherwise why go in the first place.

I did look at the shots she took on her iPhone later and I was genuinely shocked. Some were very very good; professional even. Looking at them on her phone they certainly looked better than the ones I was taking with £3K of gear (much chuntering). They were so good in fact that they could have actually been postcards.*

Once it had got properly dark and we’d filled phones and memory cards with endless panoramic photos, we called it a night and got the bus back down, thankfully with a more sensible member of staff who wasn’t having the entire population of the Touhoku region on her bus. Good history lesson about the area from her on the journey back down too…at least what bits I could understand.

Tram back to the hotel and a genuinely interesting conversation with the Australian couple we’d met earlier about our respective trips. Even discounting the distance, it turns out everything is much cheaper if you book it in Oz. Mild to moderate chuntering again from my inner Scot. Still, what can you do – you get what you get.

Once we’d warmed ourselves up again back in the hotel (careful now!) we ventured out again for tea. Here we go again eh? Actually this time, by deliberately avoiding the directions we’d tried yesterday, we pretty quickly found a really good ramen place called Hirakiya. Unlike last night, the restaurant included zero shouty tourist nonsense, no English anywhere and great food at a sensible price. Yes I know that sounds as pretentious as all hell...just humour me. And because there was no sake on the menu I had a Grapefruit Sour. I know right? No alcohol or anything – how virtuous am I?  

The guy making it all was a tiny bit grumpy to begin with but so would I be running the place all on my own all night (last orders are at nearly 4am!). And he cheered up considerably later on so it was all good. Definitely coming back tomorrow night.

Back to hotel for a relatively early one and more sake from the conbini. After all, you can’t be expected to stay virtuous all night.

All in all a good day, if a bit damp in bits.

Stop writing your own jokes!

*Yep, you're way ahead of where I was for 48 hours!