A rest day at Kamifurano and our first onsen

So today we walked into town and caught the bus up to an onsen in the hills at 9:00.  It was an half an hour trip with great views of the mountains on the way up and from the top. The onsen was lovely - super relaxing after the previous days cycling and the kids were well behaved too which helped.  Hanging out in the nude was liberating, and the open air baths and cold plunge pool were particular highlights.  We'll be going to as many of these as we can in future!  The bus wasn't due until two so we went for a bit of an explore in the surrounding hills, buying a kitch bear bell for the trip. 
We went back down to the campsite on the bus and put on a load of washing (best 200yen we have spent so far!), putting the chariot into pram mode and heading off to the train station for a ride.  We had to drag the chariot up the crossing over the tracks and missed the train to Furano, so we ended up catching the train to the city of Asahikawa instead.  It was a special heritage train with open air carriages with seats facing outwards, and it turned out really well.  The view was good and we got a good sense of the route we would need to travel on our bikes.  Asahikawa was nice, the station was right in the middle of town next to a pedestrian shopping street.  We went for a walk and had a nice but expensive dinner at a restaurant after having to take the wheels of the chariot to get it through the door.  Major annoyance, but we were glad of it on the way back to the station when the kids were falling asleep and struggling to walk.
We dodged a bullet when we got to the station and the ATM didn't want to play ball with our card (thanks MasterCard...), and it was only through some deep searching of pockets that we scrounged up enough coinage for the tickets back.  The train left around nine at night and was filled with school kids and workers heading home, and Finn and Bella got lots of attention on the ride back to Kamifurano which was nice but perhaps a bit overwhelming for them at that hour.
It was very late by the time we arrived at the train station, and we were surprised to see the station master (whom we had chatted/sign languaged with before we left) waiting for us with a melon.  He gave it to us then headed home - such kindness warms our hearts.