Day 51-53

Day 51

Today we actually went back to Nikko as we wanted to visit the famous Chuzenji lake which is the highest lake in Japan. It was formed 20,000 years ago by the eruption of Mt Natai. The lake now sits at an altitude of 1,200 meters with a circumference of 25km its a pretty impressive sight! It took us a few hours to get here as the lake is located well up a mountain so we had to take a bus up. When I tell you this driver must be incredibly well seasoned as the roads are SO windy I almost fell seasick! I was very glad I wasn’t the one trying to manoeuvre a huge bus around those bends!

Arriving at a small mountain town we enjoyed some lovely views of the lake but quickly realised that the town was well a bit dead with very little to do! So we just enjoyed wondering around the lake before visiting two sets of waterfalls one is definitely more impressive than the other! But nevertheless some lovely views of the lake. Wondering around a few small shops we picked up a few souvenirs to add to the ever increasing weight of our bags!

Heading back down the winding road we took the train back for the night. A nice day in a quiet town.

Day 52

Today we wanted to have a slow paced day so we decided we would visit the Ashikaga flower park which is famed for its wisteria and beautiful seasonal flowers. A thank you to my mum who sent me an article on this which inspired us to visit!

It took us about 1 1/2 hours to get there so I picked up my book and then the journey was over in a blink of an eye. Getting off the train we walked around to the entrance of the flower park which was a lot busier than we were expecting! Now unfortunately I rolled my ankle right outside the entrance and went flying! Jacob had to scoop me off the floor and effectively carry me over to a bench, not my finest moment and pretty embarrassing in front of lots of curious Japanese people. We sat down for about 20 minutes before I managed to hobble through the flower park, Jacob offered to rent a wheelchair and wheel me around which I was not interested in!

The flower park was absolutely stunning with thousands of different flowers from wisteria to tulips the park was massive and really beautiful as almost everything was in full bloom. Definitely worth the visit, we also had some wisteria flavoured ice cream, I’ve never eaten wisteria before to tell you if it was accurate or not but it was very yummy!

Unfortunately my ankle was still very sore so we actually headed back for the day so that I could rest it and Jacob managed to fashion an ice pack which consisted of ice in a sock which he tied to my ankle so points for creativity! Not everyday can be perfect but hopefully in a few days it will be right as rain!

Day 53

Today we actually have to leave Tochigi to travel up to Fukushima for a few days. Luckily it was only one train but hobbling on a bad ankle with my backpack on is no easy feat and pretty sore! So we took it very slowly and luckily there wasn’t too much walking involved in the transit and it was feeling a little better today so that’s a relief!

We dropped our bags and then visited a very pretty park at the base of a mountain where I sat and read whilst Jacob went to the summit. I was very happy sitting in the sun with my book and managed to get out of a hike whilst Jacob still got his so a win win I think! A restful rest of today with hopefully a little more on the agenda tomorrow!Read more