Jan in Japan

I’m now half way through the hiking part of this trip and it’s been fun. Lots of laughter and silliness with a nice bunch of people. Marcus our guide has done his best to make this as enjoyable as possible. We’ve made paper when the rain just got too heavy to walk, sat in an outdoor onsen at the edge of a crystal clear river first thing in the morning and walked and walked and walked, and eaten amazing food.

Day 1 was a steep climb which challenged all of us. The trails have varied from stones to dirt and mud walking through some of the tallest cedar and cypress trees I’ve ever seen, it’s rarely flat. On Day 2 we were rained on a lot and in that weather we watched while high school students carried bags of dirt to rebuild sections of the Kumano Kodo as part of a school excursion, not something you’d see in Australia.

Unfortunately there are very few autumn leaves just yet. The season has been getting later and now the leaves don’t change until the end of the November. That hasn’t taken away from the sheer beauty of the forests we’ve walked through, especially today.

Every night we’ve dined liked emperors – the food has been sensational and I’ve developed a fondness for plum wine! Each time the table has been set with beautiful dishes of tasty morsels to tempt us to keep eating.

The local people are friendly and helpful even if they don’t always understand what we’re on about. What we haven’t been able to communicate in words, we’ve managed with smiles and hand gestures.

A truly amazing trip - tiring, lots to see and more to come.Read more