Day 6 - Magome to Tsumago and Nagiso

Today we sadly left Ken san and Sakanomichi Hostel behind us to venture along more uppy bits for an hour or so to reach Magome Pass. We got to ring our first bear bells and at the top stopped at a local version of a driver reviver stand to refresh ourselves with hot tea and a warm fire at a free tea house.

From there, it was another couple of hours downhill to Tsumago. where we stopped for lunch at a place Ken recommended called Otokichi. They served huge meals of very yummy food. I had the tempura dish and Gabby had the Tonkatsu (chicken 🐔).

There were more people on the track today in both directions. I only saw one group carrying backpacks so most were obviously just day trippers or staying in one village for a couple of nights and walking back and forth.

After lunch we continued into Tsumago Juku proper and saw more old style village housing. Then we followed the path onwards to Nagiso, stopping on the way to climb a hill to the ruins of Tsumago Castle, which I reckon was in a very defensible position based on the amount of effort we had to put in to the climb to the top.

In Nagiso we found the station and as we were early for our pick-up time, we walked to the Momosuke Bridge, a 247m wooden suspension bridge, to fill in some time.

We tried our first vending machine hot chocolate whilst waiting for a car from Hostel Yui-an to collect us.

It took us just 15 mins to drive what would have been another couple of hours walking up-hill to the hostel, so are very glad we chose that option.

Tonight we both had hot showers followed by relaxing hot baths and then another delicious meal, made by the delightful Erika.

Fortunately, no bears attacked us today...Read more