Nojiri to Kiso Fukushima

This morning started with our first Japanese (non western) breakfast. It too was a giant feast and set us up for the day such that we didn't need to have lunch today.

Ijime San wandered into the foyer with our washi cards just as we came down from our room. Excellent timing! Unfortunately my artistic vision didn't quite eventuate as I had hoped in my head 🙂‍↕️. Lynette syas to himhe had given us one extra that wasn't ours. A gift he says from him... And then we see how perfect it is and realise how how far we need to go to become a washi master.

There was no option for a shuttle bus to take us up to the beginning of the trail head to walk the loop of Aterra Gorge, so nothing to do but to walk there instead. The whole walk was alongside the Atera River. The loop at the end was a little more treacherous, but really lovely forest, rickety bridges and ice and frost on the ground. At the end was the only toilet we have come across without a heated seat, which was a little sad because it was about 2°C. We think the loop was about 8 to 9km.

On return to the hotel, we picked up our backpacks, walked another 2km into Nojiri, bought a train ticket and then because we had a little bit of time to kill, went to a coffee shop, as of course the only non-local customers because this is not a tourist town. The owner gave us a painted piece of timber as a gift. Mine had a dancing daikon radish on it and Lynette's had a very happy carrot.

We then caught the train to Kiso Fukushima which is where we were being collected at 4.30pm so had half a day to fill in. We hired a locker for the day at the train station for our back packs, noting that in this order you were not allowed to keep the following in your lockers: Valuables, Dangerous items, Dead bodies, Animals, Firearms and swords, Filthy items, Items prone to spoilage.

We stopped for another coffee before going to seek out Tommy San, our guide from yesterday, so we could take a gander at his coffee bean retail business. He then selected a Guatemala bean he had roasted this morning, although later said it needed a day or two to develop more flavour. He made a hand poured drip filter where the filter paper is made from washi, and it looked like a very exacting business. So two espressos later (and now four coffees in for the day which is double anything I ever have in a day), we set off to visit Kozenji Buddhist Temple and Kanuntei, the most spacious rock garden in Japan. The temple was closed, and we will consider the ¥300 we paid for the 1 minute experience a donation to upkeep of the far more interesting (and free) cemetery next door.

By now it was sub zero temperatures and Lynette had left her big coat in the locker, so we headed to the public onsen footbath, hoicked up the pants and sat there for quite some time contemplating life. Annoyingly I have carried a towel all week, but the towel was in the locker too, so we used our buffs to wipe our feet and headed back to the train station to await the shuttle bus to our wonderfully posh accommodation for the evening, Nukumorino-yado Komanoyu.

Not long after arrival, wearing a very beautiful yukata, we were headed to the private onsen, which was downstairs in a rock wall lined cave of sorts. We couldn't last the fully allotted time, but the shampoo is of better quality so my hair feels normalish again.

Dinner was in a very beautiful tatami dining room and was the fanciest fare we have had so far, but once again with 14 different things, we asked if we could skip the rice, miso and pickle bits because we simply couldn't fit it all in. After dinner we rugged up in many layers since it is -5° outside (feels like -8°), cracked some new pocket warmers and went down to the lobby to wait for the shuttle bus for a free star gazing session at a look out 10 minutes up the hill. The owner guy had taught himself astronomy so he could conduct this session, he had a telescope and was even showing us photos he had taken of andromeda galaxy. There is a meteor shower tonight and tomorrow night over Germany (he said), so we saw several shooting stars, Saturn, Jupiter, and several constellations I had never heard of, and quite a few that I had. Orion's belt was in full glory tonight. It is about now that all sensation in my toes has ceased, so we were very grateful when he said it was time to come back. We had bold plans to go to the public onsen when we got back, but all desire fled our body in preference of getting warm in our bed. We have two rom heaters on, and are still a bit chilly.Read more