Ena-shi

Caught the first bus at 7:45am to Magome to the start of the Nakasendo Way. Only 6-7 others at that time. We read two forecasts for the day. One said a lot of rain, the other said no rain. Being optimistic (and mostly not wanting to carry a heavy load), I packed for a dry day, but Gary came fully prepared. On arrival, it was overcast and wet. Boo! Gary let me wear his rain pants, which hung loosely and barely stayed on.

Not knowing what to expect, we entered an entirely charming and picturesque village, complete with wooden homes and water wheels. Uphill all the way. A rough start for Gary's knees.

As we climbed away from the village, the rain abated, and weather conditions were perfect for the rest of the hike. Entering the first forested area, we were greeted by a warning sign about bears as well as a bell to ward them off. The path alternates between villages and woods, and bells are placed at every wooded entrance.

At about the halfway point, there's a rest stop in an old teahouse run by a guy named Tosh. He has a fire going and offers tea, individually-wrapped candies, and conversation to visitors. Each day, visitors can use chalk to draw their flag and show where they're from. On our day, there were visitors from Tokyo, Indonesia, Australia, Germany, Canada, Thailand, France, Holland, Italy, and Wales. And that was at 10:30am. I'm sure more countries were added later. Hard to believe we were the only ones from the US. Of course, we had to include Hawaii on our sketch!

During the hike, we saw mostly couples and some groups of 4-6 on the route, but it was by no means overrun. We had plenty of time to enjoy the peaceful environment on our own.Läs mer