Well we have arrived at the trailhead at Takijiri. We did arrive by bus (as intended), and have just spent quite a while sitting outside our guest house watching a group of about 10 people arrive, along with their huge bags, in three taxis. They were intent on getting there luggage transferred to the evenings destination and setting off. They have walked the obligatory 100 kms of the Camino de Santiago, and now are walking the obligatory amount here in Japan so that they can get a dual pilgrim pin! Neil and I are just very glad that they set off walking this afternoon, on a very soggy track, and we are unlikely to catch them!!! They were only walking 4.5 kms tonight, but already it is starting to get gloomy and they will have to contend with a very wet path. I suspect they won't see very much.
Now to return to our adventures. We set off early this morning to find somewhere to eat breakfast. We had both snaffled the very good disposable cutlery from the plane, but forgot to take it out with us for breakfast. It is a bit hard eating a soft fried egg with chopsticks!
After brekky we set off to find some of the tourist sights in Tanabe, discovering that Tanabe is also a UNESCO world sight. We saw numerous statues, in the gloomy overcast weather, and set off to find the temple that the city is famous for. We missed the turn off to that, but on the way passed a shrine, before eventually deciding to read the map and finding the temple! Flags were fluttering in the driveway celebrating its existence for 1,600 years.
We didn't actually go into the temple because a wedding was being conducted. Instead we went to the hospitality area to investigate things and the heavens opened. Sheets of rain just tumbled down and by the time we left around 30 mins later we were sloshing through, in some places, 2 inches deep. Our boots are doing the job though as we both had dry feet when we got back to our room - we regularly check our feet as we are constantly taking our boots off to go inside buildings!
The bride looked lovely and the groom was very dashing, both in their traditional costumes. Mothers of the bride and groom (or at least I assume that is who they were) also looked lovely in their kimonos. The rain had started as the guests crossed the yard to the other buildings and so I suspect they may have had wet feet as they were wearing socks with traditional thong like shoes on their feet. The guests shoes were all at the entrance to the temple protected under a sheet of clear plastic.
Crossing the yard
I took the opportunity while there to get the toilets signage sorted. I now have a photo of the female sign, and Neil has one for the males. A very important task to get sorted fairly early on!!
The rain continued with liberal flashes of lightning and thunder claps as we made our way to the bus stop. Neil appeared in a foggy haze in front of me, but somehow we both managed to stay dry beneath our umbrellas - it is far too hot / humid to wear a raincoat. There was so much rain and subsequent water on the road, that as the bus drove along I could feel the vibration of the water being stirred up by the wheels on the bus as it slapped the underside of the vehicle.
When we arrived at Takijiri the river was flowing so fast that we could hear the rocks thudding together. It stopped raining about 2 hours ago and the sound has also stopped so the volume of water has eased somewhat. Water is just oozing out of the mountains, and there are numerous landslides in evidence.
Our guesthouse has a cage of (live) crabs outside, and we are wondering if that is our dinner tonight! We went for a bit of a walk a while ago and saw quite a few little crabs scrambling along the path.
Tonight our beds (which are stacked in a corner at present) are futons on the floor. The room is quite large, and we will be sleeping on the tatami mat.
one of the taxis delivereing the "mob"
At the trailhead
Now to return to our adventures. We set off early this morning to find somewhere to eat breakfast. We had both snaffled the very good disposable cutlery from the plane, but forgot to take it out with us for breakfast. It is a bit hard eating a soft fried egg with chopsticks!
After brekky we set off to find some of the tourist sights in Tanabe, discovering that Tanabe is also a UNESCO world sight. We saw numerous statues, in the gloomy overcast weather, and set off to find the temple that the city is famous for. We missed the turn off to that, but on the way passed a shrine, before eventually deciding to read the map and finding the temple! Flags were fluttering in the driveway celebrating its existence for 1,600 years.
We didn't actually go into the temple because a wedding was being conducted. Instead we went to the hospitality area to investigate things and the heavens opened. Sheets of rain just tumbled down and by the time we left around 30 mins later we were sloshing through, in some places, 2 inches deep. Our boots are doing the job though as we both had dry feet when we got back to our room - we regularly check our feet as we are constantly taking our boots off to go inside buildings!
The bride looked lovely and the groom was very dashing, both in their traditional costumes. Mothers of the bride and groom (or at least I assume that is who they were) also looked lovely in their kimonos. The rain had started as the guests crossed the yard to the other buildings and so I suspect they may have had wet feet as they were wearing socks with traditional thong like shoes on their feet. The guests shoes were all at the entrance to the temple protected under a sheet of clear plastic.
The bride and groom & all the shoes outside!
Crossing the yard
The bride and groom
The rain continued with liberal flashes of lightning and thunder claps as we made our way to the bus stop. Neil appeared in a foggy haze in front of me, but somehow we both managed to stay dry beneath our umbrellas - it is far too hot / humid to wear a raincoat. There was so much rain and subsequent water on the road, that as the bus drove along I could feel the vibration of the water being stirred up by the wheels on the bus as it slapped the underside of the vehicle.
Heading to the bus.
When we arrived at Takijiri the river was flowing so fast that we could hear the rocks thudding together. It stopped raining about 2 hours ago and the sound has also stopped so the volume of water has eased somewhat. Water is just oozing out of the mountains, and there are numerous landslides in evidence.
Water oozing out of the hillside
Our guesthouse has a cage of (live) crabs outside, and we are wondering if that is our dinner tonight! We went for a bit of a walk a while ago and saw quite a few little crabs scrambling along the path.
Our futons in the room of our guest house.
Dried fish (I think)
Tonight our beds (which are stacked in a corner at present) are futons on the floor. The room is quite large, and we will be sleeping on the tatami mat.
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