The big day is here the day to hire a car and test our navigation skills against the GPS in Japanese. We manage to get cases packed despite the panic over how many remotes the apartment had – had we packed one? After a major repack we decide no!
We walk down to Gora with suitcases about a kilometre down the steep road worried about the wheels but manage to pull it off – to me pushing forward works better – no stress. Only 2 sets of stairs to negotiate.
We get poll position – front seats on the 8.37 Gora to Hakone-Yumoto, not express but enjoy the relaxing journey and the swicthbacks which means we enter Hakone-Yumoto backwards but with a wonderful memory of the wonderful mountain flora – hydrangeas and trees.
Deciding on a leisurely stroll and not getting hot under the collar we arrive at the Nissan hire car office and deal with the very efficient clerk–san and soon have signed all the papers and take delivery of our little white Nissan. All on board and after a quick check of buttons and switches we are off to Magome via innumerable tunnels and toll roads. We have our GPS which we learn you can put in a phone number or GPS co-ordinates to override the Japanese language input, but the instructions are in English. As a backup we have tried Google maps but the directions are in Japanese so that is of no help. I try Maps on my I-pad and find that it is all in English so we use this as our backup system.
Bowser Bowers
Buying petrol is an unexpected highlight – when you pull up a man comes out to enquire whether it is cash or ‘cardo’ , then the card is taken off (to book his annual holiday) and eventually returned and then the refueling begins. The best bit being that when the filling ceremony has ended, and your windscreen washed for you (can we remember when this happened at home) we have a bowing ceremony from not one but two attendants as we exit. Very impressed – leaves you in a happy frame of mind ready to face the traffic.
We follow directions on the expressways and have lunch at the restaurant & services at Fujieda. I never realised that this part of Japan had so many hills and mountains and we travel through many tunnels enjoying the landscape of hills and trees along the way. Apart from ‘one small’ navigation miscalculation involving travelling in circles we manage to make it to Magome without further incident. It is a very pretty little post town on the former Nakasendo trail -the route that ran along the Kiso Valley and connected Tokyo with Kyoto during the Edo Period. – This section between Magome and Tsumago is well maintained.
We find Magome Chaya which is a Ryokan – a guesthouse for travellers. Our room is on the first floor and we have to wear slippers inside – tricky on the narrow stair. There are toilets upstairs but the showers and bath is downstairs as well as a small kitchen with fridge and a sitting area.
Everything is old and traditional and we have to make our beds with the futons and buckwheat pillows – we have been warned so put spare clothes and blow up pillows in a spare pillowslip.
Dinner is in the eating area in the house opposite. The food is amazing served on a tray with our name at the table.
There is a sitting room with low tables and cushion to sit on – I find it very hard to get comfortable. The showers are good and I have a dip in the hot tub – the essentials of Japanese living. We manage to sleep reasonably well although Futons are not the most comfortable of bedding for me.
28th August – Dodging the Bears
Breakfast is a wonder so much food and we learn how to take a seaweed wrapper, a piece of salmon and accoutrements onto our rice and make a little ball (not quite sushi) with chopsticks – we almost manage to guide it to our mouths most time.
‘The Nakasendo trail is not difficult and is well marked in English and Japanese. It is about 8 km long and takes two to three hours to complete at a leisurely pace.
The trail leads through the countryside and passes right alongside the houses and fields of local residents. The trail also intersects with the road and hikers must tread along asphalt for some portions. Despite this, a walk along the Magome-Tsumago trail is a highly enjoyable part of visiting the Kiso Valley. From Magome to Tsumago involves less uphill walking than the opposite direction.‘
We decide to go to Tsumago by bus and walk back our host questions our decision trying to impress that it is all uphill that way and a much easier walk Magome to Tsumago but we don’t listen and board the 9.15 sightseeing bus to Tsumago.
Tsumago juko is a small historic post town with small wooden houses now shops and studios– Unfortunately not many shops are open when we arrive.
We walk through the town exploring the hydroelectric station and start the long walk 8 – 9 kilometres of hill mountain climbing to Magome.
The stone track winds through beautiful fir and bamboo forests. I am quite expecting Hansel and Gretel around any corner. What we do find is bells to ring loudly to scare away the bears – and at first I thought it was a joke but it seems there might be an occasional bear to be found. Water runs down from the mountain in little streams and then becomes waterfalls.
We pass through little groups of houses with productive gardens of vegetables, fruit trees, bright orange Japanese lantern flowers and a very entertaining family of ducks – I wonder if they know their fate. Wildflowers, butterflies and dragonflies are found all along the track. We have a few very steep climbs but it is probably better for the knees than coming down.
We meet people who stayed the night at Magome Chaya and keep hearing from other travellers about the incredible teahouse along the track.
Eventually we spot the old house and the charming old gentleman herds us inside to the long table. There are other travellers enjoying tea and a yarn. After telling our story of where we are from we are given several cups of tea, Japanese sweets and a small dish of pickled onions and fresh cucumber. We add our name to the visitor’s book. The house is a rest spot for travellers and is very old and dark inside and has a kettle hanging over a fire pit in the middle of the room. We are amazed at some young families carrying babies and small children one toddler even walked a whole kilometre and this is climbing up a steep hill? (She had then rapidly fallen asleep)
Eventually we climb to the sky and it is then almost all downhill except when we get to Magome where they wanted to play a little joke by having a detour with lots of steps.
We continue on to Magome Chaya and then decide to start exploring the shops which is then abandoned when we realise is 2pm and the dinner curfew is 6pm. Strangely there aren’t that many eating shops open, and those that are either serve the same dinner set as what we will be having for our dinner or soba or udon noodles. Eventually right at the bottom of the hill we find a teashop at the back of one the gourmet shops and John is happy with Curry and Rice and I binge on tea and an ice-cream.
I continue with my exploration of the shops and find them fairly repetitious – all stocking similar goods and decide instead to catch up on photos and my travel diary.
Dinner is different with sashimi and prawn tempura – apparently not many people stay 3 nights so she spoils us with a different menu as they have the same meal set every night. The ladies that run the show are amazing – how they manage the accommodation and then cook this wonderful food is to be admired. They tell us that it is terribly cold in winter so they close and go back to the Philippines to stay with family.
After the overwhelmingly large dinner we feel like extremely full and need to go for a moonlight walk to aid digestion and meet a white cat basking in the moonlight that decides to join our expedition perhaps with thoughts of adoption. No happening – we manage to walk off enough food to be able to climb the stairs to find our room.
