I started the day with an apple for breakfast. Fruit is a luxury here in Japan and hard to find so I was sure happy to find some.
Then we drove to Kawanehoncho Village which was very traditionally Japanese. It had beautiful old houses and several shishi -odoshi which are meant to scare away bears, boars and deer. I’m not sure how successful they’d be as I find them quite relaxing!
However, being a traditional village there wasn’t any vegetarian places to eat we ended up devouring our cat paw biscuits in the car. We’d just started a mountain trail when I saw something moving. I thought it was a big fat worm but then realised it was moving strangely and I twigged that it was a leech. Giving it a wide berth I carried on. Trigger warning – picture of gross leech coming up.
That was a mistake, soon Michael had 10 leeches all over his boots. I panicked and ran straight down the mountain path leaving poor Michael behind. It’s a wonder I didn’t fall flat on my face. Once we got down Michael took off his boots and was trying to get the remaining leeches off whilst I kept a safe distance. I am not proud of my wimpy actions!
Then we got caught in an epic thunderstorm. I think it was the loudest thunderclap I’ve ever heard. I had my brolly but the rain was torrential and I was soon pretty sodden from the waist down. However, we made it to Yume no tsuribashi suspension bridge and managed to cross it which was a bit perilous because of the rain but a lot of fun.
Then we followed the trail coming back along Hiryu bridge. Thankfully there was only one more leech and that’s when I stopped to look at a cool mushroom. It seems that if you’re on a tarmacked path you tend to be okay as they hide in the leaf litter. We’re still going to pick up some long sleeved tops and trousers before heading to our next destination in Kiso valley.
Then we picked up dinner at a kombini and headed back to the cabin.
I felt brave so I decided to try the onsen! Being English it feels weird being naked in public but at least I was the only one there so it was a gentle introduction. The water was hot so I found I couldn’t stay in for very long. Then the hostess showed me to the outdoor onsen which was really beautiful. It was a bit more of a bearable temperature as the air helped and it was also raining which was quite refreshing.
Tomorrow, we’re headed into Shizuoka city to pick up some suitable clothes and then it traveling to Kiso valley. It’ll be 3 different trains!
We saw a hornet today-those things are pretty massive over here, as well as some beautiful butterflies some of them the size of small birds, dragonflies and a monster sized katydid.
There’s also a rather venomous centipede in the sink- we’ve decided to let him be for now.