Going down to Yorokeikoku involves taking an old single-carriage train through the countryside stopping at tiny stations that look like garden sheds with picket fences and hanging baskets
We day-tripped to the countryside with Dan and Dora...
A redundant vender out in the sticks
A clothed-shrine in a small cave by the side of the road
The boys investigate the steep steps down to the river
It reminded me of Wales
There were a series of crossings across the river in this style of stepping blocks
Dan and I trying to figure out from our basic walking maps (written in Japanese) which way to go. An old man on a scooter tried to give us instructions but spoke incredibly quickly and neither Dan or I could pick out any words that he said and just had to politely nod. He kept on mentioning the name of a place so we tried to remember that to help if we saw it on a sign
His directions led us through a long tunnel through a hill, there were wild monkeys up in the trees on the other side
I saw a sign written in hiragana (one of the Japanese alphabets) that had the name that our old man had mentioned, so we decided to follow it. It went down to the river...
and across a bridge...
and then to what looked like a summer campsite, but was entirely abandoned
It would be a lie if we didn't think that it sounded like the start of some Japanese horror-film...two couples go for a walk in the countryside but get more than they bargained for...
It was actually fine but for a good 3o minutes we were far away from anyone and anything and hoping that our sense of direction had been correct. Thankfully it was, and we joined the road where we had expected. We were relieved when Jack's phone rang whilst we were in the wilderness as it indicated that we couldn't be that far from civilisation if Jack could get reception!
Once we were back at the station and waiting for the hourly train, we played with the station cats. There were two adult cats wandering about saying hello, and then two kittens appeared, they were incredible cute little tabbies
We day-tripped to the countryside with Dan and Dora...
A redundant vender out in the sticks
A clothed-shrine in a small cave by the side of the road
The boys investigate the steep steps down to the river
It reminded me of Wales
There were a series of crossings across the river in this style of stepping blocks
Dan and I trying to figure out from our basic walking maps (written in Japanese) which way to go. An old man on a scooter tried to give us instructions but spoke incredibly quickly and neither Dan or I could pick out any words that he said and just had to politely nod. He kept on mentioning the name of a place so we tried to remember that to help if we saw it on a sign
His directions led us through a long tunnel through a hill, there were wild monkeys up in the trees on the other side
I saw a sign written in hiragana (one of the Japanese alphabets) that had the name that our old man had mentioned, so we decided to follow it. It went down to the river...
and across a bridge...
and then to what looked like a summer campsite, but was entirely abandoned
It would be a lie if we didn't think that it sounded like the start of some Japanese horror-film...two couples go for a walk in the countryside but get more than they bargained for...
It was actually fine but for a good 3o minutes we were far away from anyone and anything and hoping that our sense of direction had been correct. Thankfully it was, and we joined the road where we had expected. We were relieved when Jack's phone rang whilst we were in the wilderness as it indicated that we couldn't be that far from civilisation if Jack could get reception!
Once we were back at the station and waiting for the hourly train, we played with the station cats. There were two adult cats wandering about saying hello, and then two kittens appeared, they were incredible cute little tabbies
