The day dawned bright and clear this morning - a welcome surprise after the rain-fest that closed out the day yesterday. After a buffet breakfast (gak), we jumped on the shuttle bus and were back at Nagiso JR station by 9:30am ready to test ourselves on the 16km walk up over the Nenouetouge Pass to Nojiri - both of which were important postal towns along the Nakasendo in their day (alas no longer). Right from the get go the weather was absolutely glorious, and after grabbing some snacks at the local supermarket, and donning our sunnies, we were on our merry way.
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| Japanese country supermarkets. Good for rice crackers, nuts and chocolate. |
The Nakasendo wound its way out of Nagiso, between houses, through farms, and slowly made its way up the valley. As with the previous day, we passed through many stands of tall japanese cyprus and thick bamboo groves, emerging to find farmsteads and hamlets nestled higher and higher up in the valley.
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| Bear filled forests lead us to faming hamlets futher and further up the valley |
Slowly we were climbing up through the valley, with views becoming more and more spectacular with each farmstead we uncovered. The only sounds we heard were the wind in the trees, the constant rush of the ever-present stream, and the birds. Very peaceful indeed.
We stopped for a break at the 7km mark, eating some snacks and drinking some water and generally giving our feet a rest. As we sat and munched, we saw many groups of walkers pass us, all of them from countries other than Japan.
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| Stopping for a snack and a rest for weary feet before continuing the ascent |
When we restarted our journey the track started to climb in earnest, making its final play for the pass. The last 3kms up to the summit were through some deep wooded forest and we were hard pressed to keep our legs pumping.
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| The final forested climb up to the Nenouetouge Pass. |
But finally we emerged from the pass and looked forward to the downhill stretch. The last 4km of the Nakesendo runs from the pass all the way down the valley side into Nagiso following a reasonably steep bitumen road. Apart from playing hell with the balls of our aging feet, it was a cake-walk compared to climbing up to the pass.
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| The final leg down from the pass was all on bitumen road |
Finally we made it down to Nojiri JR station by 3:05 - just 10 minutes shy of the recommended 2:55pm train to Kiso-Fukushima where we would be staying for the night. We were so fucking stoked to have made it the full 16.5kms and be still standing, that we dropped to our bellies and kissed the immaculately clean pavement outside the station.
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| JR Nogiri Station and its infinitely kissable pavement. |
This left 2 and a half hours to kill in Nojiri before the next train at 5:30pm. We decided to try the local cafe run by a sweet old lady who took her coffee very, very seriously. Turns out she makes a killer drip filter and her chocolate cake was the bomb. Oh my god, so damn good after a day's walking.
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| Our cafe in Nojiri - killer coffee and that awesome chocolate cake |
With a little more wandering around Nojiri, downing the odd Pokari Sweat, and snapping a few photos, our train finally arrived. And soon we had arrived at Kiso-Fukushima, and hurried to walk the 15 minutes to our lodgings for the night - a historic onsen ryoken. We passed many beautiful old buildings in the dark on the way to the ryokan - but we'll have to wait until tomorrow morning to find out how beautiful they really are!
We made it to our ryokan 'Onyado Tsutaya' just in time for checkin and a quick wash before a beautiful Kaiseki style dinner. The welcome tea was very nice, and the dinner was even better. Man were we starving.
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| Love the traditional room |
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| Kaiseki dinner before a long hot soak |
After dinner we retired to the onsen for a long hot soak. While the ryokan has both indoor and outdoor baths, I went straight to the outdoor and plunged myself for a good long while working the tiredness out of my leg muscles and working up a good sweat. The outdoor bath looks out over the Kiso river and while it is some way below you, the crashing sound of the river is every-present. Utter heaven after a long day.
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| The indoor and outdoor onsen. Sugoi!! |
Relive video of today's epic walk:
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