We knew today was going to be the hardest day's walk, and so it was. The day started with a good breakfast - soup, salmon, seaweed and pickled vegetables. Not what we typically have at home for some reason.
We were soon out the door, this time all 6 of us walking together. The day started with over 400m vertical ascent in one long slope. Not too steep, but relentless and much of it with concrete "log" steps, which seems to make it harder than plain sloping ground. The temperature has been in the low 20s for our walks, but rather humid, so some of us were pretty drenched with sweat at the top.
On the top of Mt Inomure was what was called a stone circle, but it looked distinctly natural apart from two monoliths which formed an impressive gateway to the top.
We then lost most of our altitude on a downhill leg to Imure Shrine, which was distinguished by a realistic cow sculpture, the first we've seen.
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| Imure Shrine |
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Impressive guardians at Imure Shrine
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The rest of the walk was either up or down, with very little easy walking. Underfoot it was treacherous with thick slippery dry leaves, or mossy steps.
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Steps, steps and more steps
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Not the easiest walking, and finding the track was also a bit tricky at times, as the normal yellow and green ribbons were not always present. Even with my watch-viewed GPX tracks we had a few halts to get bearings and relocate the trail. A couple of our walking mates found it pretty heavy going, and were not confident of their footing, which meant slow progress at times, though we didn't mind in the least. We had all day to do something like 13km, so there was no need to rush it.
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| A fun bento-box lunch |
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| Bright yellow orchids |
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| A family tea plantation |
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| Reisen-ji Temple |
The others were getting a taxi at the 13km mark and we were very happy to share it rather than walk another 5km, most of it on roads, to tonight's onsen hotel The route the taxi took was amazing, the tiniest little trail through the forest. He had been flagged down just after we left and talked to by what might have been a policeman, so perhaps it was a temporary detour caused by a large crane which had left just before us.
Into our rooms, with a pleasant outlook across a river, and with running water and frog sounds. Down to the onsen when it opened at 4pm. This one is a public onsen, and was quite busy, perhaps with people leaving work. Indoor pool, outdoor pool, tiny sulphury dipping pool and a cold pool. I got into the latter thinking it was a hot but slightly cooler pool, but the cool water was actually very nice and saved me having to have a cool shower afterwards to cool down.
