Nikkō

Walked 4 or so kms before brekky to Shinkyō bridge to try and get a decent pikky.

Amazing morning - super bright sun, clear mountains all around.

We WERE going to try and get the bus to Kirifuru Falls but in the end the Kanmangafuchi abyss called (we were going to have to wait a while for a bus). 

This turned out to be 'a good call' as it turned out, as there were early buses going up to the shrines we visited yesterday and this gave us a perfect launching spot for the walk to the abyss. 

It was a delightful walk along the Daiya river in the cool of the morning and being early, we pretty much had the place to ourselves, although there were still a few people about!

There is a long line of buddhist Jizo statues here: decorated with red hats and capes (I’ve been calling them ‘bibs’ 🤣); they are the guardian deity of children. There was even the smell of incense to put us in the mood!

It was super pretty with the lovely water gushing down the ravine, yellow autumn leaves, moss-covered rocks.

We took the bus back to Shinkyō bridge (could have walked it, but saving our feet atm 😀) so we could walk back down the main street looking for a coffee. We found a great place and ‘snagged’ a table (with proper chairs - not sitting on tatami mats - argh!!) just before it started to get really busy. Shared nice coffee and a yummy crepe with homemade icecream and maple syrup. Very relaxing.

They have vending machines everywhere in Japan it seems. I was much amused this morning to see one selling origami!

Continued our walk down to our hotel to get our bags out of the lockers there and onto the bus station at Tobu-Nikkō Stn. About half an hour by bus to the stop nearest our next accommodation here at Nikkõ near Lake Chūzenji. 

Gosh, such an incredibly steep, winding road climbing up - incredible views, beautiful colours. And 12 deg C up here. And the buses are so full! (thank goodness yet again for those smaller suitcases we are travelling with!).

We leave our bags at the accommodation and enjoy a coffee ‘on the house’ even though check-in is not till 3 (they are very consistent about this in Japan) - with our breads and pastries we had purchased from a bakery as we walked down the road from coffee this morning.

There was a long queue to wait for a bus back down to Umagaeshi (there is a one-way loop at this point back up). We are aiming to return up but will stop at Akechidaira for the ropeway. A few intrepid cyclists go past: up and down (very fast down) - 900 m above sea level here and we have dropped from 1277 m over 15 kms.

The ropeway was closed due to wind but great views. We continue on the next bus back up to Lake Chūzenji. 

Bought some local specialties: fried yuba manjura and ‘cheese egg’. 

We missed the actual sunset over the lake as we were busy taking photos of the Kegon Falls, but we got the after-light when we walked back. 

The Kegon Falls cascade down from Lake Chūzenji - 97 m.

It was getting cold: I appreciated my beanie and puffer jacket - 8 deg C and dropping. 

We had a lovely onsen after settling into our wonderful (huge) room with views overlooking the lake on the 4th floor (no lift - argh!). There was an outdoor sulphur onsen too (which was hotter); I dipped into one and out to the other several times.

Then a drink before dinner dressed in kimonos. 

Feeling very relaxed after a G&T for me and a shochu sour for MF-san who was feeling somewhat light-headed after his; I don’t think he realised what he was ordering …

Shochu is a distilled spirit that is stronger than sake (around 25-35% vs 15-27%). The key difference is the production method: sake is made through fermentation, while shochu is made by distilling a fermented mash of ingredients like rice, sweet potatoes, or barley.

I have had shochu previously on this trip; I ordered a barley one with dinner to share (but I held some back from MF-san so he didn’t overdo it!!).

Dinner was amazing. I seem to have used that word a lot today! Such pretty dishes!!

We have two nights here.

Walked 13.8 kms (4 more than MF-san because of my pre-breakfast walk to the Shinkyō bridge.