Today we got our first ride on a Japanese bullet train to start our much awaited hiking trip along the Nakasendo trail which is an old road from the Edo period that connected Tokyo and Kyoto (Kyoto was the capital at that time). We signed up for a self-guided tour where a tour company set up accommodation and sent us a huge booklet of directions, train tickets and plans that we followed for our journey.
In the morning we took the local subway to the big train station where we boarded our high speed train heading toward Kyoto, but we would get off at Nagaya. Japanese don't like to travel with their luggage and because were hiking town to town, we sent our luggage off at a shipping center the day before to meet us at our hotel in Kyoto. Instead we carried small packs for the hiking trip with the basics.
Everyone buys bentos for their ride on the train at the station. Kearsley tried a headed one. Pull a string and the whole thing heats up with steam coming out the sides.
At Nagano we transferred to a local train and finally transferred to bus that took us to the small town that would be our starting point.
Welcome to Magome. A very cute town that still have a lot of the architectural features of the Edo period.
We grabbed a little ice cream and then headed off on our first hike for the day.
At the top of the village we had a lovely view.
The beginning of our big adventure.
Soon we were in the trees and most of the people vanished.
We walked along the trail crossing the road at various times.
Bamboo forests.
Bamboo kids.
Set lunch and a cute little restaurant along the trail where we tried horse meat for the first time.
Lots of strange hospitality along the trail.
Did we mention it's still very hot!
We took a detour to see a couple waterfalls.
Hello!
Entering O-Tsumago, the smaller village before Tsumago. This where we were supposed to stay for the night.
Welcome to the village - we've walked about 5 miles to get here.
The place was quite modest with shared bathrooms and only about 4 rooms. Still we got on our robes and enjoyed a nice bath and air conditioning from our hosts.
Our room.
Dinner is served. It was a set dinner that was very good. Luckily there was a Japanese couple near us that we could take etiquette cues from in terms of how to behave.
Dexter is enjoying his meal.
The ceiling was quite low here. The graphic illustrates the danger.
