Day 9: Ena to Hosokute

Day 9: Ena to Hosokute

QOTD:  How far did we walk? No need to round up!

Hiking Haiku

Granite blocks laid flush

Guide us to glorious views

A labor of love 

Weather: mid to high 60s, feels warmer as we get further into the walk

Pics:  Room at the Route Inn Hotel, on the Nakasendo (note headless Jizo in trailside shrine and your faithful correspondent and partner with packs on...the second couple walking away is the only pair of Japanese hikers seen in 7 days), murals in Hosokute, inn, our shoes for the entire hike, dinner

Dept of clarification: The wash yesterday cost $5, $3 for the washer an $2 for the dryer. The mattresses at the Route Inn were harder than sleeping on the floor (for those you on the India trip….remember the place we stayed at during the holiday? As hard as those beds).

Sports fans, this is the big one! THB and DB manage 14 miles today, an all time high, a new record, a first, and all in under 8 hours. Who knew?

Breakfast buffet where THB specializes in rolls, a sausage with scrambled eggs, and some yogurt topped with canned fruit (with those cherry red grapes). Send our bags ahead again and carry just our essentials for the next two days; THB has decided that since internet is not available tonight, the netbook is going to meet us in Kyoto.

Pick up lunch of sushi and rice balls, $10, and off we go around 8:45, an early start requested by THB.  And go…and go…and go. Among the sights and smells and sounds: a golf course, pig farm, chicken farm, and a race track. This is the only day on the trip we see more than two other hikers: one Japanese couple (see pic) and a group of 7 or 8 gringos going the other way. 

At the afternoon break, Fusao checks on our bag being sent from Park Hotel in Tokyo to the Hyatt Regency in Kyoto. The bag has not arrived, mostly because it got sent to the Hyatt Regency in Tokyo. The Park Hotel assures Fusao that the problem will be fixed. 

More walking, and then along a road through small towns, some more walking, and in another post town some youngsters with a pet praying mantis. More walking along the trail, then more walking along the road, and around 3:45 we arrive at our ryokan for the night, greeted with tea and cake. There are 4 Japanese guys rotating through the bath, and after they’re done DB and THB take turns. Ahhhhhhhhhh….

Dinner is excellent, the proprietress is known for her cooking. Grandma is known for how loud she plays the TV in the front room (the “walls” in the inns are made of paper).

What’s the difference between a ryokan and minshuku? Damned if THB knows, except they seem to have made up the room (moved the low table and laid out the futons). There’s only one bathroom (it’s downstairs, not that great for those that need to go in the middle of the night). The mysterious east?

Pictorial Pop QUiz

1. Name the location where each to the first 5 pictures were taken. This is to reward those of you loyal followers that have great memories (or were on the trip and have mediocre memories!)

All the remaining pictures are from today in Japan

2. What fruit or vegetable is that in picture?

3. The next two pictures are of a structure we passed today. What is it used for?

4. The last picture is of a factory in Ena. What is the product and why is it well known locally?

Oh, and extra bonus points for anyone able to remember that THB asked about a prior picture on the Day 6 hike from Kisofukushima to Tsumago, what was that object on the path used for?

GOOD LUCK!!!! 

 

Day 8: From Magome to Ena

Day 8: Magome to Ena

QOTD:  Don’t they have small towels in the bath?

Hiking Haiku

Kiso River delights.

Distant voices, playful laughter

Keep us company.

Weather: mid to high 60s, slight breeze at times

Pics:  Breakfast, after a day off DB and Fusao continue their tech talks again (how about Fusao using two six-shooters at same time!), sights on the road, mid-morning mochi snack, urban trail signs, pre-schoolers in their red hats learning how to cross the road, Nakasendo sign post, lunch from the supermarket in the mall (and a pic of something like a squid that THB cannot recognize), utility boxes, pomegranate tree, chestnuts, afternoon chocolate snack, our western hotel, washer/dryer, communal bath at hotel, our dinner restaurant and hosts

Up early as usual, breakfast the usual variety of smoked fish, rice, pickled veggies and a sesame sauce that goes great on the rice. THB ignores the miso, cold egg and daikon. The taxi arrives at 9 to take our bags off to Ena, and we start walking. Today is very much a suburban walk, with a short train in the middle to get us through the heart of the city in between Magome and Ena. In all we do around 7 miles of what might have been 10 otherwise, saving ourselves for the 14 miles tomorrow.

The hiking is almost all on roads and sidewalks, very little on trails or cobblestones. Again today we see no other hikers, so other than Tsumago to Magome THB and DB have been it for the non-professionals. The weather is also the best so far, very comfortable and as always on the hike (always, even in the towns and cities), the air is crystal clear.

Lunch is purchased at a supermarket in the mall: THB has soba and chicken thighs (very good) and ice green tea, DB goes for a sushi variety pack, and we share a fuyu persimmon (not as hard as can get at home), $17.  We eat in a little park across the street from the mall, then mosey down to the train station for our short bypass of downtown.

An easy walk after departing the train to Route Inn Hotel (chain in Japan where they feel the need to emphasize you can sleep there overnight…), for an early check-in of 2:30. That gives THB time to do a load of wash and dry and for THB to take a soak in the communal bath (DB opts for the privacy of the tub in the room though there is no one downstairs. The sitting down, soaping up and washing your hair with a flexible hose is starting to grown on THB. The soaking in very hot water (today is hotter than the onsen, not quite as hot as inns in Narai and Magome). Hmmmm…now, why did THB think those midget towels would be in the bath area? They’re not, they are in the room. THB goes without, drying off by standing under a fan, using a bit of tissue, and not too worried because he was just putting on running shorts and a t-shirt while the washer was running.

Before dinner, DB asks THB: did we get any messages? THB checks the phone and there is a message. Now, can THB figure out how to play back the message? No. DB figures it out, and it is from Steve, our guide from 2010 who will be hosting us for an evening in Kyoto. She calls Steve, gets his message box. While the phone is still DB’s hand, it starts blinking like a slot machine. Hmmmmm…it’s Steve calling back. Somehow, along with an inability to get messages, THB has turned the phone to “silent” pinball mode. That’s after THB has managed to put the camera in video mode so often he has used a bandaid to lock it in picture mode.

Dinner is at a small place near the hotel Fusao knows (he’s a regular!), and it is just the three of us tonight. A great meal: sashimi of scallops, squid, and tuna cheek; chicken with potato soup; edamame; something like a clear noodle with pickled veggie that is amazing; pork cutlet with miso sauce; sea bream/tai/red snapper in a teriyaki sauce; gyoza (light and flavorful, not greasy, a THB fave);  inari (tofu skins filled with rice); plum sorbet (with pit) and nashi for dessert; large brewski for Fusao, medium brewski for THB, excellent sake for DB, our total is for drinks only, $15 (dinner is included in tour price).

It is warmer on the walk back to the Inn Minshuku Guest House Hotel than on the way to dinner, probably close to 70 with no wind. Hopefully it will cool off for tomorrow’s big day.

Book Review: The Day of Battle, the War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-44, Rick Atkinson. Part two of the liberation trilogy, somehow THB managed to read Part 3 first, followed by Parts 1 and 2. Lots of pages, a consistent style, a focus on the US and British combined forces led by Eisenhower (though he had little to do with the Italian campaign) and the author’s theory (not uniquely his) that the US industrial engine and forces ended up spelling the end of the Germans and the British Empire despite the inability to create well thought out plans and execute what they did plan. Recommended (each part and the whole trilogy)