Happy Birthday Brian!!!

Up early for Brian to open cards and presie!

Again a posh slap up breakie to set us up for the day.

Hot hot springs :)

Arrived on train to Kiso-Fukuahima thoroughly cold and got picked up to go to our lodgings.

Wow what a place :) Room was fabulous - almost like a large suite. Changed into our robes and went up for a formal dinner where they didn't stop bringing us delicious food for an hour! YES!!

Rolled out and went to the hot spring baths where we soaked in boiling hot waters in both an indoor and outdoor pools surrounded by snow. Exactly what the doctor ordered! :)

Went to bed sated and all aches of the long day hiking washed away.

Cold cold wait at the train station

Last part of the walk turned out to be easy romp down to the village which meant we had 1 1/2 hour wait for the next train. Freezing cold and had to buy cans of hot coffee from the vending machine to keep our hands warm! Brrrrrrrr :(

Views on the trail

Today's trail was a bit fragmented. Walked through villages in the morning with short detours through forests, bamboo groves etc. but there was lots of fiddling around crossing roads and stuff.

One time went round the same hill twice and right near the end there was a long climb through a forest and half way up double checked the instructions, thought we were wrong and went all the way back down again only to find we were right first time and had to walk up it again! Argh!

Start of the second day hike

Up at 7 for traditional Japanese breakfast. Hot pan fried salmon, pickles, poached egg in soy sauce, miso soup, sticky rice with melted sesame miso, green veg, yoghurt, apple slices and coffee. Ate the lot which pretty much set us up for the day.

Set off from the lodgings soon after 8 and were waved off by the mother and daughter who run it and continued along the trail bound for Nojiri.

View is looking back to the village as we started to climb.

Guess what we had for dinner!

So the lady called us for dinner at 7 and we went up in our robes to the dining room where they had laid out for us a rather challenging feast. Can't remember everything but we were treated to preserved rainbow trout, cold sticky prawn dumplings, miso soup, frozen horse meat (and horse fat) sashimi, creamy shiitake mushroom dish cooked in a clay pot at the table, pickles, cold tempura with green tea dip and sticky rice. The crispy grasshoppers were delicious!!

Photo is view from our window.

Mountain lodgings

Descended from the pass though the best part of the trail along the snow covered valley. Arrived in the small mountain village of Tsumago. Lodgings really fab - very traditional so I'm sitting on our tatami matting now catching up on my blog and Brian is playing Angry Birds in our robes just like the ancient Japanese did!

Waiting for dinner to be cooked and then a relaxing bath and an early night so we will be fresh for the full days walking tomorrow - bliss :)