Author: awaywiththebirds
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Nobby goes on holidays
The first few days My mum and dad dumped me at Suss’s place on Thursday night. They were so thrilled to get rid of me that they forgot to bring my harness (but dad thought better of it, considered Suss’s driving and dropped the harness around). Anyway you can imagine how devastated and restless I…
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Nakasendo 2024
Mt Fuji to Tokyo Time to say goodbye to Chieko and all the lovely staff at Mt Fuji Satoyama vacations, and the very comfortable tents we had slept in. And one last chance to get a glimpse of Mt Fuji (which wasn’t visible today, so we were very lucky yesterday!) Chieko took us to the…
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nakasendo 2024
Mt Fuji Lesley got up sufficiently early to get some great pictures of sunrise over Mt Fuji An early start for us (7am) for a visit to the Shiraito no Taki waterfalls. James and Julie took the e-bikes to get there; Lesley and I were driven by our guide and host Chieko, who has been…
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Nakasendo 2024
Tokyo to Mt Fuji First thing this morning, Lesley went for a walk, James and Julie went shoe shopping, and I lazed around. Lesley and I had an early lunch at Tokyo Station. Even though it was only 11 am, the queues for many of the little restaurants were substantial. At one of the ramen…
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Nakasendo 2024
Back to Tokyo After a lovely sleep in a real bed with real pillows, we made our way to the Mitsokoshi Department store, the first Department store in Japan. The history of Mitsokoshi began in 1673 when Takatoshi Mitsui, a kimono fabric merchant, opened a store and introduced the concept of sales at labelled prices.…
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nakasendo 2024
Day 5: Karuizawa to Yokokawa As you could see from yesterday’s photos, Karuizawa does not retain much of its traditional post-town scenery but has become popular as a western-style summer resort. The town was catastrophically damaged in the 1783 eruption of Mount Asama, and further affected by repeated fires and famine. When a Canadian missionary,…
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nakasendo 2024
Day 4: Matsumoto Breakfast at Matsumoto before heading out for our free day ( i.e no hiking) We got a shuttle into town. James, Julie and I put our backpacks in a locker at Matsumoto station. Lesley got dropped at the famous Matsumoto castle ( which we had seen before). On our way to the…
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nakasendo 2024
Day 3: Yabuhara to Narai Firstly a huge apology as I have misled you as to the sleeping arrangements…we aren’t sleeping on tatami mats; we are in fact sleeping on a thin futon bed on top of the tatami mats plus wheat pillow. It’s still almost on the floor so getting out of bed is…
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nakasendo 2024
Day 2: Tsumago to Nojiri Started with a very fulsome breakfast at our ryokan We got up early because we were going to walk 19 km to our next destination. But because we had to arrive in time to get a train, I was worried we wouldn’t make it (because I am a much slower…
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nakasendo 2024
Day 1: Our 1st day on the trail: Magome to Tsumago Here’s how ChatGPT describes the Nakasendo trail, with humour.… “Alright, strap on your virtual hiking boots! Imagine this: the Nakasendo Trail is a majestic, scenic route stretching from Kyoto to Tokyo. But it’s not just a walk in the park; it’s like time traveling through 17th-century Japan. You’ll pass through post towns where the innkeepers still wonder if electricity is just a phase. The trail is a…