An exceptionally dull and rainy day, driving through more mountains and bendy roads but this time with the addition of fog (cloud really) which was sometimes quite thick. We stopped briefly at Togura Kamiyamada south of Nagano because the Rough Guide said it had a “lively bar and restaurant district” and a “strong geisha heritage”. We found none of these things, indeed the town seemed to be mainly closed, so we moved on to the Michi no eki near Ueda for lunch (a very pleasant setting between a cliff and a river) and overnighted at the Myogi Michi no eki near Takasaki. When we got there it was dark and drizzly so we were not expecting ……
Myōgi michi no eki
warm and sunny weather the next morning when we suddenly discovered what a fabulous location we are in - there is a huge mountain Myōgi - on the other side of the road and the map shows a Shinto shrine nearby and a bunch of rock arches just up the road. Clearly we had struck lucky in this randomly chosen overnight stop.
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We did the shrine first, because the obligatory steps would be less sweaty first thing in the morning, and the buildings were wonderfully colourful.
We took the motorhome up the mountain to the carpark and then strolled through a small shrine complex with a huge yellow statue. We met a couple of young Japanese hikers who giggled somewhat when we asked them the way to the rock arches - they clearly thought that (a) we were way too old to be doing the sort of arduous climbing required and (b) we were hardly equipped for such an adventure (they had walking boots, rucksacks and other serious gear).
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These were more challenging
The route up the mountain was indeed steep and - it seemed - never-ending. The path consisted mainly of rough boulders laid in as-near a set of steps as you can get on an almost vertical slope. Fortunately our mountain legs were in reasonable nick at this stage of our trip but the young Japanese couple rapidly moved ahead as we took longer and more frequent rests. There were times when we almost gave up because every time we went round another corner near the top there was another set of bloody steps. But we did make it - much to the amazement of the young couple .
Having done most of the hard work by then, we carried on upwards to the rock arches which - as is the way with nature - suddenly appeared in front of us despite being about 100 feet high.
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There were more arches on the way down - and more hazardous paths to negotiate - but we were rewarded with couple of butterflies and a Shinto priest helping some faithful to cross the road at the bottom.
We were very hot and sweaty after our exertions so we motored down to the onsen near our overnight stop and enjoyed a relaxing soak in an outside hot pool with wonderful views of Mt. Myogi.
Unfortunately we visited this area only days before our flight home but it looked as though there was plenty of interesting things to see in the area which had a history of silk work.
Unfortunately we visited this area only days before our flight home but it looked as though there was plenty of interesting things to see in the area which had a history of silk work.
