Tsumago to Takayama

We awoke to a dull day and forecasts of rain and thunderstorms. We were not sure whether to carry on and do the walk or not. We discussed things over breakfast..

...and decided not to walk, especially as we had no decent dry gear. It was still dry at 8am so Bob decided to run/ walk the start of the track to get a bit of a feel for it at least. The first 2 km were ticked off with some nice scenery...

..a lovely groomed trail..

..shrines..

..nice villages..

..and some creative craft.

We therefore got the bus back to Nagiso train station and then railed it to Takayama..

..with train changes in Nagatsugawa, which had a mini Monets garden alongside the platform..

..Tajimi and Mino-ota. At Mino-ota, there was a scene rarely seen in Japan, can you pick it from the photo below...

..yes, the train was running 10 minutes late!!!

The trip up from Mino-ota was particularly scenic, running for a considerable distance along the river in a steep wooded valley.

Near Takayama the countryside flattened out again and there were extensive rice fields.

In Takayama we are staying at Ryokan Tanabe - a bit of a treat

After settling in we decided to do the Higashiyama Walking Trail, a trail that runs in the hills west of the city and passes 13 temples and 5 shrines. Amazingly, we aren't temples out yet, and still keep clicking away.

First we had to cross the Miyagawa River that runs through the town...

..then it was up to the temples

...and drum towers..

..and a painting depicting hell! - though not sure how that fits into Buddhism.

Peony roses everywhere..

..and the insides of the temples were also quite varied.

On and on they went.

Eventually we hit the end and swung back through town, passing tourist central, San-machi Suji

...crossing the river again..

..and heading back to the ryokan for an in-room dinner. It was a kaiseki dinner, or many course dinner - in this case 16 courses, but all set down at once - and featuring Hida beef, a specialty of the area, not unlike wagyu beef.

The beef was of course cooked by us on a mini BBQ on the table...

..virtually every dish was worthy of an individual photo, but here is one that was a little different - garlic seafood, with whole pure white prawns - and it was really good.

Afterwards, the staff came in and set up our "beds". We were very pleased that they could supply a double layer of mattresses, the hips are starting to get bruised!