After we awoke and started exploring our surroundings we found we were just 100m from a dream campsite! There was a large flat area on the banks of a river, with water fall, swimming holes, and in the forest!
Oh well, it also made a good place to spend a couple of hours. I decided to make a mini bonsai in a jar. It didn't turn out too badly either I reckon!
The rest of the day was rainy and spent on a highway making some distance and trying to avoid the big city of Nagoya. So I'll give you a few random images from the last few days.
This one's for Doug. There seem to be a LOT of pidgeon toed girls here. At first we thought it might be affect, to look cute, but there are so many and often quite severe that I now think it must be a national genetic trait. This statue in the park shows it in a mild form.
I've mentioned narrow roads before, but this one took the cake. It was on a very steep mountainside, with an awful drop to the left. It would have been impossible to back up. We came to a place with a motorbike and car parked on the side blocking our way. So Joe got out and moved the bike. Then he decided to lift the back of the car and quite easily lifted it out of the way!
And this needs no explanation except to say that there is usually one western style loo in a row of toilets in a public amenities block -but not always! But they are always clean.
This one's for Jonno. What on earth us this structure? We see them quite often. They are very tall and associated with some sort of industrial plant which we haven't been able to identify either. We thought you might know. (Not the light array, the three legged structure in the background).
As we reached the foothills of the Alps we were following a river with a deep gorge. The clouds made the scene more dramatic.
For Doug and Stuart -does that stream look suitable for fly fishing? We have seen a few fly fishermen in the streams, so maybe you should bring suitable gear?
At one of the toll gates the attendant couldn't decide what to charge us, and waved us over to the side of the road while he conferred with colleagues. While we were waiting for him the police turned up. They asked for Joe's Japanese liscence. Then they started asking questions about the car. They spoke no English. We produced the Japanese document that the Japanese Autimobile Federation (JAF) had given us for this very purpose and it fixed everything. The police immediately started smiling and nodding, checked Joe's International Driving Permit, and let us go. We don't actually know what that document says but we sure won't lose it!
We finally found a camp-site on a vacant residential block in a quiet area. The nearby houses were derelict, perhaps reflecting Japan's shrinking population, and urban drift. We were undisturbed for the night and morning and had a good rest.
And finally, there are these bright/deep red flowering trees everywhere now. We don't know whether they are cherries or some other fruit, but they are very beautiful!
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