Arashiyama, 07.07.24

It was a hearty breakfast and we were ready to visit Arashiyama. It is an easy walk along the river back to the bridge and right into the thick of it. As we were relatively early the crowds were not that big. Some shops were closed still. We wanted first to see the famous bamboo grove or the trail which leads through a stand of tall bamboo forest. 

Hotel from barge  

Easy to find but unlike the pictures in the brochures with no people on it there were now quite a number of other tourists trailing the same steps as us. While the bamboo forest certainly was a lovely sight to see it was also very short. Five minutes' walk and one is through it all.

 

Bamboo Grove

The next thing on our list were a few temples further up the valley. The all had nice gardens, temple buildings and shrines. But unless one is really into temples they all blend into one. Each one becomes a template of the next one. 

My plan was to do a long walk into the forest behind Arashiyama and Christine was fine with that. The town had plenty to offer to while the time away. We agreed to a certain time right by the railway station after which we would go for dinner somewhere. 

Off I go following a narrow road lined with very old Japanese style buildings. They seemed to be fairly old and one even had a thatched roof. They were shops and restaurants and souvenir outlets plus some private residences. The tourists had markedly thinned by this stage. 

Thatched House

I had a map. Not a very good one but giving the general direction sort of and I headed left intending to do a big circle all around Arashiyama walking in the forest. And soon enough I was surrounded by trees all by myself walking uphill. The frogs were my companions. They were croaking all over along a small stream hiding under stones and in tree roots. I tried to find one but they were just not showing themselves. At one stage a walker came from the other direction and it looked like she was a bird watcher with camera and binoculars. I asked her where the road was leading to and she mentioned a railway station which I knew to be over there somewhere according to the map. A few cars passed as well but otherwise nobody around. 

At some point the road started to go downhill towards the river far down in the valley. I came across a small sign pointing into the forest and saying 'mountain trail to Arashiyama'. Just what I like and I started to walk along the path but after some time I realised that this path had not been walked on for years and the further I got into the forest the worse it became. No way was I going to make it to Arashiyama along this path. I turned back. A wise decision.

 

Rokucho Mountain Path

The road led right down to the river but there was no railway station. I crossed a bridge and followed the narrow road along the river when I spotted a railway line on the other side just no way to get to it. I timed myself and thought if after a certain time I could not get to the railway line I would have to go all the way back from where I came and just make it in time. 

View from Walk

But all was good. Around a corner I suddenly saw an old bridge going over, and a railway station building. Just not an ordinary station. It was very dilapidated and had not been used for ages. An old sign gave the station name in Japanese and an arrow pointed in one direction. I waited thinking just take any train that comes along whichever direction it goes, get out of this godforsaken place. After a while I heard the huffing and puffing of a train not far away and suddenly it turned up. I put my hand out as if hitchhiking and it stopped! At first I could hardly believe it but I was very relieved. It was a small tourist sightseeing train. It was the Sagano Romantic Train as they called it and I was at the Torokko Hozukyo Station! By this time I just wanted to get back to town no matter how. The ticket man came along as well and he told me that the train was going to Arashiyama! How lucky I was. 

Back in town I got to the meeting spot just in time. Christine had a lovely day herself and took an excursion on the same train! She found a cozy little restaurant where they did tempura cooking. There was only one chef and only us at this time. Two beers were excellent. We ordered tempura vegetables. Looking at the menu we also noticed that they served whale meat! Unlike the fugu from before I did not want to taste whale meat. It was just getting dark when we made it back to the hotel. A wonderful day it was.