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A Cake Hunter Hunts
Now I’m back from my hols, I’m sitting in another airport waiting to fly elsewhere and thought I’d make time to deviate from my normal waffly ramblings and smooth a path back towards layers of Japanese cream, fruit, red beans and sugar. Walking the Camino Le Puy in France 18-months ago, I was in total…
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EpiBlog 2 – Hakone
My blog seemed to naturally end itself with the Kumano but in days after we continued to have adventures and see some marvellous sights, and there have been a few places in particular that have resonated with such vibrancy that I hope I’ll remember them with as much impact as they had when I saw…
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EpiBlog 1 – Nachi & Shingu
We finished the Kumano on a sunny, clear day before the rain hit again and as they were so spectacular, the next day, Eliza and I went back to see the Kumano-Nachi Taisha temple and the Nachi waterfall deity. We stayed in Nachi for the night, a quiet little sleepy fishing town specialising in the…
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The Kumano Kodo: Koguchi to Nachikatsuura
Day 5, the final day of the Kumano. We went into this day with a feeling of trepidation, although Trepidation wasn’t too happy and told us to leave him alone. We knew today was going to be our biggest challenge, and it was in many ways – the sheer ascent we faced seemed ginormous (as…
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The Kumano Kodo: Yunomine to Koguchi
Day 4. It was a lovely rest day in Yunomine, even though (to be honest) we’d only been going 2-days and the whole Kumano is only 4-days overall. Seemed a bit of a luxury really, but hey, who’s complaining? Just to give a bit of context: most Caminos in Europe are around the 4-5 week…
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The Kumano Kodo: Onsens & Ryokan
Day 3: a Rest Day. We ended up in Yunomine, a village no bigger than a street, consisting of a quaint little collection of inns tucked into a small valley deep in the heart of the sacred mountains of Kumano. The waters here are said to change color seven times over the course of a…
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The Kumano Kodo: Chikatsuyu to Yunomine
Day 2. Having had a lovely nights sleep, we all got up on time and headed off into the gentle day. The Sakura in this region is in full bloom, and it’s spectacular. Even the blandest street seems to be livened up by it – and we can’t stop taking pics of it either. We’re…
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The Kumano Kodo: Takijri-oji to Chikatsuyu
Day 1. We woke up to the sound of torrential rain, so that was encouraging. The bus was due to leave early from Kii-Tanabe & drop us off at the starting point of the Kumano. We’d decided to get our bags carried ahead as we have far too much stuff to carry – that’s my…
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Sakura: Cherry Blossom Season
Waking up to leave Osaka, Robert found himself in the middle of an awful situation: his poor Mum had had a fall back in the UK. After speaking to his brother and sister, and being constantly updated as to what was happening with the ambulance by his neighbour, he made the difficult decision to go…
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The Totally Amazing Himeji Castle
Robert and I were out the door extra early as we knew we had to try and navigate the train system. We went from counter to counter, attendant to attendant (they all dress in formal black, very smart suits here) and got different pieces of advice each time. It was so confusing, even though the…