Our most recent trip, a weekend in Nikko which is a small city in the mountains and about two hours north of Tokyo. We thought we had it sorted; a train trip and a Nikko pass giving us free bus passes in the area. We arrived at 8 pm in pitch darkness. No street lights, but then crime isn’t a problem, and no buses or taxis. We eventually found a telephone number for a taxi and got a ride to the hotel. No restaurant there but they had a small selection of frozen food that we were able to heat up in a microwave. It made me realise that I have become a city girl with the expectation that I can find at least some businesses open 24hours!

Next morning we found we had missed the bus by 5 mins, with the next one due nearly one & a half hours later … and realised the Nikko pass wouldn’t work for us. So we walked into Nikko and hired a throbbing racing car. In my dreams! We settled for a kei car, the smallest legal Japanese car both in size and engine capacity (660cc). So dinky but we were able to cover many kilometres on just one gallon of petrol.

And off we went into the mountains to look at lakes and amazing waterfalls. Lake Chuzenji and Kegon Falls below.

Another waterfall and lake further, Yutaki Waterfall and Lake Yunoko, up further into the mountains –

And then the drive back to Nikko, and this journey will be scarred on my memory for ever. There are separate roads, one up and one down, leading from Nikko into this mountainous area, and I found the journey up difficult but the road down was even more windy. Extreme bends, nothing to do with the weather. We were not going fast … impossible in our little car … but I felt so nauseous that it took me a couple of hours to recover. No photos as I couldn’t release the grab handle apart from a couple of times when I snapped at the Satnav (going up) & my phone (downwards)

A photo of our car & also a photo showing helmet and gloves left on a bike. How wonderful that you don’t have to worry about theft.