October 3, 2024 We had to change our plan for the day. We had planned a day just poking around in this fishing village of Kii katsura before heading off to Kyoto tomorrow, but it was raining hard, and looked like the rain might last all day. We packed things up with all the layers …
October 2, 2024 We awoke to the sound of the rushing mountain river and the sounds of the forest. Alice and I got up and went for a little walk around the rural mountain property until 7:30 when breakfast was to be served. Just before breakfast, Seeichi could be heard getting his children ready and …
October 1 We spent the evening prior in the Watarase Ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn. These typically include hot baths from natural hot springs and traditional food. Before eating, we bathed. We had a private open pool formed in the rock or cement filled with natural hot spring water. One has to shower briefly prior …
9/30/24 We slept a long time in the beautiful traditional guest house, hosted by a wonderful older couple. During the night I was aware of heavy rain and thunder, but in my exhaustion did not rouse to worry about having to hike in the rain. We awoke at 6 am after 10 hours of sleep, …
9/29/24 It was not the greatest night before we started our first day of the pilgrimage. Apparentely our location was the site of a well known fishing competition to take place on the first day of our hike. Men and women arrived from far away the evening prior to be ready for the competition, and …
9/28/24 Despite the unpredictable effects of jetlag, Alice and I awoke together at 6 am, fresh and ready to go. Today we would travel through a complex set of connections to the beginning of our pilgrimage route. We repacked our bags and backpacks to be ready for quick conversion to back pack only as we …
9/27/24 10p Surprisingly we slept through the night without waking and awoke bright-eyed at 6 am. Our hotel offered breakfast at 6:30 so we went down and placed our order at the service desk and enjoyed a simple and well balanced breakfast of salad, omelette, bacon and toast with coffee. As we emerged from our …
September 27 6 am We arose at 4:15 to be able to get to the airport for an early flight to Newark. The new construction at the GR airport was gleaming and we had not trouble. We dozed a bit on the way to Newark. After a small overprised breakfast, we walked only a few …
We arose to the gentle early morning light. No motors, no cars, no garbage trucks. Just quiet with a little breeze. Looking around the apartment I found some very old coffee. it was all we had, so I dumped it into the coffeemaker and we got by on what we had. Though it was the …
August 23, 2024 Red Tandem blog has been lying a bit dormant for the last few months. It’s high time we set out on a little adventure ( and make sure that I still know how to get logged in here!) On Wednesday, we packed up the bikes and backpacks and headed north to Charlevoix. …
