In which we finally get a proper guided tour, and find some gorgeous seeds.
Finally, a decent sleep. Makes a world of difference! The internet here is marginal, though I guess most folk come here to become unplugged.
Another lovely day today – warm sun saw us quickly shedding our morning cardigans and helped with the picture taking!
The first stop today was at Great Compton, about 45″ away – down another one car wide lane but a decent coach parking area, TG, no tricky backing needed. The oncoming cars down the lane had no hope of passing our bus and would have to back up to someone’s driveway, but after letting a delivery truck out we luckily didn’t encounter anyone else on the way in (on the way out someone saw us coming and ducked into a driveway). This garden is known for its’ salvia specialist, now mostly retired, and we had an excellent tour by its’ new head gardener, Christina. Knowledgeable, super enthusiastic… it was wonderful to learn from her.
near the entrance; learning the house history (couple from London developed the garden over 10 years then left it to a charitable trust who now runs it on a shoestring with only 1.5 gardeners and a host of volunteers).
The developing Italian garden
the Italian garden – courtesy Gary Lewis
meadow near the entrance
there is no irrigation system in the garden, and the hope is to get a grant for restoration and to install one. Sounds familiar a la Earthwise society!
A very friendly garden, with layering and many benches to sit and contemplate (or forest bathe if you are so inclined!)
house is currently uninhabitable and in need of major repairs
the folly – faux ruins built by the owners from foraged materials
the rhodos were in full bloom
they also specialize in magnolias but those were mostly done. It is an all season garden so different flowerings each season.
some of the specialty salvia
They are also repository for a rosemary collection, one of which was ginger rosemary – lovely aroma
aliums of many varieties used extensively in English gardens
meadow rue against a wall in the Italian garden
Italian garden
A very pleasant ploughman’s lunch in the courtyard patio ended the tour and we were left to wander for another hour.
enjoying the view from in front of the house – courtesy Gary Lewis
Next stop was Wakehurst, the twin to Kew Gardens, a small 500 acre garden housing the millenium seed bank. It was fascinating, with a great explanation of the process involved with storing seeds.
Most of the important parts of the building were underground.
A relic from dinosaur times – Woollemia pine. Discoverd in New South Wales Australia in 1994 after a ranger abseiled down a canyon and discovered several trees. Thought to be extinct, a paleontologist eventually identified it and it has been propogated since for posterity, apparently doing well here! I LOVED that every tree had a tag with its botanical name.
Walled garden near Elizabethan manor (like Great Compton, under restoration but they are a bit further ahead of Great Compton and have received funds already!)
bluestars within the walled garden
glorious patches of colour – knapweed
Lovely scents prevailed as we walked through the walled garden
wisteria arbour
gloriously scented!
heading towards Himalayan glade
Girnormous rhodos at Himalayan glade
valley at Himalayan glade – the rhodos were tree size, as they are in Nepal and Bhutan
Wetlands section
artfully planted
candelabra primulas – courtesy Gary Lewis
others out enjoying the woodlands! There are many long walks to be taken in the park, with dog friendly areas and even an off leash park. Would definitely have a season’s pass if I lived nearby here!
other miscellaneous treasures along the way- native English bluebell, courtesy Gary Lewis
the gift shop was surprisingly underwhelming, except for the seed section which saw enthusiastic tour participants. It would be hard to leave without plants from the nurseries at every garden, if one lived locally. Photo courtesy Gary Lewis.
Back into the bus, coralling stragglers yet again, and back to the hotel for a free evening. Alison and I walked into town to see the Pantiles, which was very underwhelming, along the promenade which is now tourist mecca with upmarket wine bars. We nipped into Sainsbury’s to pick up some oatcakes (and start the chocolate collection for taking home) and tucked ourselves into a bench at the promenade like poor cousins to eat the last of our ploughman’s lunch. Into a pub to try a local beer – watery dark ale, not impressed, then a hike home through the forest, ending the day with a medicinal tot and some samples from Maison Samadi chocolates.
In which we visit two very different gardens, a charming Mediaval village and have some interesting bus driving.
After a fairly sleepless night (3 a.m. wakeup for me, 4 a.m. for Alison; clearly jetlag is not done with us!) Alison and I went for a morning walk to explore the grounds of the Spa Hotel. The top acre was curated, very pleasant with trails, rhodos in bloom and benches, then below was uncultured meadows and woodland comprising the rest of the 14 acres advertised. We then got a tour of the spa facilities which include communal and seperate single sex saunas, a lovely pool in a conservatory like environment, a wet sauna and an extensive gym from weights to exercise machines. Also of course treatment rooms for various treatments from reflexology to hot stone massage (prices comparable to Spa Utopia in Canada).
The buffet breakfast was good, complete with typically English cold toast with either full breakfast or granola/yoghourt/fruit versions. The coffee was foul, glad I had brought my own instant with me…. we had thought last night it was just the decaf made hastily that was bad but confirmed this morning it’s all coffee at the hotel.
Off we went at 10:15 to Sissinghurst, a 45 min drive with informative and entertaining info provided along the way by Lynn, the local guide. We were briefed on what to see at the garden, and its’ background. There was a booked entry time of 11 a.m. and we were welcomed by the National Trust representative on board the bus then piled out towards the entrance. There we were given our tickets and – what? let loose?
Big disappointment, I had shelled out the big bucks for this tour assuming that we were getting a guided tour from an expert. Instead, I was told that he was there to answer any questions, but – go to it. Alas the cell signal from my carrier, Three, was fairly poor so frequently when I asked “Picture This” to identify a flower, it would decline, citing poor connection. So once again, we wandered around admiring the scenery, but not entirely sure quite often what flowers we were looking at. So much for brushing up on perennial names and learning! Definitely a big minus, and frankly, a swiz.
It was, however, quite beautiful, and a lovely day to boot with warmth and sunny skies but not too hot. I recall the last visit was in summer heat, but I think there was more out during that visit. And not to say that we didn’t thoroughly enjoy the visit, albeit the white garden was very underwhelming after a big buildup (perhaps better in a couple of weeks?). White lupines were pretty cool though. But overall, not what I had expected at all. I took pictures of the unknown named flowers with the expectation of running them through “Picture This” when back to a better cell connection, but alas there are too many and it’s now too late in the evening to contemplate starting. Maybe on the trains on the way upcountry… I was surprised to see how far ahead the vegetables were; artichokes already formed, and the beans 2′ tall.
Part of the garden from the tower
Some of the other garden parts were pretty, and happily there weren’t masses of people about – it got busier when we left at 1:15 p.m. after having queued for a sandwich and REAL coffee, eating on the lawn.
The underwhelming white garden but the white lupines were unusual…
in the xeroscopic garden
Borders!
lovely juxtaposition of dogwood + roses
wisteria row
And so, off to Great Dixter…. I was really looking forward to this one, having had a couple of lectures in the master gardener meetings and spring conference by the head gardener, Fergus Garrett. He came out to meet us and talked a bit about the garden and its philosophy of biodiversity beside a bed of giant fennel plants (seeds from Turkey).
Fergus Garrett in the centre giving some background to the garden. Great Dixter was an amazing exploration, of flamboyant growth and artfully crafted borders and beds. It was easy to understand why it got such a high number of species in the biodiversity audit. I’ve included a picture of the famous compost pile!
Borders of all colours and shapes:
The house of Christopher Lloyd, the original curator of the garden.
Christopher Lloyd was also famous for enthusiastic use of container gardening. The conical chimneys are oasts, indicating hops are being dried in here. Kent is famous for it’s craft beer and hops are prolific.
Look what I found in the garden!
So many lovely places to sit and contemplate the riotous growth around.
Lily of the Nile
spectacular espaliered fig
Orchid in the meadow, photo courtesy of Gary Lewis
Even the steps down to the tropical garden were artfully sporting growth. My flagstones just sport weeds!
The sunken garden. It was very apparent everywhere that the insect population was healthy, with pollinators buzzing everywhere.
Sweet rocket and weigla
Too much to see and admire! When we were all eventually coralled into the bus (several stragglers) the bus driver attempted to turn the large coach around – we were puzzled why he hadn’t spent the two hours we were away doing this… it was a long and protracted process involving a 100 point turn (we all had several suggestions afterwards for better and easier places it could have been done) . He eventually gave up and backed slowly and painfully up a length of lane, turning at the entrance and achieving it finally with applause from both inside and outside the bus as everyone was blocked in both directions during the convolutions! In general though, I don’t envy the bus driver’s job manouevering the huge coach through narrow streets with parked cars on either side, and sometimes U turns in the road. We were told by Lynn that the Beatles’ song “The long and winding road” was written by Paul McCartney who has a country house near here, upon one of his many journeys there from London. Very apropos.
We headed last to a medieval smuggling town at the confluence of three rivers, Rye; it had much power during the 100 year war with France as a ship building area and between that and smuggling did very well monetarily. It was charming, with many original buildings and some lovely looking gift shops which were unfortunately all closed by the time we got there. Alison and I did manage a quick trip down to Costcutters for a bottle of single malt, to add a medicinal tot to our itinerary after the long days on our feet ahead.
Entrance to Old Town
Each house had its own quirky name
Wattle and daub building technique
Likely more hazardous to navigate in rain and winter weather!
Wall overlooking churchyard sporting it’s own garden
Churchyard at the end of the street
They’ve obviously adapted the Christopher Lloyd techniques of container gardening!
See if you can spot the earrings in here…
Chemist turned poke restaurant…
Some more interesting bus manipulations as the driver waited for us to get back then spent ages attempting to turn around in a huge (we thought very roomy) parking lot before once again giving up and backing out a considerable distance. He might not have passed this part of the driving test….
Along some more winding roads an hour home, our dinner was pushed back to 7:45 p.m. Excellent again, but we were all starving by the time we got it, some having not stopped for lunch at either of the gardens (or grabbed food to go). We dispersed after like dandelion puffs in a wind, everyone very tired after a long day of walking.
PS the medicinal tot of Glenfiddich pre-dinner was very helpful for my sore legs! Better than an advil.
Not much to report today, lots of time spent waiting around… got packed up and to the airport by 11:30 a.m., and met up with Alison shortly thereafter (she’d flown in from Edinburgh where she recovered from jetlag with her family). She had picked up two others on the flight, identified by their green “worldwise quest” baggage tags, and over the next hour or so others trickled in to the Cafe Nero. The AC flight was on time and decanted the tour leader and a couple of others so we left to liase with the bus shortly after 2 p.m. After 20 mins standing out in the underground area with a cold wind whistling by, the local tour leader announced that the bus driver was stuck in a massive traffic jam so we all piled back to Cafe Nero to wait out another half hour.
Finally loaded in, we set off for Tunbridge Wells, about 1.5 hours away by road, in a huge bus. (40″ from central London, as I later found and cursed myself for not going there directly). Curious how it will make its way around the narrow winding roads around Chartwell House…..With traffic slowdowns it took us about 2 hours but we had some good info enroute from our very pleasant & knowledgeable local tour guide Lynn, about the local history and garden history of Kent. A smooth checkin saw us have a few minutes to hang up some clothes and then we assembled for a pre tour meeting which included intros and general instructions. A well educated bunch… mostly retirees, lots of grey hair. Many keen and knowledgeable gardeners, I will learn a lot I suspect! Some on a third or fourth tour with Gary, the study leader.
Dinner was a set menu and excellent food & presentation albeit late – we finished at 9:30, well past my bedtime LOL. I suspect this will be the pattern. The hotel is quite lovely, with a generous room size complete with desk and sitting chair, and large bathroom with huge deep bath, access to the spa and swimming pool included and 14 acres of grounds to wander in should we not get enough walking in the gardens tomorrow…. It’s an old manor that’s been refurbished, with lovely wallpaper and tasteful design- happily I’m on the third (top) floor so no feet overhead.
And so, we begin. Tomorrow is Sissinghurst, Great Dixter and Rye.
No pictures today but that definitely won’t be the case tomorrow!
Darn, I meant to turn on the distance tracker. I am sure there was a fair few km covered today.
Started in Leicester Square/Covent Gardens area, visiting Maison Bertaux patisserie (good croissant, awful coffee but fun chat with owner). They get consistently mentioned as the oldest patisserie in London and have good ratings, but didn’t seem extraordinary to me apart from the outstandingly bad coffee. Apparently they were trying out new beans which weren’t working out (address of coffee bean supplier earnestly supplied by owner!). Interesting art installation at Heaven’s Gate outside Tottenham Court tube station, passed the Banksy store on Charing Cross Road and sent a picture to friend Richa who took me to the Banksy exhibit in Vancouver last month (lots of fun!). To my amazement Foyle’s bookstore is still going strong, and as one of my favourite haunts in the past on a London visit it was great to browse around again. Acquired a paperback that looks promising for the next book club selection, written by and about someone who dropped off the grid…wishful thinking? In search of a Marks and Spencers with clothes I walked around to three, covering a fair bit of ground, before concluding that they are completely out of everything but the food business now, and that too is a pale shadow of its former self. Sad. No college cream biscuits to be had and the selection otherwise strictly limited.
Trying to find a store to get a watch and reading glasses was a challenge – eventually got a cheap Timex at Argos to replace my triathlon timex whose button to change the time to local time has ceased functioning. Works still for Canadian west coast time but is stuck there now. Reading glasses another challenge but finally acquired; dept. stores appear to have all disappeared here as well. Window shopped at one chocolate shop in Soho but decided it wasn’t worth going in.
Tons of Harry Potter shows and fun HP stores in the area… it’s obviously been good for the economy.
Next to Pierre Hermé for another chat with the girl behind the counter who trained as a pastry chef but didn’t like the pressure… alas no patisseries in the London store. Or perhaps that’s a good thing? as the next stop was Cedric Grolet to pick up the pre-ordered passion fruit patisserie. A very tony place in The Berkeley across from Hyde Park, minimalistic decor and one couple (sounded American) paying 125 GBP each for champagne and patisserie selection at the counter. The patisserie I got was also overpriced but absolutely exquisite piping of Chantilly cream and full of delicious fresh passionfruit… I’ll have to finish it at breakfast as it won’t travel, but it’ll count as fruit and dairy? as so much passionfruit inside. Yummm.
Back to my ‘hood for a (finally good!) coffee and Indian takeout (which was meh) before heading off to the last chocolatier on my list, Maison Samadi. Really interesting flavours, and the root cause of the worldwide pistachio shortage right now – literally – pistachio Dubai style chocolate bars went viral and have sucked up pistachios worldwide, leaving the market dry and the prices inflated. These are chocolate bars with pistachio cream filling +/- kunafi. Kunafi is a very interesting flavour, a lovely crunchy contrast to the chocolate; alas they only had these with white chocolate fillings right now… andanother chat with the girl on the floor resulted in a few samples and more research acquired for future tasting….
I limped home with the advil not yet cutting in, but the German wheat beer at the flat was far more effective for the pain than the advil! Or maybe it was the combo?
Had to sit and rest my sore leg, back to doing stairs one at a time, but that was dangerous as it is sleep time at home. Wrestled through by doing some hand washing and hope to get another decent nights’ sleep tonight to put me solidly in this time zone before joining the tour group tomorrow. With mixed feelings…
The flight left at 8 p.m. giving the entire day to get ready which was great; no pressure to get out the door early in the morning. Even had time to vacuum the garage and discovered a wet patch on one wall complete with black mould… oh joy. Something else to deal with when I get back.
Plane boarded on time, and row after row of people poured on…it was a huge plane and nearly full. I had to buck the flow at the beginning to find a staff person as there was food plastered on my seat that hadn’t been cleaned up, and on the intake fan by my feet as well. The seat got spot cleaned by the stewardess and I sat on a blanket after but the intake fan did not get touched…Then we sat on the tarmac for an hour and half before finally taking off, due to a broken bathroom door that needed fixing. At least we were able to get off and walk around the bridge for the duration, which was kind. The meal served was far and above the worst I’ve had for decades on a plane…then we all thankfully settled down about 11 p.m. to catch some sleep…. The fellow behind me had been rocking my seat intermittently since the start – I was about to talk to him about possibly not jabbing the screen as it is a touchscreen after all but he was fast asleep by the time I got to it so snuggled down. Woken by vigorous kicking on my seat which ebbed and flowed for awhile – wondered if he was sitting up reading or watching again but it got worse so I turned to talk to him and he let loose. Apparently he was unhappy that the seat ahead was tilted, as it was apparently cutting into his legroom and he felt he was exceptionally tall (maybe 2″ taller than me?) so was entitled to more room. Buddy, we have paid extra for the tiltability in this section, and you can book a bulkhead seat if you need to; plus, reclining your own seat solves the problem. Eventually had to go find a stewardess to talk to him – at one point he also had his runner and foot between my seat and the window, alongside my arm rest. Oh my, some people. I agreed to reduce the tilt some to give him more room, mediated by the stewardess but apparently not enough for his comfort as the kicking started again as soon as she left, to get it to where he felt comfortable. Needless to say, not much sleep was had. And BTW had he asked nicely in the first place to reduce the tilt….Breakfast was equally dreadful with no coffee served… and this is premium economy. Never been so glad to get off a plane. What a boor. Apparently he and three other friends were going trail running in various places in the UK – one of his pals was sitting next to me and was quite lovely. He looked uncomfortable during his pal’s perturbations. I had listened to the boor in the lounge before boarding also (well we couldn’t help but do so due to the volume and number of things he had to say) so good luck to those who are travelling with him, maybe they’ll be able to run away from him on the trail…?
LHR was quiet, and got the oyster card topped up easily. Flat was easy to get to, albeit the two flights of stairs were felt after being cramped up for so many hours – the right hip has flared again thanks to it and going upstairs is very painful. A quick trip to Marks and Sparks, a shadow of its’ former self, and Tesco which can literally be seen from the apt., for dinner and it will be an early night tonight. It’s sunny and warm today in London. May it continue balmy!
May is not a good time to leave an active garden…. early hardening off, planting out before usual times, and setting up watering systems is all on the books right now. All with a big dose of wishfulness that the current warm and summer-like weather continues until they are well established… I will miss the planting windows for a few veggies, such are the sacrifices of travel!
Countdown has started, with the “to do” list before departure as usual way longer than the time remaining. The search has begun on chocolatiers and patisseries to visit in London; research for future development of course will require tasting :-). First patisserie ordered from “Patisserie Cedric Grolet” for pickup on Wednesday. I suspect from the tour itinerary we’ll be walking it off quite quickly. As Morag said, the itinerary is “mad”. All with 25 others, the biggest group I’ve travelled with so fingers crossed.
Met Tsuyen in the lobby today, getting ready to take his new group out to Nara, on the outskirts of Kyoto. There are only 6 in his new group which will be much easier for him after us 14! He said he enjoyed our group but that they were really fast!! I agree! I met one of the riders in the lounge – they are Aussies, mostly looking in their late 50’s or early 60’s. Cheerful looking bunch.
Took a taxi to the station and was interested to see that it cost me 1800 Yen going back, in less traffic, when it cost 1500 Yen coming, taking longer because of heavier traffic but I was with a native speaker. Tourist surcharge? I paid with a smile, as there was no way to converse about it anyway, and it’s still cheap by Canadian standards (~ $18).
Bullet train to Tokyo at 10, chatted at the station with a research scientist from Indiana (origin Germany, worked there x 10 years) doing an add-on few days to his conference in Tokyo. Sounds like he gets around quite a bit for conferences – he’s an AI guy and was pretty impressed with how advanced Japan is in this… said the tour of the business they got was like being in candyland. 3D screens, and lots of bells and whistles, and way ahead of the US in their tech.
Uneventful train trip except that I got a throat tickle and had to spend part of it in the intercarriage area coughing as the water didn’t do it. Finally found the throat lozenges which did the trick. Read an interesting article on the train about earthquake preparation by the railway companies – they have their own seismographs which predict the extent of damage and automatically put on the emergency brakes of the bullet trains as needed. Tracks are constructed with the latest seismic protection, especially after the 2011 earthquake that shut down the system. Amazingly, because of the automatic braking, nobody was hurt or killed on a train during that major earthquake. Impressive. I was also interested to see quite a few solar panel installations both on roofs and on the ground en masse, as we whizzed through the countryside. Train was completely full.
Off loaded at Tokyo Station, amazingly found the right exit and had a 2 min walk across station square to the hotel, which is quite swish. I was able to get into the room at 12:30 which was surprising but excellent as I got to dump the luggage and head out. The hotel has a direct entrance into the underground passage to Tokyo Station, I found, which will be useful tomorrow. It also has an unusual configuration, with the main entrance on the ground floor but the reception is on the 7th floor, which took me awhile to figure out! Nice view of Tokyo Station from the elevator to the 7th floor…
Headed out to look at some pastries – this is the business section of town and has a lot of high end stores, chocolateries and a few patisseries. Research!
Then over to Imperial Palace grounds, which I had seen last year but it was stinking hot then and we didn’t (couldn’t) wander around too much. Nice welcoming sign on the grounds…
Love the juxtaposition of the old and new. No tours of the imperial palace today, tomorrow or the day after.
It’s disappointing that there are no decent gardens around the Imperial Palace – the trees are nice, and there are no blades of grass out of place but no lovely gardens like there are around temples. The moat should be filled with water lillies!
The meeting of the old castle and the business district is clearly a place to take wedding photos! I saw three couples, with modern dresses and not kimonos, lining up to get pictures taken. The most amusing thing was seeing the brides crossing the busy intersection attempting to keep the white skirts of their dresses, up and clean while still maintaining their ruffles 😊!
It turns out that the underground passages connect from the hotel/Tokyo station to the intersection directly across from the palace grounds – you can be spit out directly across from the trees shown above. Handy! After dropping the research material off in the room fridge it was off to do errands – first, back into Tokyo Station, a vast metropolis, in search of a lunch/dinner of vegan ramen. There were two options, one of which I had to get a metro ticket for as it was inside the fare zone. I’d been there before and their ramen was excellent, and I sort of knew where it was, but bravely elected to try and find “Tokyo Ramen street” where there was another recommended vegan option. It was fully on the other side of the station – reasonably well signposted, though bewildering in the number of shops, zones and underpasses I passed through to get there… you have to buy a meal ticket before going in, from the machine outside which had little English i.e. essentially prepay and that was confusing but fortunately it was quiet and a restaurant worker walked me through it. Excellent gyoza and danden ramen; quite spicy but very tasty. Not quite as good as the Kyoto place though, just a hair cheaper…
After that it was off to try and locate a state liquor store inside the station that I had discerned from my ramen instructor would carry yuzu sake. That took quite a while, no info people to ask and the AI feature to the information board was useless. (So was my translator – it kept changing “yuzu sake” to “music”). Two asks at stores of clerks eventually yielded the info that I had to buy a ticket to get into the fare paid zone to access it…. argggh. 150 yen later, and another ask, I finally found it. Yahoo! Of course, the ticket wouldn’t work getting me out of the station but I’d expected that from last year and selected an exit with a manned booth, and I was let through when I explained what I’d done. I think last year we just leapt over the turnstile…. silly system.
Finally another interaction with a ticket machine buying my express rail ticket for tomorrow – very confusing, I don’t have a good record with these machines. Happily not too busy so one of the staff members came over and assisted. It took the Exodus group a LONG time to get through the process in Kyoto even with the leaders helping out…I’ll leave lots of time to find the zone that the airport express leaves from – didn’t seem well marked as I only saw it listed once in my three trips through the station. A detour to Family Mart to get yoghurt and fruit for breakfast, and back via the underground shortcut which is now easy to find.
Although a soak in the bath looked very inviting I opted for a reviving cup of matcha tea and headed out to investigate the downtown lights. I’d seen some signs of Xmas decorations in my first walk which was interesting – Tsuyen and Manu were saying that Christmas isn’t much of a thing here, and that most people would work Christmas Day. The vast majority are Buddhists, but it looks like in the big city the western influence is stronger, and they are well into their decorations for Xmas with trees up in the hotel restaurant and lovely light displays and street parks already.
the lights went on for a long way!
I walked by one shopping complex and there was music coming from it so went in to investigate – big crowd watching what looked liked a kids’ theme/Disney type area in action with lights and moving pieces.
No idea what it was – there is also a Harry Potter store in Tokyo Station, they do like their cartoon/fictional characters!
Very pretty overall though, and so was Tokyo Station at night.
from the elevator
At last I got my soak in the tub, bath salts provided here! (it was herbal patches yesterday) and there is another couple of inches to the length of the tub in this hotel. I am judging the hotels by the size of their tubs – most you can’t even sit in, or there aren’t any, but there are no points deducted if there is an onsen in the hotel.
Last pack done, checked in for the flight tomorrow – this holiday is almost over!
Highlight – the colours in the mountains, and the Shirakawa-go stay. But lots of others, including the fun Kyoto tour, and the cool cycles through small villages with old houses, narrow alleys in canal areas in Kanazawa and other towns. Ranrouken gardens….
Total mileage; 484.5 km. total elevation gain; 2979.1 m Less than expected – my recordings of many of the days were shorter and less elevation gain than the Brits’. Not sure why. I think Moira did that entire elevation in one day of cycling LOL but it was a good mix of cycling and touristing along a very neat route.
Up at 5 a.m, out the door at 6:15 with breakfast of croissant, yoghourt and fruit (and room coffee as the lobby wasn’t yet open). It was bright daylight when I got out the door, had expected it to be dark. Over to the metro and quickly caught the first train, but unfortunately it must have been a limited express and it didn’t stop at Inari station. Got off at the station prior when I discovered it wasn’t stopping at mine, changed lines and was patting myself on the back for managing that, but it was quite a delay for the next train. When it did come, my map app told me to get on, so I did but alas it went straight to Kyoto main station, without stopping anywhere else so I had to backtrack. The two goofs added an extra 1/2 hr to my journey which was annoying after the early start to beat the crowds…good thing I’m on holiday 😊
Still pretty quiet by the time I got to Inari shrine, so the hike up and around the mountain was relatively peaceful. Some nice views, and a pretty trail with all the gates lining it. Definitely is a stair master on steroids though, I had sweat marks on my tshirt by the time I got to the top and was wishing I’d worn shorts. The weather forecast had predicted rain by 10 a.m. so I had started with fleece and rainjacket which quickly were discarded!
Quite a nice forest, with birds singing and signs warning of boars and monkeys (none seen).
not as benign as this apparently gentle uphill seems to imply!
Many nationalities and languages heard enroute, with the universal language of “out of breath!”. There are side paths to shrines in multiple locations, and another loop you can do off the main hike; I started to take it but it went rapidly downhill and both wasn’t sure where it was going, and didn’t want to add more stairs to the effort so I abandoned that trail shortly (there was no one else on it)! LOL, there was a fellow with a leafblower on that trail, having a happy time blowing last night’s leaves off which also turned me around. Can’t get away from those danged things!
There were, of course, joggers going up the steps…
view from the trail junction
limited exposure view from near the top
Managed on the way back down to find a side route that avoided the lower Torii gate loop, for which I was grateful when I saw the crowds at the bottom again. The food stalls were just opening up, with their “potato tornados” and the other tempting things they offer, and the masses were starting to descend. Ice cream at 9 a.m.? seems popular.
Back to the hotel, by Metro correctly this time, to drop off the fleece and out for pastry before they are sold out. Trying a “millefeuille” with a twist tonight… The shop was incredibly inefficient processing orders and two others left without ordering, exasperated by the delay. Usually shops here are quite efficient, perhaps some staff didn’t show today? – the store was certainly humming.
With the pastry safely in the fridge I downgraded to shorts (no sign of rain) and headed out on foot to the old city area near Maruyama Park (Higashiyama). It took me some time to get oriented as I’d been concentrating on not running into pedestrians when we were here previously on bike, and I hadn’t paid much attention which direction we were going. I’m still very disoriented in this city with even broadstroke directions. There was lots to see as I wandered around though, lots of lovely kimonos in that part of the city, a carnival in a park I cut through, lovely old houses and posh looking hotels… people being carted around by the fit rickshaw drivers, and entertainment provided by cars attempting to drive down pedestrain laden streets.
One of the quieter cobblestoned streets in a park:
I finally found the area I was looking for, and it was awash in people. Lovely area, but super touristy and lots of food for sale which looked to be about double the prices outside the area. No speed walking here – you have to shuffle along with the crowd.
lots of lovely things for sale, though if you are willing to pay the prices.
definitely a hilly part of Kyoto!
There are three or four long streets joined together like this, with a temple and park at the top (of course!)
Fun to shuffle for awhile, but it got a bit much so I had a sit down behind the temple for some water and nuts and caught another three little maids posing under a maple tree.
The temple (Kiyomizudera Temple) was spectacular and is prominent on the skyline in the area. It was also one of the more crowded places I’ve visited in Kyoto.
There was a wedding ceremony going on in the section below this one, with lots of tourists oggling and taking videos…
Wedding pictures happening here too.
My only contribution to the economy in this district was to a coffee shop which I found online (% Arabica was its name) – very busy and you were given a number and waited about 10 mins for the coffee but it was superb and worth the wait (especially as I was able to sit down!).
After that I was fuelled for the long and winding walk home through some charming neighbourhoods and many fewer pedestrians, thankfully.
Lunch/dinner was a local sushi conveyor belt restaurant – about triple the cost of the last one. Good sushi though; I had salmon with sesame, lovely tuna, puffer fish (yes, the most expensive plate!), shrimp and octopus (the latter unintentionally). Good green tea to go with it and less than a block away made it worthwhile.
Back to the hotel for a brief pack and to test the millefeuille; this bakery is meh, it was overbaked. Good but not spectacular overall, 6/10.
A quick walk to the Gion district after dark to see it lit up; it was as busy as during the day but prettier with the lanterns alight.
again, it felt quite touristy and one suspects prices are inflated. The group went out together during the trip and paid a lot of money for Kobe beef dinner, which they said was really good but did cost a lot.
There is a theatre in the district which puts on geisha performances and looks to be popular.
I feel like I have scratched the surface Koyoto; there would be lots of different things to do on a return trip but I feel like I saw a fair bit with the help of the cycling. I don’t think I’d like to be here in spring because of the crowds; it would be a beautiful sight if you can get near it. I’ll rely on Monty Don to film it for me.
Breakfast again at the hotel, last breakfast buffet TG. Had to go a little earlier than I’d have wanted, to get in touch with Brad re: the pedals; he figures that Roger has them. Unfortunately I know that Roger and Helen are having a lie in this a.m. as their plane isn’t until later, but at least I know I’ll get them by 10 a.m. as that’s checkout time!
In actuality it took me about that long to get ready, packing everything into the case and one carry bag (has food etc). Just at the right moment there was a knock on the door and the pedals appeared, they had indeed been given to Roger. Down into the base of the case they went, along with other bike stuff I won’t need anymore. The theory is that I won’t need to completely repack again, but inevitably something I need has disappeared (like laundry soap – slippery stuff that, and shampoo just doesn’t do the same job!) and I end up rummaging in the bottom of the case anyway. We live in hope…
I did luck out in the lobby after checking out as I discovered that Tsuyen is going to the same hotel as me, meeting his next tour there tonight. I was able to ride in his taxi, giving him a hand with suppies, and a good thing as the location is pretty hidden. It’s got a lovely entrance off a very busy street, but if you didn’t know it was there you would definitely walk past it. Explains why Debbie and I had so much trouble finding it on the map prior to leaving….I had pinned it, so would have found it eventually but it was definitely easier with someone who knows the way, esp. as the taxi will drop off on the opposite side of the busy street. The new hotel is quite lovely – much smaller and has more character than the Via Inn, for sure. It has a lovely scent when you go in and is peaceful and quiet, in stark contrast to the busy street. There is also a “living lounge” with free (good!) coffee 7 am. onwards. Luggage dropped off, check-in is some hours away.
So headed out for some sightseeing – first to the Nishiki food market, which was just waking up. Interesting space with all kinds of food for cooking and food stalls, both western and traditional. I wandered around looking at things, unable to find dried Shiso leaves (for ramen) but one could buy pretty much anything else including yuzu sake. (I will get mine in Tokyo as I don’t want to haul it around more than I need to).
Lots of matcha, wagashi (Japanese sweets) for sale – got a chestnut daifuku that was quite lovely. LOTS of tourists here, both Japanese and foreign.
I then turned back towards the metro station that I needed for Kyoto Botanical Gardens, and hit the patisserie street. Lots of lovely, high end patisseries. I made a note of where to come back to and walked by them all, as I didn’t want to carry a pastry around the gardens either.
At Kyoto Botanical Gardens, I was walked through the ticket buying process by an elderly volunteer, who politely asked if I was over 70 (the definition of a senior in Japan) as the ticket would be cheaper. What a bargain cf Van Dusen, it was only $4 (including entry to the conservatory which was an extra $2).
Had a good wander around the gardens, with grey skies threatening rain (as had the forecast predicdted) but it only spat a little. The gardens were relatively quiet, a large expanse with different zones and I took many, many pictures as it was quite lovely. The conservatory was amazing, and there were some lovely fall colours, a bonsai exhibition that was underwhelming, an orchid exhibition that was very artistic (inside an entrance building) and a French formal garden which was charming. There were still roses in bloom, and it would have been comfortable to sit and have a picnic as some family groups were obviously doing. Parts resembled VDG in that they were needing weeding, more the periphery than the main areas which were well kept.
Following are but a few of the many pictures I took, which I dedicate to my relative Morag who died suddenly and tragically at the start of this trip. She was a talented gardener and botanist and would have loved wandering around this garden. She was much in my thoughts as I meandered around.
an interesting one with flowers and fruit directly from the trunk, like cacao
passionfruit!
back outside again, water lillies!
and this quixotic sculpture at the entrance:
Time for lunch after all that hiking so a foray to Gion to the vegan ramen restaurant was the next stop. Another awesome ramen dish… stopped at the supermarket on the way back to get some more miso soup, and yoghourt and fruit for breakfast. Mandarins are excellent right now!
It was back to the hotel for check in after that, and found the luggage had already been put in the room. A nice room with some room to breathe, tastefully decorated in traditional Japanese style. The pillows are the first useable ones I’ve had in Japan; generally they are rock hard, and seem to have rice or something similar sewn into the back of them? They advertise as a combination of hard and soft but I’d never found the “soft” side…
A quick trip back to the pastry street found most of them sold out, but managed to purloin a slice of “Japonais” made with matcha that was really lovely when consumed later that evening. I am beginning to really enjoy matcha, which I didn’t before coming. 10/10 for this one!
A lovey soak in the bath repaired some of the aching in my osteoarthritic joints after all the walking today – no onsen at this hotel alas, and I find walking much harder than cycling nowadays. None of the baths are long enough to stretch out in, but they are deep.
The alarm will be set early for a hike around the Inari shrine tomorrow a.m. so an early sleep is in order.
Breakfast at the hotel was busy! Some teens’ sports team was in the hotel, and they descended upon the breakfast at 6:30 a.m., opening time, like a flock of locusts. The usual great variety of dishes, japanese to chinese to western (cereals like cornflakes), in the buffet – I usually came down somewhere in the middle of Japanese and Western as many of the Japanese dishes have meat and I can’t face fish for breakfast every day. Though the smoked mackarel is good… the scrambled eggs are inevitably runny, and a “boiled egg” means soft and still runny white. There is always canned fruit salad and yoghurt with the tasty mini croissants which always gets me through. Coffee at this breakfast was middling but the room coffee had a neat little filter bag system with real grounds in it and made better coffee actually than the fancy machine in the dining room in my humble opinion…
We assembled with bike gear on and headed on for a circular tour of Kyoto with an option to exit early without the last few stops and 10 km if desired. Most of us had runners and flat pedals to facilitate the touristing stops; it’s been a LONG time since I’ve used flat pedals and it felt weird, but strangely easy to pedal. Definitely an asset in the city with all the stops and starts. The locals riding bikes never signal which way they’re going, and the cars feel they have precedence over everything else, so it’s an interesting environment. We started on some very busy streets but Tsuyen navigated us to quieter streets and then bike paths fairly soon. His route finding has been quite amazing the whole trip… The bike path took us to the outskirts of the city, then we headed north alongside the river towards Arishayma. It’s a popular spot for wandering amongst shops, colour in the leaves in the background, and the bamboo forest to visit. There were a lot of bollards on the bike path and unfortunately one of the women caught a pedal going around one fairly early and got a fair knock – no road rash, but she was shaken. We waited for quite awhile ahead of the accident waiting to see what the outcome would be (I’m loving not being asked to participate in care!!) and found these open cherry blossoms, like there were at Ranouken gardens in Kanazawa.
Eventually Jane decided to continue on and nervously weaved her way amongst the remaining bollards along the river path. We rode past informal community garden plots, which we learned flooded frequently and were wiped out, but always rebuilt. We had Manu with us cycling so Manu’s café was open one last time at the first stop near Arishayama, with the remaining snacks produced from his pack!
The first rest stop produced a few leaf colour photos, as well as some posing white cranes. There must have been fish in there, as there were quite a few concentrated in one spot.
lots of people out and about, especially on the opposite side of the river.
lovely birds!
The river was quite picturesque in places, and busloads of tourists were unloading, snapping photos and then proceeding on…
Our Danish pig farmer, with ever present grin or infectious chuckle, lurks in the right of the picture. He really enjoys life, and LOVES cycling! Probably the most competitive, and fit, of all of us.
We crawled across the bridge behind a bus, traffic starting to build, as were crowds, but still very moveable and the tour leaders said it was very mild congestion compared to other times. Happily we were able to weave through traffic and pedestrians fairly nimbly, getting a view of the town and sights without having to deal with the congestion. Many of the visitors were Japanese and some in traditional kimonos as always.
Most of the group made it across the railway crossing before the train came, but some were stuck; it sounded like a toy train going through from where we were waiting! The next stop was the bamboo forest, where bamboo grows and is harvested for fencing mostly – it grows full height in 3 months which is pretty incredible.
Tsuyen took a full group picture here, but hasn’t yet sent the link – it should be good as he did a vertical panorama (mine isn’t as good) but you get the sense of the size of them!
People were being carted around Arishyama in two wheeled rickshaws by very fit looking young lads – it was mostly flat but can’t be an easy job, not the least because of negotiating the pedestrian traffic.
Next stop was the zen (Ryanoji) temple, and we had a lovely winding ride through a path amongst rice fields, vegetable patches and then back into suburbia eventually. The fields had a very rural feel to it even though it is only about 30 min outside town. There were some “undulations” in the next part along a lovely road which reminded me of Marine Drive, with some very nice looking houses and gardens and of course a temple or shrine sporadically appearing. There are over 1,000 shrines and temples in Kyoto alone, and they all look well maintained and very beautiful. Our next stop was Ryanoji Temple, which we learned is a centre for zen contemplation – if you are enlightened you see the maximum number of stones in the zen garden.
The temple grounds were as always, gorgeous.
There were some examples of really interesting pruning, like pollarding which I took lots of photos of for master gardening class! Japanese gardeners are of course master pruners.
There was a lovely teahouse and garden, with an ingenious water feature that was melodic and self-powered. Alas no videos work in this site.
colour was starting to appear here as well
It really was a zen place.
Again, crowds weren’t bad here. Apparently Queen Elizabeth made this garden famous with a visit here.
As with all temple gardens, there were very distinct zones.
A short ride further along “Marine Drive” took us to a sushi train restaurant, which was a blast. As I love sushi, it was heaven; dishes wander by on a conveyor belt, and you just pick off what you want. There was a matcha making station at the table with hot water dispensing and matcha powder which made amazingly good tea. If you want to order something specially (or the table ahead of you pounces on the things you want!) there is an ipad type device on the table and you just order there; it comes along at high speed, in the opposite direction to the first belt, on another conveyor belt a level above the regular one. At the end, you slide your empty plates into a slot and a chip on the plate records what was on it and calculates your bill. It was a bit more complicated for us as there were 4 to a table, and in our case 3 different bill payers, but an ingenious system. The sushi was excellent, with a good variety and there was quite a queue to get in to the restaurant so obviously the locals agreed. The total for me was $7 for a meal of sushi! What a country!
Another short ride, now spitting rain, took us to the Golden Temple, Kinkaku-ji temple, actually covered with 5 mm thick of gold leaf (increased in thickness since it was last burnt down by a mentally ill monk in 1950 to provide more fire retardancy). The rain increased a little while we were here but didn’t last long, fortunately; as well as a lovely building, the temple grounds were again gorgeous.
the backside of the temple with the colourful grounds surrounding it
lovely walks and grounds once more
the temple just visible through the trees
you can see the rain on the lake here
the entrance
We rode through narrow streets and alleys and came out in Imperial Palace grounds – vast and a gravel version of the Mall in London.
There is no admission inside, and the Emperor splits his time between Kyoto and Tokyo. Kyoto was the original centre of government but it was moved in the Edo period to Tokyo, abandoning Kyoto which suffered economically. Because of this several construction projects were started including the canal and aquaduct system (seen later) to support the economy. Because of the historical significance of Kyoto it was removed from bombing target possibilities for both conventional and nuclear bombs.
At this point half the group decided to ride back to the hotel, so were guided back by Manu and Brad, the other lead; the other half of us proceeded onwards for an optional 10 km more. Next stop was Philosopher’s path, beside the constructed canal system, and a place that is stuffed tight with people in the spring to see the cherry blossoms as they line this very picturesque walk. We were actually able to cycle most of it, with some interesting cobblestone bits, as there weren’t too many people out. Named after a famous philospher who used the route to get to Kyoto University, next to Imperial Palace, it is now a lovely stretch of several kilometres with water running down from the constructed aquaduct. It is filled with quaint narrow streets and alleys, which we negotiated carefully with our bikes! At least we were a fairly small group now.
Would definitely be spectacular in the spring with the cherry blossoms
but I wonder what the locals think of the crowds taking over their neighbourhood?
This took us shortly to Nanzen-ji Temple and aqueduct, another majestic building and lovely grounds.
the grounds boast the largest stone lantern in Japan
Above the temple is the aqueduct, which continues to carry water today.
good water flow!
Maruyama Park, a fashionable place to get wedding photos taken, was the next stop and fortuitously there was some posing going on.
Another huge green space, with pretty autumn colouring, easily reachable by many locals; it is the theme of Kyoto, a very big city now but with historic roots and many green spaces.
We had an interesting time getting to the next stop, and had to walk our bikes due to the increase in pedestrians; shoppers coming and going to the Higashiyama district (historic, high end shopping district).
We parked our bikes with Tsuyen and walked up to a viewpoint to get a view of Yasaka pagoda, a landmark of Kyoto that was pointed out to us on the first day here; there are east and west pagodas and as they are perched on a hill they look spectacular.
It’s remarkable in Kyoto how you can cycle through a neighbourhood that feels ancient, then in the next block emerge into a modern city that is night and day. The next part of the trip was through busy bustling modern Kyoto, then a bike path through the old red light district (now dotted with coffee shops which looked very inviting!) and then back into modern Kyoto around the train station. We delivered the bikes to the Exodus warehouse/bike rental shop and were promised our saddles and pedals back at dinner.
Cycling through and around Kyoto got us to a large number of places, and we wouldn’t have been able to see half of what we did by public transit or car. As long as you are with someone who knows where they are going, it is a vastly better way to get around (admittedly would be very tricky on one’s own). It was also superfun to pedal around so easily and see so much!
I got my souvenier bag back at the 6:15 meet with the pedals inside and took a quick look – they looked like wide pedals like mine (the souvenirs from Tokyo had been kindly stored under the van seat for the duration to make daily packing easier). I ran the stuff up to the room without looking closely, and we headed out for the farewell group dinner. A couple had been to Hiroshima today and they joined us later – interesting to hear their impressions (Brits). One thing they noted was that the peace memorial was for children and that there were literally thousands of Japanese schoolchildren at the site; apparently every school child is taken there at some point.
The group dinner was fun, and some contact info was exchanged; the usual “what’s app group” established and goodbyes were said. Several couples are staying on another two nights, like me; most at the same hotel but one couldn’t get a reservation so is moving down the street to another hotel near the station. The tips were delivered to the guides with a humourous speech from one of the Brits who noted that this was the fastest Exodus group he’d ever ridden with albeit the eldest in age and we all nodded… there were some superstars in this group for sure, amongst whom was the Danish pig farmer whose favourite day was the mountain leg and he wanted more elevation!, two triatheletes (one 71 yo and the other who had a rare heart condition during the last swim part which likely will preclude him from competing again) and another very fit couple from Colorado who are heading on a 200 km hike next back to Tokyo along a “camino de santiago” like route. Made me feel just a little better about being lantern rouge for a good part of the way – never very far behind, but usually lagging a little due to picture taking or just plain inability to keep up with that lot when they were going full steam! The ebike rider, Gordon, was inspiring at 79 to be still doing trips like this, but he also competed for lantern rouge as did one other rider at the begining.
Certainly, catching a cold never improved my performance ability! I am just grateful I didn’t have to hop in the van at any point as it was all lovely scenery. A spectacular route. In addition to my cold, I have a good collection of bruises and some road rash from 4 falls the first four days. There were a number of falls altogether in the group – albeit I was early in the trend, I never fell after day four which is when everyone else started falling! A very enthusiastic cycling group though.
On return to the hotel after dinner I discovered I had been given back the wrong pedals so was glad I’d exchanged contact info with Manu. Though I couldn’t call or text him I sent an email, and one to Brad, our other leader; someone obviously had mine and mine were definitely better pedals! Fingers crossed it gets sorted tomorrow.
