Threatening clouds as we left Saijo. On the hill in the background is the Archeological museum
A temple free recovery day – although some may not consider walking 20 kilometres with a backpack much of a way to recover from over-exertion! The path was less than inspiring with much of the day in towns and villages when we’d really expected countryside, and these towns were not endearing until the very last where you felt there was some tradition remaining.
A new angle on the traditional coffee shopI’ll stick with the Japanese barber I went to who spoke absolutely no English
It was in these last couple of kilometres that the day became memorable. Firstly we stopped and were welcomed by a lady who provides for pilgrims, with hot drinks, snacks and good cheer. It also turns out that the village is known for its bonsai industry:
Big ones are a life long passion! Note the beckoning cat in the background!
The woman’s husband insisted on escorting us to the bonsai ‘shop’ where they had many fantastic Japanese white pine bonsai on display. We didn’t enquire as to price!
Not much further was our accommodation, and after dinner our hostess explained that she was a koto instructor and would we like a concert. Hard to say no!
Posting videos is not part of my skillset. I hope it works! In case it doesn’t, here is Sam in a still representing the team:
Also on offer was a brief cameo of one of the local floats, and a photo of the official poster in last night’s hotel. There are multiple events, each focused on a particular temple in the Saijo area, but none of the dates align with our whereabouts!:
In 2009, we embarked on a one-year family sailing adventure aboard a Grand Soleil 39, "SV Mulan". Our original sailing blog is linked on this site.
In 2017, Susan, Andrew, Sam & Max walked the Camino Frances from St-Jean-Pied-de-Porte to Santiago de Compostella (and rode bikes from Burgos to Leon as a blister recovery strategy), and in 2018 Jack also joined the crew as we waled the northern section of the Camino Portuguese from Porto to S de C.
In 2019 Andrew, accompanied by Max for the first few hundred kms, and Susan for the Tiscan section, walked the via francigena from Canterbury to Rome. That journey is blogged in this site.
This blog is planned as an alternative to the endless instagram posts used previously to communicate with those interested in our travels - although there is a linked instagram account as well!
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