This morning’s breakfast was much like yesterday’s but this time we were given a soft tofu and an egg dish that were really nice.
Today’s plan is to follow the same sort of routine as yesterday of getting up in time for breakfast, going back to the room to relax for a little, get changed into warmer clothes, explore for a bit and be back around 3pm when the baths are open, then dinner at 6pm. This time we plan on going to see the one of the town’s waterfalls.
We spoke to one of the staff at the ryokan who printed is a map and gave us some information about the path to the waterfall. He said there would be a huge wall but there are steps along the side we can use and there will be a sign that looks like it blocks the path but we can ignore that too, all of which was pretty good advice.
The walk took about 45 minutes and it was a really nice way to experience the country side. The path follows the river upstream and takes us through forest with tall bamboo and thick canopies, through farm land and small villages, over tiny wooden bridges and big walls and the whole journey is dotted with bright cheery blossoms that standout among the greenery and rocks.
We arrived at the waterfall and there were tourists around but it wasn’t very busy which is nice compared to Tokyo. The waterfall is quite tall and feeds the river we just walked along, including the farms we saw on the way and a wasabi farm right here! This area is famous for wasabi and this is just one place that grows it, even at our hotel we are given fresh wasabi root to grate ourselves and the dessert even had a little blob of it!
There was also a place to hire long bamboo fishing rods to catch fish from the steam here but we just took some photos and had an ice cream.
On the way out we stopped by the souvenir shop and bought a couple of gifts and some Sakura prawn crackers for the walk home, they were delicious!
We followed the path back and it seemed to go quicker this time, probably because we weren’t taking as many photos and it was mostly down hill!
We got back to find Bec’s name on the front door, they put the guests name on a welcome board! We saw them writing the names on the way out.
We got home, got changed back into our yukata and headed for the only bath we haven’t tried yet!
The bath we haven’t tried yet was taken so we went next door to the first bath we tried here. I didn’t get to upload a photo last time but it’s quite nice, it is the largest one we’ve seen and has a nice natural rock pool setting with bamboo fencing.
After spending some time here we went back and tried the final bath, now we have tried them all! This one was so hot! It is a semi open air room with a giant bath tub overlooking the main bridge out the front of the Ryokan. We couldn’t spend much time here, it was definitely the hottest.
We had a little time before dinner so we sat on these tiny little massage chairs for a bit. I was surprised I could even fit in it and unfortunately it didn’t quite reach high enough up my back where all my knots are! It was still nice though.
This was our final dinner here. Our waitress says most people come for weekends and they try to make sure they get different food each day but because we were here for 3 nights they made up a new menu plan for us this time. We had 2 sorts of sashimi, local grilled fish, nabe, tempura, other little dishes, soup from a teapot and for dessert a soy bean pudding. Delicious again and filling but a great last feast of local produce for our last night in Yugashima. Of course we got our takeaway onigiri they give us in case we get hungry later!