Emily and I were to follow later, once she’d had a rest and food. It felt quite an adventure setting off on my own with her in the baby rucksack carrier. I’d made a mistake reading the train timetable, so when I got to Asakusa I discovered that the fast train I had intended to take wasn’t running. Instead we had to ride on a slower one that seemed to have an interminable number of local stops. Emily wriggled and fidgeted most of the 2 ¾ hours and would not go off to sleep, so was quite upset by the time we arrived at Nikko.
Nick and Kate had gone off to pick up the people carrier that we were hiring. The road up to the lakeside resort of Chuzenji-ko was a tortuous series of switchbacks, but better than expected as it had two lanes and was one-way only. I’d had visions of stopping on every bend while buses navigated corners, or following a slow vehicle all the way up. From the rail station at 543 metres we ascended to our hotel at about 1200m, arriving shortly before dusk. It was a lot nicer than I’d expected, a huge hotel with nice tree-dotted lawns sloping down to the lake.
It was certainly out of season, as we were virtually the only diners that night. By now I am used to dining in a yukata when staying away, but it was still an odd sight, the five of us sitting there in the plain brown pyjama outfits provided, with more than a hint of Communism about them.
It seemed strange eating a five course French-inspired meal, but it was rather good. We were frustrated that once again the monitor would not work, so took it in turns to go back and forth to the room and check on Emily.
After dinner it was still really early so we walked off our food with a brief wander through the garden to the waters’ edge, and relished the delicious cool after the steaminess of the city. There was a slight sulphur smell hanging in the air from the small natural hot spring attached to the hotel.
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