1 October 08

Exactly a month after our trip with Nick's family, we were off on our travels again, this time to Hokkaido. I was rather flustered and flapping, trying to get us ready (well, mainly Emily) for the off. As it happened, we did cut it quite fine getting to Haneda airport, arriving at the gate just as the Air Do flight was boarding.

Emily had a nap at first, but was awake for an hour of the journey, and we found it hard to keep her occupied. Asahikawa was a small but pleasant airport, and we had a good lunch there before picking up our rental car nearby. Straight away we were worried about the satnav as there was a sign for Asahidake Onsen, our destination, pointing in a different direction. We stopped and asked for assistance and were advised to take another road. However, as we went along we found that we were on a parallel road to the recommended route and eventually joined it.

Autumn colour was only just starting, but we could see how amazing it would be. The orange and gold hues were really bright. The road to the resort was along a river valley with steep, wooded sides: a beautiful area. By now heavy rain had caught us up so as we climbed to the village cloud was hanging in the trees and we couldn't see the mountains around us. We made the drive in under an hour as the road was very quiet and in excellent condition; not what I'd expected at all. I'd imagined the Hokkaido roads to be akin to those in Ireland for some reason.

Lodge Nutapu Kaushipe is a wooden chalet with a steep-sided roof. Small piles of snow lined the road, and outside the lodge were great stacks of firewood. Inside we found that everything was made of rough-hewn wood, even including the light shades.

The counter was one long chunk of wood about 20 feet long. Mum was in Haru (Spring) room, and we were in Natsu (Summer). Instead of tatami, she had a pair of beds made of logs with tatami instead of mattresses: very quirky. Ours was a regular tatami-mat room, with a huge window looking in the direction of Asahidake mountain, though it was currently obscured by cloud.

We were keen to try the lodge's outdoor rotemburo, so Nick went first on a recce as we were a bit nervous. He soon came back urging us to give it a try.

I felt strangely self-conscious about baring all in front of Mum, but it was possible to avoid looking at each other much, and it was quite dark in there anyway. The bath was behind the building, overlooking a stream. We entered a cave-like area of jumbled boulders, passing three huge logs suspended on chains whose purpose was unclear. We poured water from the bath over ourselves using the wooden bowls provided, then got in as it was pretty chilly out there. The temperature was lovely - like a relaxing warm bath. The 'cave' opened out to the tumbling stream and trees opposite. We were reluctant to get out but slightly worried that someone else might come in as it was open to all residents.

I had trouble getting Emily off to sleep as she was very active, so I was late downstairs for the 6.30 dinner. Why on earth do they insist on serving evening meals so early here? There was nothing too challenging on the food front; a fair amount of meat, so I filled up on the tasty local potatoes that the owner had apparently been to collect from the valley earlier that day. We killed some time before bed by playing Pontoon (Mum won), then Nick and I tried out the indoor cedar-wood baths.