30 August 2009

Emily woke several times during the night, and thanks to the thin curtains she was wide awake before 6am. I managed to occupy her until breakfast at eight, while Nick lay in bed, still very tired, as she nattered ceaselessly and played.

Outside, mist was hanging in the trees and the cobwebs were beaded with droplets.

At breakfast we got some fruit and pieces of sausage down her. It's ironic that in the week experts have publicised the danger of processed meat for children, Emily has had ham plus her first taste of bacon and sausages! As always, her restlessness meant that we couldn't take our time and enjoy the big spread.

Though it was still cloudy, we set off for our pre-planned day out. Although it's not that long since I drove in the UK, I had been feeling strangely nervous about taking the wheel, but soon relaxed into it, and the roads were really quiet.

Most of the time, though in the countryside, the speed limit was 50kph, but I found it impossible to keep it any lower than 60kph, and was overtaken a few times even then. It took about half an hour to get to Lake Shirakabako (white birch lake), which is at about 14oom elevation, and looked very mysterious in the mist. There were the inevitable ugly concrete hotels but it didn't seem too developed.

We pulled over so that Emily could have a walk, and our steps took us to the lakeside, right by a host of swan pedalos and a big swan pleasure boat.

Emily liked the ducks there, and then we saw that the water was heaving with huge black carp. The reason they congregate there was soon obvious as a large party arrived, their kids armed with a packet of biscuits, which they started chucking to the ducks and fish. A girl offered Emily a biscuit and she loved throwing pieces into the gaping maws of the carp. We coaxed her back into the car and completed the circuit of the small lake, passing a massive family amusement complex at the other end, before stopping again at another boat hire outlet. Having Emily means that I can do things like go in a pedalo without feeling totally embarrassed! We paddled around for half an hour, letting her take the wheel when there was no threat of collison with one of the many other pleasure craft on the lake.

On one island there was a stand of the eponimous white birch trees sheltering a little shrine, with a red torii standing in the water before it.

Emily was showing obvious signs of flagging by now, so we decided to switch her lunch and nap around and continue on to the ropeway (cable car) next on our route. Within 2 minutes she was asleep, as we climbed up into thick cloud on the 'Venus Line' road. Sadly, we couldn't see the views, but we soon turned off and carried on upwards to the ropeway station, emerging into sunshine as we did so. We sat in the car park until Emily woke up, after just 35 minutes. She was quite grumpy and prone to tears, and at first refused to eat. Nick and I had noodle dishes in the restaurant attached to the terminal, and he did well to persevere and coax her into eating quite a bit, including the pouch of gloop I'd brought speculatively but with little hope.

We got on the next departure of the large cable car, which whisked us up to 2250m over attractive pines and swathes of dwarf bamboo covering the winter ski runs.

At the 'summit' station we found that we were in a cradle formed by some of the Yatsugatake ('eight peaks') range, their forested, rocky flanks soaring up into cloud. The immediate area was a jumble of rocks and low vegetation, with alpine flowers in the crevices. Being that much higher the air was refreshingly cool, though it was still just about T-shirt weather. There was a 15 minute loop path marked out among the rocks and we set off around it. After a few minutes we saw a post indicating that we could get to one of the peaks in an hour. We were both tempted by the thought that we could bag a mountain, so we struck off along the trail, and were soon navigating a path made of rocks with the odd wooden step thrown in.

First, we dropped into a damp, cool vale, then began a tough climb. I really pushed myself, my quads complaining a little as we had paddled the pedalo quite hard once or twice. The path seemed to go on and on, and as we were in trees we couldn't gauge our progress. Finally, after nearly half an hour's slog, we came to a refuge house, placed for the overnight use of hikers on the long path that takes in most of the 2,000m+ peaks in the range. At that point I said that we ought to return, though the man at the refuge said that it was only another 15 minutes to the top. I am usually an all-or-nothing person, but Emily would not have been happy to remain in the carrier all that time and she already seemed very subdued. My resolve was strengthened by the onset of light rain, and we turned tail after a quick go in a wooden swing chair (at first I sat on it with Emily, but she very imperiously insisted 'Daddy sit here' and pointed to the vacant end).

The descent was rife with opportunities to turn an ankle and took almost as long as the climb. The peak disappeared in thick cloud, so it would have been a waste of effort, though elsewhere blue sky periodically showed through the wind-rent cloud. Just as we got to the cable station a brief but heavy shower rolled in, so we were more than happy to get aboard and return below.

We arrived back at Zigzag with half an hour to dinner. Yet again the meal was a struggle; Emily didn't seem comfortable in her chair and refused most food. We let her get down but she continued to say 'don't like it'. Then I caught an unmistakable whiff and realised why she was upset. After cleaning her up she and I returned to the meal, and though she wouldn't settle at the table we managed to get just about enough morsels down her as she roamed around. Goki is an invaluable ally in getting her to accept proffered tidbits. Back in the room, we decided to try the bath, after topping it up with cold water. As the deep vessle was completely full, she was literally up to her neck in hot water. She liked the jet of bubbles in the aged jacuzzi and was happy playing with a couple of bath toys from home.

Once Emily was safely asleep Nick and I shared a bottle of wine and chatted upstairs in the lounge. For the first time, I found out that one of the names the Japanese have for Blighty is 'Eikoku', which apparently means 'splendid country'!