With our Japan adventure drawing to an end we had one destination left to explore: Tokyo! After an 8 hour train journey taking most of the morning and afternoon, Claire headed out to stretch her legs on a jog around the local Kinuta park before we spent the evening planning our Tokyo itinerary. We had …
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Japan’s Southern Islands
Probably the most rushed section of our tour around Japan; we had 3 days to explore the two main Southern Islands of Japan, Shikoku and Kyushu! We decided that a ferry ride across Japans inland sea would be a good way to see some more of the coastline so took the fast ferry across from …
Hiroshima
Hiroshima is not an easy place to visit, and this is not an easy blog to write. However, by sharing stories of the devastation that atomic bombs cause Hiroshima aims to prevent a repeat of this tragedy. After leaving Dave and Alisha in Shingu, we caught the train back around the Kii peninsula to Osaka …
Kumano Kodo Part 2: Kumano Nachi Taisha
Day 4 of our Kumano Kodo trek was the ‘big climb’ of the trip. All our guide books stated that you must begin the hike before 8am despite the day only being 14km. After our experience of the steep hot climb on day 1 we were prepared for a hard day. That meant an early …
A detour to the Kii Peninsula coastline
Over the last 1000 years, walking wasn’t the only mode of transport used by pilgrims. The Shingu river provided an alternative mode of transport, and as a break to our hike (and to allow Claire’s brother to join us for the last day’s hike) we had booked a traditional boat trip down the river. Unfortunately …
The Kumano Kodo Pilgrimage Trail: Part 1
One of the first things we had planned for our world tour was a four day hike across the Kii peninsula, which is to the south of Kyoto and Osaka. Both of us had come across the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage trail independently in our research and we thought that it sounded like a great trip. …
A crazy 24 hours in Osaka
If you’re going to have a wild night out in Japan then Osaka is a good option. And we just happened to be heading here on the afternoon of the Wales vs Australia Game… We arrived in Osaka mid afternoon, and after a walk through Tennoji Park (where the rugby fanzone was, but unfortunately not …
Let’s go to Kyoto!
Kyoto in one trip (or one blog post – make sure you’ve got a cup of tea with you for this one!) is almost impossible simply due to the sheer volume of temples, history, culture and scenery. Even we recognised that we were never going to fit all the major sights into our three days …
Konichiwa Japan! Arriving in Tokyo and Mount Fuji
After a ten hour flight that was delayed on the runway, we finally landed at Tokyo’s Narita airport. It was very important (to Gareth) that we got straight to the Rugby World Cup Fanzone in central Tokyo to watch Wales’ first match against Georgia. Fortunately Claire reminded him that we would need to pick up …
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Victoria, Vancouver and a Canada round up
We arrived in Victoria (the capital of British Columbia, despite being significantly smaller than Vancouver) at about 16:00 and donated our tent to the Salvation Army (who seemed a little too pleased to be receiving a wet, dirty tent, that probably couldn’t survive a moderate gust or 30 minutes of steady rain). We then checked …
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Claire and Gareth go travelling! 