Sunday 15th May 2016 (updated)

Today would have been Granddad's 100th birthday; he would have been surprised were he still alive to hear that I would be celebrating it in Japan.

Today, we are heading for somewhere new, this time a place in the hills, a village called Takayama. And to get there we would have to get onto the main line, have a two hour bullet train ride to Nagoya, then catch something called the Heda Limited Express for a two and a half hour trip into the hills.

We had been unable to book our seats the day before, so in order to make sure we got to the Ryokan in time for dinner, we would have to get up early and be at the main line station ASAP. So, the alarm went off at half seven, down for breakfast so we could be in the taxi for quarter past eight. As ever there was a box of delights for breakfast, but we found something between the salad, curry and fried pickles that seemed ok to us to eat in the morning.

With that done, I order the taxi, and we are on the short ride to the station at eight fifteen And upon leaving, there is much bowing and words of thanks from both sides, and once again the uniformed staff open the taxi doors for us. We are on the platform ready for the express service into Okayama, where it was no trouble in getting seats together on an express in less than an hour's time. In fact, being the only people getting on the train, we did wonder again if this was the train we needed. We sat in an epty carriage, all with starched headrest overs and sparkly clean windows. A lovely non stop trip right to the main line station.

So we go to the platform, get a coffee from a vending machine. Cans of already hot coffee, which are warm to the touch, and good enough for this coffee snob on the move. Then I wander off and take more shots of sleek high speed trains. One looked different, so I go to the neighbouring platform to snap it. Turns out it was one of the previous generation, and 22 years old; but looking more modern, sleeker and faster than the current class 700 series.

As I walk back to the steps leading down to the concourse so I could make my way back to Jools and Jen, I hear the noise signalling that the doors of the train were closing, but I look at my watch, I should have more than 10 minutes before the train left. I imagined Jools and Jenn and the bags going somewhere else in Japan, with no way of contacting me. I swore, ran down the steps and back up the ones leading to where I had left Jen and Jools on the train, to find it still waiting.

They were amused at my distress, and I sweating like crazy.

Anyway, the train pulled out exactly on time, with me cooling down in the window seat, and soon we were flying through the Japanese countryside, my worries soon forgotten about. We pass through scenery full of tree covered steep hills surrounded by endless paddy fields, reflecting the partially cloudy sky. Jools soons nods off, but I am enthralled, as I have been since I was a kid at the countryside and twon rolling by, apparently just for my enjoyment. In larger towns and cities, there are large fenced structures which I see finally are golfing ranges,

A couple of hours later, we got off at Nagoya, and having just ten minutes to get our connection, it was worrying to find a queue at the ticket barrier; and frustrating as all we had to do was flash our passes and would be let through. An Australian woman at the front just stood there wilt the guard talked to someone coming through the barrier in the other direction. We seemed to stand there for ages, I lent forward and nudged her husband who gave me a mouthful, I said that we had a connection to make. He sneered that they did too. I cent to confront me once we were through the barriers, but we just walked on to the platform to get our train.

There was a good chance he would be on the same train as us, and I might bump into him once we reached our destination, so I mulled over what to say, and in the end a heartfelt apology was needed.

The train pulled out and right away the guard made an announcement for the fact the seats were pointing in the wrong direction, but explained that at the next station the direction of travel would reversed and we would be facing the right way. Because, on most trains the seats can swivel so will almost always face the right way, as well as lining up with the train windows. See, it can be done, just not in Britain. Apparently.

Anyway, the six car diesel unit, accelerated across the farmland, but all the time nearing the high tree covered hills, and soon began climbing into a river valley which soon narrowed to a gorge. Unusually, the line was made of jointed track, so we click-clacked our way up the valley, criss-crossing the river dozens of times.

The line followed the river up the gorge; through bamboo groves lining the river lower down, through woods, across paddy fields, through tunnels and numerous bridges crossing back and forth over the river. We past hydro-electric plants, dams and other flood reduction measures, passed through small villages and larger towns. It was all so green down in the gorge, with the hills rising hundreds of feel almost vertically to the sky on both sides.

We reach the watershed, a wide valley covered in paddy fields; the track takes a tight loop of nearly 270 degrees before heading down flowing another river. In a few minutes we glide into Takayama.

We let the rest of the passengers get off, then take ourselves and our bags to the platform then through to the parking lot and bus station beyond. We see the shuttle bus and make ourselves known; we were crossed off the list and allowed to board the bus.

It is a ten minute run down the main street to the Ryokan, past shops, houses and urban paddy fields!

We get off the bus and staff from the ryokan line up and bow to us each in turn. We are taken inside, past a huge pool full of koi carp, a hot water spring paddling pool in which to soothe tired feet, and into the huge lobby, where each party is taken to a set of comfortable armchairs and sofas so the checking in process can begin. We are allowed to choose tradtional clothes which we will wear whilst we stay, and our shoes are taken away, as from now on we had to wear slippers or socks that they had provided.

In our room we are shown the very limited storage space, the arrangements for the making up of our futons later that day, and that dinner will start at half seven. Beyond the sliding doors leading to the balcony, there is a hot tub, with fresh water dripping in thus keeping it topped up. We had four hours, and suddenly felt very tired. Jen was on the floor below, and she had been taken to see her room, so we had a shower and took to the hot tub, or onsen as it is called.

It was wonderful, just cool enough to be able to get in the water, but hot enough to have steam rising into the air. We lazed in the tub for an hour, getting all red and wrinkly.

At half seven we went down to our private dining room, and Kei who had been assigned to wait on us. Another 12 course banquet lay ahead, and it was fabulous, although we did have to pass on the oyster course as none of us like them. It was a bit of a lottery with what we were eating, but most of it wonderful, even the conga eel again.

The full menu is as follows:

Soybean skin and Sakura shrimp marinated with horseradish leaf
Icefish fried with crushed rice cookie
Manila clam marinated with broad bean paste
firefly squid stewed with ginger
broad bean, bracken and fried wheat gluten
asparagus with salmon
edible wild plants marinated with grated radish

Steamed conga eel
Sashima (sushi) of the day
roasted Hida beef
Bracken with fried bean curd, sea bream roe and prawn
Hida beef steak
Sea tangle flavoured scallop with strawberry vinegar
Freshwater fish
Bamboo shoots with dried laver (sic)
Miso soup
steamed rice
Pickled horseradish
Salted vegetables

Seasonal deserts

To be honest, getting this last traditional dinner was a bit of relief, in that we were tense at having to decline such wonderfully prepared food, because of our narrow western tastes. It started to feel like the end of the trip was beginning, doubly so as tomorrow we would have a full day in the town, before catching a train the day after, and then one final day in Tokyo before we would make the long journey home.

All good things come to an end, in time.

Needless to say, the evening ended with cards and beer, and listening to the radio via the interwebs.