My last night of 7 spent on the island of Shikoku and it's been a lovely experience. Yesterday I left Kochi down in the south and headed west and north to Matsuyuma, the biggest city on the island with about half a million inhabitants. First on the Monogatari or tourist train with its sideways facing seats and hostess service:
A bit glitzy perhaps but it went nice and slow and stopped for photos and also for the locals to sell their wares at some of the little stations. A fair few people were around to wave us on including railway staff dressed up:
And along the Pacific Coast briefly:
Then inland along rivers and fields:
By now I had switched onto a one carriage local train with bench seats down the side and the driver tucked in a little compartment up front so we could see the track ahead out the big window beside him.
The warnings back in Kochi of track closure due to rockfall turned seemed to have elapsed - maybe very efficient track clearing. It was nearly three hours on our little train with no toilet so we made a half hour stop at this station with an interesting bench:
And this one was at Uwajima where I changed onto the express train:
With a car these little villages would be fun to explore - they even have single track roads to enjoy. Saw evidence of a lot of timber extraction. The hills are completed covered in lovely mixed woodland. Not sure you would get many views on a hike.
Today I was up early and in the line for the famous Dogo Onsen Rokan which was just 2 mins from the hostel. Luckily a Japanese fellow was also heading there so showed me the ropes. Queuing at 6am:
I didn't take this photo:
First you sit on a little stool and wash with a shower hose then climb into the pool. Quite warm but very relaxing. You fold your towel and put it on your head since the floor is quite wet! I noticed most people stayed about 15 mins max.
That set me up for the day and next I was off to see Matsuyama Castle, another original one though many parts had been rebuilt after fire damage. I took the chairlift up:
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Amazing to think that there was virtually no-one here when the castle was first built around 1600:
I then headed down to the town and wandered about.
No bruised apples here!
But I did find a nice public footpath using the same hot springs as the onsen:
A local son, Masaoka Shiki, loved baseball but earned his statue from his literary work. Arcade:
Tomorrow back on the train and on to Hiroshima and on Wednesday to Nagasaki.
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