You might be wondering why those famous Japanese autumn colours have not featured yet in our blog. Because Kyushu is further south than the rest of Japan and considerably warmer, autumn is much later except in the mountains. And yesterday, we drove back towards Mount Aso to stay a night in the most beautiful, pared back and non-chi-chi spa of all: simply a room with its own fabulous onsen overlooking the mountains.
Our view this morning, once the cloud had lifted a bit, was stupendous:
The colours around us were every bit as lurid as we had hoped:
So we set off to explore the area, ending up at a pedestrian footbridge built specially for this time of year. It was thronged with visitors and the pathway to the bridge full of special planting:
The planted trees were the reddest, with a photographer taking pictures with them in the background for those who wished:
The bridge itself had the usual admonitions:
And then came the wonderful view of a river far below on one side and at least three waterfalls on the other, with cloud coming and going, softening the colours and wetting everything but having a beautiful effect:
And now we have driven to Fukuoka and given back our little car (we called her ‘12.45’ for obvious reasons) which proved to be perfect for the roads.
This last bit is for petrol heads only – we know that it will bore the pants off most of you. We were most impressed by the hybrid engine – we scarcely had to fill up with petrol despite having driven well over 1000 km. And the boot was able to absorb our luggage more easily than most cars twice the size.
Later we realised that this was because there was scarecely any room for the passengers!
How was the driving, some of you may want to know? Many roads were empty of other cars; they were windy enough to be interesting but not so windy that they made passengers ill; signs – although in Japanese – were pretty clear. Traffic lights were helpful, even in remote places. And other drivers were a dream – patient, orderly, considerate. Even the satnav complied once we learnt how to manage it. All in all, driving was a joy and, next to Eastern Turkey, my favourite place to enjoy a road trip.
That is an amazing design for a car (who needs passengers?) – I’ll ask you later about electric stations etc. Such glorious autumn colours – we don’t see such luxury over here except in Ontario – and with the mist trailing over them …. sigh.
I’m not sure we’ve driven a hybrid before so took a few days to realise that the flashing symbol ( sometimes green, sometimes red) on the dashboard was all about the battery charging. There, that’s it for my knowledge of how hybrids work but I know we didn’t need a charging station ( just as well as there weren’t all that many around). And the colours were beautiful, even under a grey sky.
Oh, what’s a feast of colours! I thought the red amongst all the others
Love to you both
And to you too Elizabeth! The reds were particularly dramatic!
Lovely autumn colours. I’m no petrolhead but I love our Toyota hybrid. Great to drive, uses little petrol and self charges. What’s not to like!
Well, quite right! I never thought I’d hear M say she was thinking maybe a hybrid for her next car – I suspect a tiny petrolhead conversation might be in order?
Fine! I think hybrids are all automatic which M might not like
Mmm, you may be right though automatics on long journeys and winding roads seem just the thing..
How fabulous to see all those Autumn colours, especially the red.
The car sounds perfect!
We got quite attached to 12.45 and, this being Japan, kept everything very neat and clean inside – no sweet-wrappers, crumbs or other detritus allowed to accumulate…
Gorgeous autumn colours! And so Japanese!!
Indeed yes – like some of those Edo era prints, the patterns were almost abstract – and so beautiful
Very impressed by data on car. Glorious autumn colours too.
Not sure we’ve taken you in detail through the Japanese satnav ( seems unlikely we’ve missed it out but we seem to have been travelling for months). Anyway, each time we’d plotted our route, it would remind us, in quite a steely voice I felt, to follow all traffic regulations carefully while driving and not to deviate until we reached the destination zone.
Thanks so much for these messages! It’s been wonderful to get your comments and photos! What a marvellous trip! Can’t wait to hear more. We’ll be back in London on 15 December and will be hoping to have you at our place in early January!
Love from Mike and V.
V much looking forward to catching up next month. V glad you’re enjoying our travellers’ tales!
Very beautiful! Puzzling over why people are not allowed to use umbrellas on the bridge and the only reason I can come up with is because the winds that high up must be pretty fierce and you could end up doing a Mary Poppins.
Or, heaven forbid, cause embarrassment with an umbrella turned inside out, exposing its struts for all to see? I can’t actually imaging going on the bridge at all if it was raining hard enough to need an umbrella. On the other hand, this is quite an empty part of the national park, and if the bridge was the highlight of your tour, I guess you’d brave the rain? I do prefer the Mary Poppins version I have to say.
What a glorious display of nature giving its all before the winter shutdown
The combination of waterfalls, colours and mist were pretty magical. The valleys in much of Kyushu are dramatically deep and densely forested.