What, there’s more ??

1. Well, you’ve followed the excitement of JWOC, then the WOC, and the adventures of those in Scotland at the WMOC, then the magnificent gold in the WMTBO at the sprint by Angus R, and possibly even the Icelandic bike trek by Greg A and Gavin’s mountainous ramblings on the way to the WRC, so surely that’s it ? All over for the year ?

Well NO!! because there’s just one more, and we’ve of course saved the best till last !
The Region 3 Radio Orienteering championships being held in Japan.

I’m getting waaaay ahead of myself though, because we aren’t actually at the champs yet, just on the way. Some of us have actually made it to Japan though, so this blog entry will just recap the last few days.

[Those following/on Facebook may have already seen some of the photos, but I make no apologies, because they are some of the best, and we can`t have the blog missing out on those !]

We’re on the Southern Island of Japan at present. Not as far south as Yakoshima Island (refer Glaspoles), but nearly.

I’m writing this blog entry on the train b ask from Ibusuki,  but let’s go back to the beginning :

Kumomoto

First day, a bit out of it after all the flying etc, was a visit to Kumomoto castle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next day we hired a car. The excitement for the day was one of our number misplaced a handbag.  I don’t have one and pretty sure Ewen doesn’t either!  Luckily, being Japan, it was handed in to the police. However, since we only discovered the lack of said accoutrement on returning the hire car, two of our party stayed behind in Kumamoto to travel back to Aso police for the bag, whilst I headed on down to Kagoshima. I managed to convince the hotel in Kagoshima to not charge them a cancellation for the night though.

Had a slightly abbreviated walk at Takachiho Gorge, due to cyclone damage, and an even more abbreviated visit to Mt Aso volcano, where the cable car (ropeway) had been closed down temporarily, due to a level 2 volcano activity risk just declared by Japan BOM, up from level 1.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kagoshima

A bit rainy the next morning, but it slowed a bit later in the morning so I sent fit a walk around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

E & T arrive, so it’s off to the Samurai gardens <pictures may follow later>, and the next day the Peace museum south of Kagoshima.

 

 

 

 

 

Had to visit the Ibusuki hot baths, despite the humidity, on multiple recommendations.