Breakfast options were solid in the buffet, passed on having natto flavour in my beard for the second day running. No curry? No morning. Nagoya gets me.
JR runs… infrequently on a Sunday public holiday it seems, so I had to hoof it to grab the Kintetsu Limited Express to Isuzugawa ekimae. Easy, right? Well, kinda. I didn’t know I had to buy a seat-allocated ticket at the station, else I’d have pre-bought it, and the first train was out of seats, so I had to wait until 08:50 to get going.
Train ticketing systems have no time for your bullshit, know the route and press the button! I had a real time BUYING the ticket because I didn’t know where on their map the station was, so I had to find it before it timed out… only took three goes.
The train was lovely as usual with no issues other than nearly getting off a few stops early 😂 I got a little worried that the Iseshi station was the one I wanted for the shrine (it could have been, turns out) but I made a better choice waiting another couple of stops to get off at the right place.
The shrine complex was utterly packed being a cultural holiday, but they’d organised things well, cutting off access to the area for anyone but public transport. There was a regional university relay race on today so.. marching bands and dog shows and many people all in very nice tracksuits. Wearing berry purple I was rooting for the Kanazawa uni it seems.
It was a total and utter clusterfuck getting out of Ise city. Typically Google maps has been OK at public transport but today, with lots of local changes due to the public holiday and a sporting event, it’s been utterly horrifically maddeningly wrong. The station staff and I miscommunicated as well so I lost three hours before finally heading to Tamaru station… trying to save myself an hour and three quarters of walking.
A friend (char, woo, thanks char!) directed me to Jorudan which has a lovely simple app and … valid information! Navitime seemed good until I tried to use it and it was just constantly begging for upgrades.
I was trying to come up with a funny sign to hang up on my bag because I was just getting so frazzled, and figured I’d throw it through google translate twice…
Ok cool… wait…
They’re… not wrong, but… :D
Once I finally got to Tamaru station (via the Local Kameyama route on the Shingu line), I was off. I was delighted to see the little signs pointing the way along the route, with a red and white reflective patch and to start with, a little character on them that would continue until I was out of Tamaki Mie.
Turns out it’s their city mascot, but it was also a cute start to the journey.
The Meki-toge pass was a challenge to follow at times, and a relatively small climb which reminded me how terribly unfit I am 😂
Coming down the other side was lovely, there was this strange music I still can’t identify the source of.
- Today Tanuki count: 3
- Trip ramen: 3
- Terrified/surprised locals: many
I waved and said “konnichiwa, inu-san” at someone’s dog as we were passing each other in a farming area, they nearly fell into a ditch laughing.