Roadtrip to Takachiho Gorge

Moving to Kyushu

Today we make an interisland rail trip from Hiroshima to Fukuokka (or strictly speaking Hakata) to begin our Kyushu road trip.  We left the hotel around 0820 for our 0905 train.

The interisland crossing by tunnel was so short, I must have blinked and missed it completely.  Arriving at 1011 at Hakata, it was a short walk to Orix to collect our roomy Suzuki Solio.

The English-speaking staff were kind and patient, when we asked to be shown how to use the sat-nav in English.  With all that sorted, we embarked at 1100 for our drive to Takachiho with sights en route.

Sightseeing en route to Takachiho

Our first stop, Kamishikimi Kumanoimasu Shrine, was about 2h30 away. Cars were definitely speeding to the speed limit on the highways while numerous slow trucks crawled on the left lane. It took a while to do like the Romans while in Rome.

The shrine was set at the foot of Mount Aso, up a long flight of stairs. About 100 toro or stone lanterns line the steps up.

Above the shrine is a large sacred stone called Ugetoiwa, with a 10-meter hole right through it.  According to local legend, the hole was created when a demon escaped from the rock.  It is said that if creating this hole is possible, then any difficulty can be overcome, and the rock has become a symbol of achieving difficult goals.

Overall, this stop took s 30 mins and we were back down eating our lunch in the car around 1400.

Text continues after this gallery.

Takachiho Gorge

Our next stop was Takachiho Gorge about an hour away, close to our nightstop hotel.

We weren’t allowed to drive into the signposted area for the gorge but directed to what seemed like an overflow parking area by some shops.  We commenced our walk downhill around 1510 to the scenic area.

It seemed quite pretty looking into the gorge, with walls which had striations.  Following the path, we came to a temporarily closed-off area which was being worked on.

We had to find our way to the remainder of the path through the quiet narrow windy road, taking care to not be in the way of any cars.  We reached a small park-like area where there was a lookout and a small bridge.  These two sites gave excellent viewpoints of the most scenic areas from opposite ends.

Text continues after this gallery.

Just beyond that was the boat rental shop.  They had finished all allocations for the day.  It appeared that one needs to come early and pay to reserve a spot and wait for the time to come around.  So, if one turns up even early in the morning, there could be a long wait for the people before to finish each of their 30 min excursions.

Around 1615, we called it a day and walked back to the carpark for our short drive to the Takachiho Grateful Hotel.  Tonight is the only time on the trip we’re sharing a room as this was a pricey town.  Other towns didn’t work for us as it meant too much driving on one day and too little on the other.

We walked to town in search for dinner.  The first place had finished up, the second needed reservations but fortunately the third could take us.  We had a nice meal of beef wagyu and a hamburger patty set meal.