After a desperately required 8+ hours of sleep I awoke refreshed for my 8am rental car pick-up. It's my second time driving in Japan after I had my license translated, which is required for German driving licenses, last November. I rented with NISSAN Rent a Car this time. The staff was not overly friendly, but the car was fine pick-up and return went smooth.
I only had a vague plan to go into Iya valley.
First stop were the Iya Valley Vine bridges.
From here on, the scenery only got more impressive. I had stop myself from parking all the time to take pictures.
At the far end of the valley, I wanted to walk over more vine bridges. However, seemingly I should have done more research as they are closed over the winter months.
On the way back I stopped in the Nagoro "Scarecrow" village, which, as far as I know, was created as a reaction to the ever lasting land flight. Quite an experience.
The "highlight" is the old gymnasium of the school, which is not needed anymore with less than 30 inhabitants remaining.
From there I drove back to the first Vine bridge and the further down the Iya Valley until reaching the main road again.
Iya Valley "Peeing Boy" statue:
The color of the water is not edited:
And back to Kochi along the main road through Oboke Gorge.
My pictures certainly don't do the beauty of this area justice, I can only recommend spending (ideally) multiple days here. I would love to come back and do more hiking as today it was mainly driving and stopping.
Regarding the driving itself: It's really tiring to drive one the small mountain roads that are usually to narrow for opposing traffic. Luckily, it was very calm today. Added difficulty is, of course, the left-hand driving, which requires additional focus all the time if you're not used to it. Before returning the car, I accidentally drove onto the Expressway and had to go 10 km up and down. At least now I know how to pay tolls in Japan.
I didn't eat anything except a 7-eleven sandwich in the morning. So changing that is my main goal for the night.