#Japan16 Shikoku

Waking to my alarm at 6.30, I decided to take the ferry from Wakagama port to Shikoku. From there I could get to the south coast of Honshu, ready to re-join my itinerary by Sunday evening.

Unfortunately I spent too long over the breakfast buffet (I was delighted to get Belgian waffles, but not so delighted to see deep fried whale! So I just missed the 8.30 ferry and had to wait two hours for the next one. The crossing took two hours itself. The ferry was huge, and besides a strange lounge are which looked like the middle column of seats from an aeroplane, randomly placed in the interior deck, there was also a carpeted room with shoe racks where people were sat on the floor. I joined them and researched where to go next, breaking occasionally to look for dolphins (there were none), or buy an ice cream from the vending machine (I only did this once for the record). I also got an amusing badge which has the ferry name written on it, with a picture of a scantily clad manga girl offering her hand, I assume to invite you onto the boat...

Due to their own gulf stream, Wakayama area
is a lot warmer than Osaka, and as a result
 has a lot more Sakura (and palm trees!)

The time passed quickly, and we soon alighted at Shikoku. Shikoku means 'four regions' in Japanese. The island is split roughly into quarters, and I would be limited to the north-easterly region of Tokoshima, and a little of Kagawa.

I chatted to a Swiss couple as we waited for the bus from the port into Tokushima city. They were very friendly although they didn't seem confident in their English, they too were backpacking and told me (as Tsusonoka had also reported) that Kyoto was amazing. I was very excited for the city that would be the grand finale for my trip. on the 25th March, Japan Guide (my go to guidebook website) had announced that Sakura Season had officially begun in Kyoto, so my hopes were high.

From the bus, Shikoku didn't seem much different to the mainland. The city however was very unlike Tokyo or Osaka. Tall palm trees swayed above raised walkways. (the walkways had escalators) and the city had the bright, breezy vibe of a hot country. I grabbed a map and walked to the Tokushima museum of Awa Odori, a festival in the summer when the whole city lours kut into the streets to dance the traditional awa Odori dance, in beautiful costumes and folded straw hats. The museum had a 3D video of the carnival as well as a number of miniature models of it, with tiny dolls dressed in kimonos of carrying octopus banners. The music was very catchy, I would love to return in August for the real thing!

Tokushima:s main drag. Not how I imagined Japan, but I'm not
complaining!

My favourite part of the day was the train journey through Shikoku. It was much more lush and rural than Honshu (the main island) and interspersed with conical green mountains. A beautiful place.

Next, I had to change train at Takamatsu, so I wandered around the city square. It was very smart, and dominated by the yellow brick Symbol tower. Aided by a surreally helpful (and sharply dressed) security guard, I made it up to the 30th floor of the East tower of the Symbol Tower building, and when the lift doors opened I couldn't suppress a gasp. The low afternoon sun had cast the city in gold. The deep shadows defined every building, and I could see them wrap tightly around the base of each hill, and jut out in peninsulas into the south sinto sea. The sea itself sparkled so brightly it dazzled me, and my camera couldn't do it justice.

My favourite Japanese security guard

When I returned to the ground floor (they call it the first floor in Japan), I thanked the security guard, and he asked where I was from. We had a chat and then he lead me across the building into the lift for the west tower. On the eighth floor the doors  opened to a spectacular view of the sea, speckled with islands of every shape and size. The guard pointed out every island and told me their names, then bowed apologetically and told me he must get back to his post.

I enjoyed the beautiful view, trying to absorb that this was Japan, and I was really here! After a while I wandered down to the harbour wall, took some more photos of the sun over the islands, and then got onto the Marine Liner train, bound for Okinawa!

The marine liner wove through north Shikoku before taking the Seto Ohashi bridge from Shikoku to Honshu (the main island). Somehow I timed it just right and as the train came over the bridge, I was able to see the sun setting over the sea from my window. It was the most amazing, beautiful sight, and I think it was the cherry on top of a beautiful day on the island.

It was a lot more magical than it looks, you'll have to take my
word for it!

I had dinner in Okinawa's underground shopping mall, ordering a vegetable and rice dish which I had chosen from the array of plastic replica dishes on display ("yasai?" "Hai!") it was absolutely delicious and surprisingly normal! If was also fantastically cheap and filling, so I was a happy bunny. There didn't seem to be anything worth staying late for in Okinawawa. There was a castle I couldn't be bothered to visit (I'd been castling at dawn and dusk the day before after all) and after I'd got a photo of the golf ball shaped waterfall, and got the obligatory stamp, I took the shinkansen to Fukuyama, where I spent the night in an un-noteworthy business hotel.

Ayrshire Roadtrip: 5th-6th March 2016

I had been planning a roadtrip to South Ayrshire for some months, and finally had a free weekend to do so. My sister was marking Mothers Day with her Boyfriend and his mother in another city, but I recruited a friend (originally a fiancée of a friend, but now my friend in her own right) from Livingston to come with me. We'll call her Fiancée.

After an impressive 1 second PB at my ParkRun, I drove over to Livingston to collect Fiancee. Her husband to be was concerned about where we were going, which I thought was kind of cute, but as I wasn't really sure myself, I gave him a verbal list of tourist destinations in Ayrshire and we drove off.

The first stopping point was a picnic area and fishing lake in North Ayrshire. We pulled in quite quickly after our first glimpse of the Isle of Arran. I make no apologies for the amount of photos of that island in this blog. The mountains were unlike anything else I've seen in this country, they are unusually 'Spiky'.

Spiky mountains for you

The next stop was Largs, for Nardini's "World Famous Icecream" which had actually been recommended to me by our company chairman and his wife. We were excited to see the sea, but like all seaside towns, Largs felt a bit hollow in the winter, We shivered on a bench on the promenade and ate our ice cream from little tubs (Kiwi and Daim Bar flavour for Fiancee, and Double Cream Vanilla and Butter Pecan for me, in case you wondered!) it was nice, but other than the range of flavours, it wasn't exceptional. The price was quite reasonable at just over £1 a scoop.  We weren't allowed to eat it inside the shop.

The Ice cream parlour, on a deceptively sunny afternoon.

We walked into the town centre to see if there was anything interesting there, but were very disappointed. We went into a Bakery/Cafe that I was excited to see hadn't yet been taken over by Greggs, so Fiancee could use the facilities. For this reason, I felt compelled to buy something from the bakery, but most of the shelves were empty. What remained was mostly savoury pies, so I ended up with a macaroon. It was deliciously sickly (so sugary it glued my teeth together) and overall I regretted purchasing it! We also went into a cute New Age shop full of dream-catchers and fairy statues, that had a popular sideline going in dog fancy dress! Although I was tempted to dress my parents' dog up as a rabbit, I refrained and we left awkwardly, as the shop was so small you felt compelled to make a purchase.

Our next stop, less than ten minutes drive away, was Kelburn Castle, a norman keep covered in awesome Brazillian street art! It also comprised an activity centre for kids basically - there was horse riding, a petting farm, various nature and history trails, and assorted grafitti covered buildings and teepees like a sort of youth club. The sun was getting low in the sky, but this place turned out to be an absolute gem of a discovery, despite the main tower being covered in scaffolding.
 

We had the place to ourselves, indeed, until we got to the castle, I was expecting to be approached by someone telling us it was closed! Approaching the tower involved walking through a beautiful glen featuring two waterfalls and hundreds of snowdrops! I took so many photos, Fiancée was very patient but I think I was pushing her limit!

 

   

With a quick pull over for a photo of the sun going down over Arran, we headed into Ayr where we parked up and found an independent and very cosy B&B to spend the night. Although the hosts were suprised to see the pair of us turning up out of the blue on their doorstep, they were very accommodating, and we had the last (lovely) room with a beautiful bathroom across the hall.

This photo looked awful on my camera, but now I'm glad I kept it

The Daviot B&B, tucked in a cute side street just metres from the seafront

We had dinner at a lovely new bistro called Savoy. I had a magnificent pizza with a crust like fresh, doughy bread, and fantastic chocolate cake to share for dessert. It transpired that the manager had been to the same hostel as I had in Minca (Colombia) only three months later! We had a good chat, before Fiancee and I crossed the road to the very fancy "Tree House" bar, where we had a couple of delicious cocktails (I sampled a "lost Geisha") before heading back to our cosy B&B for the night.

In the morning, we had a quick walk down to the seafront, before heading into town (even less inspiring that Largs, if you were wondering!) and then it was back in the car, to Culzean country park for a very different sort of castle!

The Council hall at Ayr. Almost as impressive as Glasgow's!
Note the pothole - this became a standing joke of the trip!

I warned you about my photos of Arran!

Culzean Castle was a chance for me to use my National Trust for Scotland Membership, and I think this alone was worth the £16 I paid for a year's Young Person membership! Culzean Castle also has something like 500 acres of grounds, including a deer park and a swan pond, and miles of scenic clifftop walking.

This little lady let me give her a head rub, she was so cute and fluffy!

The deer were amazing to see, I hope their enclosure was big enough, because I have never seen so many deer spread out like this in one place before! I don't know why one doe was away from the rest of the herd, but she came over for attention, which was lovely. In the meantime, we saw the two stags locking antlers, which was cool! I think it was just play fighting, as they didn't fight for long and nobody was harmed.

If only I'd had a zoom lens!

Next stop was the castle itself, impressively well maintained, but I believe it was just a holiday home, so it never saw any action fortunately. The castle is only open through summer, so we just took photos of the outside before exploring more of the parkland. 

Culzean Castle itself

Snowdrops along the clifftop walk

We saw two swans, one male and one female, at the swan pond.
There was also an epic childrens play area here!

The cute tea shop and little toy shop!

   Next we drove up to East Ayrshire, specifically Kilmarnock, for lunch, and also to see the Dick Institute, which according to Trip Advisor is an excellent Public Art Gallery with free entry. Whilst the building was certainly very impressive from the outside, it was sadly closed on Sundays, so we hopped across the road for a delicious upmarket pub lunch at Franklin and Sloan, whose motto is "Cheers to Adventure!". It was a nice place.

After lunch we drove home, experiencing strange flurries of snowflakes despite the temperature being five degrees Celsius! We had a great adventure, with a lot of beautiful scenery, taking full advantage of the low season for Scottish beach tourism.