Weather:
A beautiful sunny day with a strong breeze. Perfect for a drive.
MP3
track of the day: Riding along in my auto mobile - Chuck Berry
I'd
prepared as much as I could, to get the maximum out of my car hire.
I'd planned my route, found out where Costco was (more on that
later), bought drinks and snacks for the journey and packed my
bag in such a way as for it to have the things I would need straight
away at the top. I woke up and had my breakfast early and found
myself at my car hire shop – which was a two minute walk from my
hotel – at 8:01am.
The
paper work was done in eight minutes; I managed to set the satellite
navigation – for my first location - within a further minute and a
half and, after a thorough car inspection, I was off … though at a
slow pace. My first location was the 'Akashi Straits Suspension
Bridge' and, to get there, I had to fight my way through Hyogo's –
the prefecture for which Kobe is the capital – manic southern urban
sprawl. This part of the journey consisted of the usual four-lane
road, traffic lights, houses and a highway suspended in the air above
me by huge concrete pylons. As there isn't much to say at the moment,
I thought that I would tell you a bit about the car I had been given.
I found myself driving – and I am not making this up – the Mazda
'Carol'. Now, I am quite sure that with a name like 'carol', my
'beast of a car' isn't conjuring up images of raw speed and excellent
handling … and neither should it. The car I was driving had been
designed from the floor to the sealing for the over 80's driver. The
upholstery went well with most dresses from the 1930's; the top speed
was almost hitting 48 miles an hour and, 0-48 would take the same
amount of time as it would to walk forty-eight miles. This meant that
there was no danger of any old person 'feeling dizzy' when they put
their false-foot onto the accelerator. 'Old person's smell' had been
built in as 'standard' and all of the gauges and buttons had writing
big enough so that it could be read from outer-space. Finally, there
was the satellite navigation. It was touch screen however, if aimed
your finger correctly at the button you wanted to press, you would
actually get the menu for the button above the one you wanted. It
took me a while to discover that, in order to get the satnav to do
what you wanted it to do, you had to press just below the button you
needed. I guess that this is very handy for those who can't see too
well however, it was driving me insane. I decided to call the satnav
'Margery'. The car was spectacularly over-taken by every man, beast
and vegetable I came across however, I had to admit, that for
'pottering about' it wasn't too bad.
After
about forty minutes, I arrived at the bridge I'd come to see. At 3.91
km, the Akashi Straits Suspension bridge is the longest suspension
bridge in the world – or so my 2010 guidebook tells me. Luckily for
me, a beautiful park had been built around the 'mainland' side of the
bridge, and there was a car park where I could leave Carol and
Margery to discuss bitterly about the £1.30 car parking charges.
Once away from the car, I discovered that the wind was blowing quite
fiercely therefore, I needed to zip up my coat quite tightly around
myself. The sun was still rising which made taking photos from the
east side of the bridge the best option. With the sun behind me the
suspension bridge was my main target and, luckily, a few fluffy white
clouds popped into view to help breakup the beautiful blue sky behind
the bridge. I was enjoying myself immensely however, time was short
and I wanted to get my 'monies worth' out of the car. I walked under
the suspension bridge and gazed up at all of the metal parts
wondering how on Earth it didn't all come crashing down.
With
my photos taken I did think about driving across the bridge however,
conscious of time, I decided against it. Anyway, I was pretty sure
that the island I could see in the distance was a part of another one
of my holidays (now I am back in my hotel, I can tell you that it
isn't. I was supposed to drive across onto the island … and I had
the time). I got back into my car and asked 'Margery' to set a
course for Costco.
You
see, where I live – in the north – my nearest Costco is over two
hours away and, once Margery had found the place, I discovered that I
was only a fifteen minute drive from it. Plus, though it wasn't on
the exact route I needed to take, the warehouse was in the right
direction. I therefore started the 'old girl' up and off we went …
at a 'nice and gentle' speed of 28 miles an hour.
When
I visited the Costco closest to my apartment – it only opened this
year – I was very disappointed in regards to the amount of
'British' food it stocked. I had hoped that, being in an area with a
lot more foreigners, the choice of foreign food might have been
greater however, sadly no. I scanned the chocolate section to find
all of the things I could get 'up north'. I therefore went to the
'chilled' section to buy a box of five 'Mexican wraps', which I had
tried on my previous visit to Costco and loved. With my lunch – and
probably dinner – sorted I almost bought a box of twenty-eight
cookies however, their 'eat-by-date' was only two days away and so I
knew that there was no way I could eat all of them in that short
amount of time. I proceeded back to my car, twenty-two minutes after
I'd parked it, with just a box of Mexican wraps. Carol and Margery
were not at all pleased with my choice of lunch. Carol said that she
wouldn't touch that 'foreign muck', and Margery stated that spicy
food made her eyes feel saw.
Being
around 10am, Margery was getting tired. I got her to get me to the
main road I had originally planned to take north, and then I took
over. I think satnav's are great for 'in town driving' however, once
out in the country, I much prefer to use a map and, the road which I
was currently following, short up north almost as straight as an
arrow though, it still took a little while before the urban south
melted away and the rural north came into view. This occurred as soon
as I started to wind my way past Kansai's central mountains. Tiny
compared to other mountains within this country, these small mounds
with their vertical tree-covered sides, blocked visibility and formed
some stunning valleys. I 'plodded along', with rice fields on each
side of me. The communities responsible for these rice fields could
be found hugging the mountainside, leaving as much flat land as
possible for their crop. The traffic had thinned, traffic lights had
become more sparse and I – plus Carol and Margery – were having a
grand day out. My only issue was time.
The
numbers on Carol's MASSIVE clock soon turned over to read 11, and I
was still on 'page one' of three. In order to reach my goal –
Kansai's northern coastline – I had to travel across three pages
within my map by 1pm. 1pm was the time that I would have to think
about returning to Kobe as that was the 'halfway point' of my car
rental.
12
O'clock flew by and I was only halfway up the second page. I decided
that I needed to stop and 're-adjust' my planned route. I found a
convenience store and gingerly pulled into a parking space so that I
wouldn't upset Carol's delicate stomach. I put a few possible routes
into Margery to allow her to tell me how long she thought they would
take. In the end I asked Margery to take me off my original course
and to head 'north-west', towards the closest part of Kansai's
northern coastline in relation to where I currently was. I followed
that route until the clock stroke 1pm.
At
1pm I'd made it to the sleepy town of Fukuchiyama. I was still a good
forty-five minutes from the coast. I got Margery to tell me how long
it would take for me to drive back to Kobe and, if I left that
instant, I would arrive back in Kobe at 4:45pm. I had to get fuel
plus battle the traffic therefore, I thought that I didn't really
have the time to see the sea. I wasn't too gutted. In four days time
I would be hiring another car in Kyoto, and heading to the northern
coast once more – though a little further east – and, when I
visit western Honshu, I would have to travel along Kansai's northern
coast to get there. I therefore ordered Margery to plan a convoluted
route back which would get me to Kobe at 5pm (with a whole hour
spare to battle the traffic). I made sure that the roads I would
travel back south along were different to the ones I'd already seen.
I
must driven a lot quicker to what Margery is used to because, after
forty minutes, her 'predicted time of arrival' had short down to
4:28pm. This happened so much that, at one point, my 'arrival time'
was at 3:58pm. Due to this, I got out my map and noticed that there
was a mountain pass close to where I was currently located. I
indicated right and zig-zagged my way to the top.
Carol
started screaming and Margery was starting to complain about getting
car sick as I rapidly descended down the mountain pass. Every apex
was perfectly hit as I tried to claw back some time within the 'forth
stage' of Japan's mountain rally. I was Matthew Otter, from Great
Britain, driving the 'high performance' Mazda Carol and looking for a
possible gold. Once down I continued through Hyogo's beautiful rural
prefecture. So far, almost everything I have seen within this
prefecture, I've liked. It really does have it all and these small
towns and villages in the north are just the perfect way to escape
the manic city life.
As
I was approaching the outskirts of the 'urban south', Margery was
still adamant that I would be dropping my car off two hours before my
rental period was up. There were some grumblings from the old two
about 'wasting money' however, I'd seen as much as I could and,
really, what was the point in just riding around in my car –
burning fuel – if I didn't have a goal. With hindsight I should
have crossed the bridge earlier today but, I didn't. I therefore
continued towards Kobe and, as I did, the traffic increased.
From
reading 4pm at one point, I actually arrived back at my rental place
at 4:35pm … only ten minutes earlier than Margery had originally
predicted. The traffic had been grid-locked at some major junctions
and it wasn't at all pleasant to be fighting my way through it. It
wouldn't have bothered me so much, if lanes kept going in the same
direction as they showed from the outset. Many-a-time I was driving
in a, what I thought was, 'straight' lane … only for it to change
to a 'left-hand turn only' lane without any warning. It's the
changing lanes that annoys me … and totally confuses Carol. Once
I'd given back my car I proceeded back to my hotel room to ponder,
think and try to build a plan of action for tomorrow.
First
of all; was the hiring of a car today really worth it? In total it
cost me around £55.00 for the car and the petrol. Personally I would
say yes for two reasons. Firstly I enjoyed the change from walking,
or taking public transport, to having a drive. Secondly, it allowed
me to see – though briefly – a large portion of the Hyogo
Prefecture. Some people I've spoken to, are trying to visit all
prefectures within Japan; they claim to have finished Hyogo
Prefecture by visiting Kobe only. Personally I would disagree that,
by only visiting one city within a prefecture, you have 'seen' the
prefecture. The hiring of a car allows you to wander around and see
the parts of a county, state or prefecture which aren't in any
guidebooks. Nothing I saw within the north of Hyogo was staggering
and yet, nothing was that boring either. I would say that, today, I
witnessed the ordinary life of people who live within this prefecture
and for that, I would say that the car was worth the investment.
As
for tonight, I have two options. My favourite is kicking back in my
hotel room for my final night catching up on Christmas TV and eat the
Mexican wraps I have left. This would allow me to have an early night
and, as a result, get up early tomorrow. My other plan is to find a
cinema and watch the latest Star Wars film … but I can do that at
home.
Tomorrow
is another headache. Currently I am thinking of getting up early and,
depending on the weather, getting to Kobe's cable car station by the
time the first one departs. I shall then spend only a few minutes at
the top - taking photographs - before heading to Kobe's main museum
for a fleeting look around. I shall then catch the next train to
Kyoto and hope to arrive early in the afternoon. If the weather is
poor then I may just visit Kobe's museum and head to Kyoto earlier
than I've planned.
So
this is the end of my first stop. I have thoroughly enjoyed my stay
in Kobe and it really is a city I can see myself coming back to.
There is plenty to see within, and around, the cities boundary.
Next
up is Kyoto; my first time back for five years!
Merry
Christmas
Toodle
Pip!
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