Tuesday was my 41st birthday and as I had the day off I decided to mark the occassion with a big lie in by climbing Daimonji. Unfortunately I had to go down to the ward office first to renew my alien I.D. card, which meant I had to cycle all the way from Kyoto station up as far as Ginkakuji in North-east Kyoto. If you don’t know, that’s maybe a thirty/forty minute bike ride, it was a hot day, it’s mostly uphill and I’m out of practice, so by the time I got to the base of the mountain I was already pretty cream crackered. This is the wee mountain I was headed for. Note the big 大 (dai) character from which it takes its name.

It’s not a major hike to climb Daimonji, just a good workout, but it’s been a while since I’ve been up there so I was soon out of breath.

Still it was nice to be back in nature. Every time I climb this particular mount and huff and puff my way up it, I find myself being overtaken by sprightly pensioners striding up and down the slopes like mountain goats.

We call to each other, “Konnichiwa!” and then they are gone… Here in the woods though, an insect borne disease has been decimating the oak trees. They have the same problem in the UK I believe. To halt the disease’s spread local foresters have cut down the dead trees and covered the stumps with plastic. I saw a lot of these on the way up. It’s a big problem.

So my whiny brain is sitting in the back seat of my body asking my driving legs “how much further?” when I turn a corner and…

But finally I made it to the top and I was very happy. My i-phone pics don’t really do it justice but the views from here are just lovely.

Happy birthday me.

Later on I had a lovely dinner with Mewby on one of those Pontocho yuka balconies – but you can read about that here. Here we are though having a grand old time.

And here she is again with the cake she made for me.

And here I am with nothing left to wish for…

Thanks Mewby!