I actually had to walk away from the lodge to cross the ravine first, and then walk back towards the lodge. By the time I reached Lodge Kurohan it was 4-45 p.m. …… I had been walking for 9.5 hours and was pretty tired. I got an uncomfortable feeling as I approached the door of the lodge as there was no sign of activity and no lights on! The lodge keeper came to the door and told me they were closed! He said that I just needed to walk another 40 minutes and I could get a bus to Omachi! I said that I have been walking for nearly 10 hours and was really really tired, there was no way that I could walk another step. He said they had no food available, but I countered that by saying that I had food and all I needed was somewhere to sleep! While I was waiting for him to decide whether to let me stay I put some money in the vending machine to buy a drink, but because there was no electricity it did not work! The lodge keeper had to go to an outbuilding to switch on the generator. He hummed and aahhed for a while but eventually I was able to persuade him to let me in. By this time a Japanese walker had arrived as well, so he gave rooms to both of us! He even agreed to cook us an evening meal! I was most encouraged as I checked in as he gave me a small white towel……… a definite sign that the hotel had an ofuro! (Japanese bath) What a joy it was to get out of my walking clothes and to soak in the bath! There was even a washing machine in the bathroom, but I thought that it was pushing my luck a bit to ask him if I could do some washing!

The meal that he prepared for us was excellent. We had trout, tonkatsu, chicken, soup, rice and various mountain vegetables. It was really good, and was washed down with a can of Asahi Super Dry beer!