Bus VS Local Trains From Hyogo Prefecture To Amanohashidate - Part 3
Soaking in the public hot springs of Kinosaki Onsen and feasting on luxurious Tsuiyama snow crabs are the "reward" challenges the bus and train teams have to complete this week during their battle.
The battle between the bus and train team continues. The train team has a tough time finding accommodation around Toyooka Station. They try their luck with Toyooka Sky Hotel again. They only have two rooms available so two team members agree to share a twin room.
The bus team spends the night at a Taisho-era-themed hot spring inn at Kinosaki Onsen called Shinzan Rakutei. It opened around 55 years ago. They start planning for the next morning. After completing the mission at the third checkpoint, they aim to take the 8am bus from Kinosaki Onsen to the Mihara bus stop near the prefecture border. They will then walk 6km to the fourth checkpoint, Funaya Ukishima, in Kyoto. By the end of Day One, the bus team is leading.
On Day Two of the race, the train team takes the first train departing from Toyooka Station and goes to Kinosaki Onsen. The third checkpoint opens at 6.30am. The train team arrives at Kinosaki Onsen Station and walks for 10 minutes to the third checkpoint. The mission here is to enjoy the public hot springs of Kinosaki Onsen. Both teams meet each other at the third checkpoint.
After soaking in the baths at Kinosaki Onsen, the train team heads back to the station and takes the 7.05am train towards Funaya Ukishima, the fourth checkpoint. They alight at Toyooka Station and change to the Kyoto Tango Railway, which connects Kyoto and Hyogo. They then get off at Shotenkyo Station and walk to Funaya Ukishima, about 4km away. It is now 8.40am and they aim to reach the checkpoint at 9.30am. They want to clear the mission here in time to catch the 11.10am train to Toyooka Station and then head to Kamiyakuno on the 12.10pm train after that.
In the meantime, the opponent team catches the bus from Kinosaki Onsen Station to Mihara, which is near the prefecture border, and walks about 6km through the harsh mountain pass to Funaya Ukishima. Their goal is to reach the checkpoint by 9.45am. After walking for half an hour, they finally cross the prefecture border and enter Kyoto Prefecture.
The train team is also walking towards the checkpoint and finally reaches Funaya Ukishima. The fourth checkpoint is a crab restaurant and for mission here, each team has to eat and finish three crabs. Tsuiyama crabs are said to be Japan's top brand of crab. These snow crabs are caught at Tsuiyama Port. The teams get to eat crab sashimi, grilled crab and boiled crab. The train team must finish eating and leave the restaurant within 50 minutes at 10.30am in order to catch the train at 11.10am.
The bus team arrives at the restaurant 20 minutes after the train team and gets started on the crab mission. In order to go to the fifth checkpoint later, they want to take the 11.30am bus from the Minato Kobashi bus stop to Kumihara Station.
Both teams complete the mission almost at the same time and now head to the final checkpoint, Soba Ichi, an Izushi soba restaurant. Izushi is the Kansai region’s biggest soba stop, with more than 40 soba shops. The train team is rushing to the station to take the train at 11.10am back to Toyooka Station first.
Tips:
1) Kinosaki Onsen is known for its various public hot springs
2) Tsuiyama crabs are a must-try item when Hyogo and Kyoto
