Local Bus Trip from Gifu to Tottori (Part 2)
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Local Bus Trip from Gifu to Tottori (Part 2)
(Updated: )We continue our four-day bus trip from Gifu to the Tottori Sand Dunes. On the second day, after taking the 8am bus from Kinomoto Bus Terminal to Nagahara Station in Shiga, we have to walk 3.6km in the mountains to a bus stop in Noguchi. The bus stop is located at the end of the Oku-biwa Tunnel. We get on a bus which is passing by and ask the driver about going to Imazu. He tells us it would be better if we take a bus from the Kitafuka-shimizu bus stop. So we walk for 1.6km to Kitafuka-shimizu and take the 10.25am bus going towards Oumi-Imazu.
We tell the bus driver we want to reach Fukui Prefecture. He suggests we alight at the Hirokawa intersection and take a bus to the city of Obama in Fukui. So we get off, look for a bus stop and board the 10.55am bus. It crosses the border, enters Fukui Prefecture and arrives at Obama, a town facing the Sea of Japan, at 11.50am. We drop by the information office to find out how to go to Maizuru in Kyoto Prefecture. We are told no local buses go there, only highway buses.
After exploring the various routes, we decide to go back to Imazu in Shiga Prefecture. We would then have to figure out how to go towards Kyoto via Kutsuki. So we catch the 1.55pm bus back to Imazu. We find out that to head to Kyoto, we can walk 1.5km to Kouzu and then take a bus to Kutsuki along the Saba-kaido Road. This 70km road was used to transport goods to Kyoto in the past. We leave Oumi-Imazu Station at 3pm and head to Kouzu by foot. We reach at 3.30pm and hop on a bus going towards Shin-Asahi Station.
Unfortunately, we later realise there are no buses going to Kutsuki from the station. We are advised to walk to Adogawa Station and take a bus to Kutsuki from there. We arrive at Adogawa at 5.20pm after walking for 4km. We board the 5.30pm bus to Kutsuki. The bus travels west along the mountain road and reaches Kutsuki after 6pm. We go to the Kutsuki Branch Office and find out most of the buses will only leave the following morning. So we stay the night at Kutsuki. We manage to secure rooms at the Adogawa Villa. For dinner, we go to a restaurant called Nagomi and order dishes such as grilled Omi game fowl and yellowtail collar grilled with salt.
On the third day, we head back to the Kutsuki Branch Office. We board the bus departing for Umenoki at 8.35am. It travels south on the Saba-kaido Road. The driver tells us that if we want to go past Kyoto, after we alight at Umenoki, we can take the Kojaku bus to Katada. We reach Umenoki after 20 minutes. After this, we hop on the 10.15am bus leaving for Katada.
After weighing our options, we decide to get off at Tochu and walk across the prefectural border to catch a bus to Kyoto City from Ohara. We finally bid farewell to Shiga Prefecture. We reach the foot of Mt. Hiei and continue walking past villages in the mountain valley. We also pass by the Sanzen-in Temple, a famous tourist spot in Kyoto. We finally reach the bus terminal at Ohara and manage to catch a bus bound for Kyoto. After an hour, the bus arrives at Kyoto City and we start looking for the information office.
Tips:
1) Some towns can only be reached by highway buses, not local buses
2) Make a list of the inns at places you are visiting in case you have to spend the night
