The following two nights we’ll be staying in a self-catering “tiny house” in an area with little facilities. That meant filling up the car and getting food from a store in Tokushima.
Along the road to Mount Tsuguri we made an unexpected stop at a small shrine with a tori and cherry blossoms. As the ropeway at Mount Tsuguri hasn’t opened for the season yet we could continue to the Oku-Iya Double Vine Bridge, a large and a smaller hanging bridge made of vines (and some steel cables for strength).
The road we followed is a main one but a large part is so narrow and winding that just one car can pass, not so much of a problem for the many Japanese small cars but a problem for our SUV (Nissan X-trail). At a few places we had to retract our mirrors at a passing spot in order to let oncoming traffic pass. Fortunately traffic was light and almost all corners have mirrors to see oncoming cars.
A few kilometers further is a small Iya river village Nagoro, that now has only 30 residents but is home to 100’s “scarecrows”. Since 2003 many of them are scattered around the village and in vacated buildings like the village former school.
Next was Ochiai Village that can be viewed from a platform across the valley that can be reached by yet another narrow winding road.
Our final stop was at the Kazura Vine Bridge which is yet another hanging bridge over the river made from vines. A little café near the bridge offers the opportunity to sit on a balcony overlooking the bridge and in the mean time feed the birds in the area by just holding up some sunflower seeds up in your hand.
As we arrived at our accommodation the sun was still shining so we could enjoy watching the river from our “tiny house”.