I woke up late as Frances said at 7.30 as there wasn't much to do in the area, but I went for a bath in the hotels public one and Clive joined me. It was nice, better than the other public baths I`d been to and had an outside area with a pool there as well as 2 inside one of which was very hot. the sauna was turned off as it was the morning but everything else was on. We headed out and got the 9am bus to Kamikoche arriving a bit less than 30 minutes later and we went to see where to go and the visitors information centre had the details and there were only a couple of walks. Clive and Frances got some breakfast while I ate a cake and had eaten a pot noodle earlier for breakfast that I'd bought from the shop as it was a little cheaper than the hotel vending pot noodle machine (what hotel doesn't have one?). The walk took us north and the views were nice with the river, a bridge and the mountains some of them snow covered around us. It was quite an easy flat walk and we got to the point that we were supposed to turn back in 40 minutes when it was supposed to take 90. We carried on and were rewarded with a couple of monkeys right next to the path so we stopped there for a bit. We carried on and Clive wanted to invent a card game which we discussed and his idea was to create the numbers game from countdown using a deck of cards. We had most of the structure in place although only people who like maths would enjoy it. We got to the end and I convinced them to cross so we could go back on the other path which Clive didn't really want to do as the path was marked on some map as not for us as cars used it but we headed that way and so got to see across the river from the other side and some different views although the path wasn't quite as nice. We got back to the authorised path area and a lake with a shrine. the lake was 300 to go in and we paid and went in and walked around and it was a nice, peaceful lake with little tree islands. We could`t go all the way round but we stopped inside and had some food and when we got back and left I realised the shrine wasn't inside it was outside and really really small. We went back to the main area and as it was still early we decided to head south to see the lake and pond there. On the way we were walking along a boardwalk and saw some frogs mating which we pointed out to a couple who were American and we got to talking about Donald trump before moving on to other topics and walking together. The guy was working in Bahrain as an IT manager so Clive and he could talk about work and the woman was called Keiko and was part Japanese I think as she visited here a lot and referred to Japan as we when she spoke although she didn't speak Japanese. We got to the pond which was fairly small and a bit brown but still looked ok with the mountains and trees around. the lake was not too much further and we got there around 3.45 or so and Clive and Frances decided to take the bus, the next one of which was at 4.07 while the Americas were taking the bus the other way back to their hotel in Kamikoche. It was still early so I went to walk around the lake and it wasn't too far to a bridge and then back on the other side I left the path and had a more natural walk along the lake although there were streams to cross and some areas to avoid. I went back on the path and made it back to the main area so that I'd walked every path Kamicoche had listed on their maps, all of which were flat and easy. It was 4.45 so I decided to go for another walk as it was still early and I wasn't coming back here and had no desire to just sit around in a bath although I did want to do some things back at the hotel it was still light and I would have plenty of time regardless as I planned to miss dinner and just eat some shop things. I headed towards a trail or path which was on maps.me and saw a building there for a hiking organisation so I walked past that and tried to find the path and walked along some water pipes as the area was clearer there but there was no real path. I looked at the time and it was gone 5pm so I'd missed that bus so I might as well walk a bit more and then get the next bus and after a bitof walking I checked maps and the path route was over to the left of where I was so I headed that way through ferns to try to find the path. I went for a bit without seeing anything and checked the map and found I'd gone past the path and was now to the left of it. I decided to give up and bookmarked where I was and headed back through lots of ferns and eventually I found a path and a small stream route and made it back to the main path. I went to get my phone out to check where I was and it wasn't there. I'd been charging it in my bag and somehow it had fallen out of my pocket and I'd lost it. I was really worried as I used my phone all the time travelling for almost everything so I headed back the way I'd come along the stream path and across to the left and up past a branch I'd had to break earlier to get past and I climbed up through more ferns. I didn't see the phone and I looked around for a while but I could't find the route I'd taken with the path and the broken stick. Eventually I thought I'd found the path but it went close to the hikers house which I didn't remember and I couldn't find the broken stick. I kept looking until it was a bit dark and went back to the bus station area where the shops were shut and there were no busses as the last bus had left at 6pm and I still had a return bus ticket. There wasn't much around, no taxis or anything so I headed on the road expecting some kind of transport to come which I might be able to get a lift from or something but nothing came. I walked past the lake all the way to a tunnel and it started raining but as I could go into the tunnel I didn't need my umbrella for long and didn't get too wet. There was thunder so it would soon start raining heavily but at least I was covered for now. The tunnel went for a bit and then there was open air but there was another tunnel soon afterwards. A few minutes into the tunnel and I heard a very loud noise so I waited and a minute later a car appeared so I waved and he stopped and wound down his window. I tried to ask him if this was the way to Hirayu but he didn't understand and I let him drive off. I used an emergency tunnel phone and the person there found a woman who could speak some English but the line was bad and she couldn't hear me and I couldn't hear her so I didn't gain anything from that. About 5 or so minutes later I came to the end of the tunnel and there was a gate so the car must have either opened the gate or got there before it closed. There was a main road with traffic - great, I tried to flag down a few vehicles but they ignored me and it was a fairly main road, dark and raining so I gave up after a while, a bit further was a tunnel and it was 15km to Hirayu so at least I was going the right way. I walked back to the tunnel where there was a phone box which was great as I could call Clive but I didn't know how to dial international calls in Japan. The phone book was all in Japanese and I wanted to call a taxi but I couldn't find one. I picked up the phone and pressed the emergency button to speak to the police. A man answered but he didn't speak English and he found someone who did, I could hear them and I asked how to dial international calls and if they could call me a taxi. The phone call was really long and painful as they kept talking to each other in Japanese and not doing much. They thought I was wasting their time but I explained that my brother might be worried and may have called the police and if I walk I could cause an accident so they did help and I found out that 001 is for international calls and I hung up but then I couldn't remember my brothers number only 7 of the 10 digits. The police called back and wanted to know where I was and eventually we got that worked out and they told me to walk to a nearby place beginning with N where I could get a taxi and they also informed Hirayu police in case my brother called.. I headed off like they said and I saw a road to the left and one to the right so this might be the junction they told me to take so I went right like they said and it should be 1km to the place. The road kept winding uphill and for some reason I didn't time it on my watch and after quite a while in the rain I gave up as the road seemed to be just going uphill, was very quiet and didn't look like anywhere was near. I gave up as it might not be the correct way and went back down and there was a foot tunnel next to the road tunnel so I walked through that. After about 15 minutes of the same boring tunnel there was a sign saying I was 1.8km from the entrance and 2.6km from the end. I was making so many bad decisions, if I was playing poker I would be on full tilt right now. I carried on through the tunnel and imagined I might be in hell where I just keep walking and walking and the tunnel never ends but there were some changes and more signs and it did end and I came out into the rain. A short walk and I was at another tunnel with no pavement or foot tunnel. I used the phone in front of the tunnel and spoke to a Highway person who spoke English and he said not to enter the tunnel and wait there and soon he arrived in a car and helped by diving me back to Hirayu which was not so far. I thanked him a lot and then walked back to the hotel where the front desk was closed and Clive and Frances were watching a movie. Clive had thought I might have done something like that so he wasn't overly worried which was good. He tried to locate my phone but had no luck using the internet. I wanted some food as I'd only had the pack of nuts for dinner but the pot noodle machine in the hotel didn't work and stole my 50 yen coin so I ate a little but through all the worry of losing my phone I wasn't that hungry. We planned to get up early tomorrow and Clive would kindly help me try to find my phone and then we went to bed around 11.30.
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