Again, not such a good forecast for the middle day of our second three-day Japan Rail pass. But for most of our trip, we did better than expected.

Our train today was the Yufuin No Mori (Yufuin's Forest). As you'd expect, then, it was cool, green, and nicely equipped with wooden fittings and leafy patterns:




It's a very lovely journey to Yufuin, and it takes about 2.25 hours. Initially, you run along broad valleys; then the valleys narrow down. There are some quite impressive mountains, and we often found ourselves climbing perceptibly. Lots of forest, of course, as you could guess from the name of the train. Stately pine, elegant bamboo... You never get fabulous photos from a moving train, but here at least are some pointers:






Now, the Yufuin No Mori is a tourist train, and Yufuin is a tourist destination. We knew that. We were taken aback, however, by the sheer numbers of people milling around the station on this January weekday:


Yufuin, too, is an onsen (hot spring) resort, and steam spurts freely out of various hillsides:



Given the crowds, it was unsurprising that there were queues for many of the restaurants. We headed on out of town, however, and happened upon this splendid place, which did excellent galettes:




After this, we headed off round the rest of the town:









So, despite the threatening weather and the swirling crowds, it was a pleasant day. Trouble struck on the way back, though.


We were due out of Yufuin just before 1600, scheduled to arrive back at Hakata at 1815-ish.

Well, we left Yufuin 40 minutes late. This is unheard-of in Japan. Trains just aren't late. There was an announcement about needing to check some track, but we never found out quite what was causing the delay.

Off we go, finally, and we trundle along quite happily for a while (although the late departure means we've lost most of the scenery for the return journey, as it's already getting dark).

Then, we stop again. This time, the somewhat cryptic announcement talked about strong winds. Strong winds? It didn't seem particularly windy. But maybe some squall had brought something down over the track. We never found out.

Surely that must be the run of bad luck over with? But no, at Minami, we made another unscheduled stop. An "injury accident" this time...

We finally pulled into Hakata Station just a fraction before 2000, which was not far off two hours late... Unprecedented... The only upside was that we got to see the station carillon, which strikes on the hour. It features a Shinkansen, and is very cute.

We collected some beers from the konbini (really felt we'd deserved them after that major-epic). By now it was pouring with rain, so we had a very wet 20 minutes' walk home.

It was a very short evening, as we have to be up early tomorrow to set off for Nagasaki... A pity. But never mind. I enjoyed riding the train, and I enjoyed seeing a different part of Kyushu.