Our mission

The next day, yes, that's right, the very next day I found myself a sleepy member of the Great Forest Kozan Expedition in search of the legendary head waters of the Horobetsu river.

Apparently somewhere up river, beyond the Do Lung bridge, deep in the forest there is an old Ainu trader called Kurtz-san whose methods have become, well, 'unsound'. It was our mission to find him and "exercise our discretion vis-a-vis the termination of his activities".
Or I think that was what Sato-san's explanation back at the nature centre was all about. Then again, it may well have been a general warning to watch out for squirrels and falling chestnuts.
Off we set, braving the unknown and knowing the brave. Which would have been me and Cian.



Things were progressing nicely until we came to the 'Decent of Death' ©.

Followed almost immediately by its terrifying sequel 'Descent of Death 2: The only way is down!' ©

This was tough going. Some of the smaller kids started crying. So we staked them to the chestnut trees and let the rabid squirrels have them.
On we went. The sun shone, the wind whispered through the trees, the cries of the children grew faint in the distance. And then we heard water, then saw it, sparkling through the yellowing leaves.
The Horobestu river! And a crazed Ainu wood carver called Kurtz-san!!



But before that we had lunch. And it was such a splendid sunny day, we grew tired of the stretched-to-breaking-point Conrad/Coppola analogies, splashed around in the water a bit, and then went back.





And on the way back yours truly snagged some wild grapes (as opposed to his son's fingers in the car door - Hello Dave), thereby cementing his victory as 2012's 'Daddy of the Year', even though it's only October.