It’s a four-hour drive from Kyoto. All that way, just to eat soba? Not only the soba… Read on and drool.

なすのわさび和え、そば茶　Eggplant pickled in wasabi, with Soba-cha tea.

野菜の煮物 Slowly-simmered vegetable ‘nimono’.

山女（やまめ）の塩焼き Charcoal-grilled and salted river fish, ‘yamame’ (the name means ‘mountain woman’).

ゆうこちゃんが喜ぶ！ Yuko-chan getting excited.

やまめがもうそろそろ死んでいます The yamame are still alive… just.

へへへ～！山女殺しやたちが深い反省を示さない No remorse for the yamame assassins, Sasha, Fumio and Yumiko.

自家製こんやく Freshly-made ‘devils tongue’ with ‘yuzu’ citron sauce.

鶏の「まつば」Mountain-chicken on the wishbone. It is called ‘matsuba’ as the bone shape resembles ‘matsu no ha’, pine-tree leaves.

ゆうこちゃんが食べます！Yuko gets stuck in.

なおみちゃんとTopherも Naomi and Toph too.

ふみふみとゆみこさん Fumio and Yumiko.

満願寺唐辛子、どんこ椎茸、やまめ Manganji green peppers, the best shiitake mushrooms and yamame.

山の幸が凄い It was quite a spread that the mountain had laid on (with some assistance from my friend Taniguchi-san).

「ふる里」の床瀬そばだ Finally we turned to… Tokose Soba. Taniguchi-san made the buckwheat noodles freshly for us (as always). They were magnificent (as always).

そばとやくみ、最高！Served with grated wasabi, yuzu citron and negi welsh onions. Perfect.

Aaronと私は「7」ちゃんで行った。皆さんお疲れさまでした Aaron and I went up in the Seven. As you may well imagine, it was a lot of fun.

Aaronが撮った写真はここでござんす　Aaron’s far superior photos are, I have just realised, here: http://f.hatena.ne.jp/aaron/Toyooka/

やっぱ、山男が出ってきました Here is one of aaron’s photos of the Lesser-Spotted Tokose Mountain Baboon.. Notice the unusual hair-styling, and the wild bulging eyes that indicate that the wild creature is about to devour something.