Keeping To A Transport Theme,

every week I have a couple of bus rides, 

traveling to visit Duncan, as it happens it is quite pleasant to sit on the top deck and watch the world go by as the seasons change, so I was intrigued when I saw this bus route, 

it is the Yagi-Shingu Bus, which has been in operation since 1963, 

it is Japan’s longest local bus route, 

making a total of 168 stops throughout its 6 and a half hour journey, 

the bus travels close to 170 km, or roughly 100 miles, without hitting a single motorway, 

there are only three buses per day that travel the Yagi-Shingu route and the first one departs at 9:15am from Yamato Yagi Station in Nara, the bus then slowly makes its way south down Nara prefecture and into Wakayama prefecture, arriving at its final destination, Shingu Station, at around 3:47pm. the Yagi-Shingu Bus makes a total of 3 bathroom breaks along the way, where passengers can get off to stretch their legs and pick up some local delicacies, 

for example, at the Gojo Bus Centre you can score a local specialty called kakinoha-zushi, which is particularly beautiful in the autumn, the official website also recommends getting off along the way at Hotel Subaru (for their natural hot springs) or Totsukawa Murayakuba (also for hot springs but also a museum featuring local folklore), it recommend riding the entire bus in a single day, which costs 5,350 yen, at today's rate £29.13 or $37.15, what a great way to spend a couple days, stopping off somewhere and then catching the next bus travelling through.