A cold autumn day in Nikko

In the hopes of seeing some autumn colours we made a day trip up to Nikko last Tuesday. I had work in the evening so we decided to leave early and head back at lunch time so we didn't feel too rushed. That meant a departure time of 3:30am. Yikes.
Driving through the darkness with a clear night sky, for once there were more stars than cars. The clear roads also meant we should be there in time to see the sun rise. Hopefully.
A glow started to appear above the horizon in the rear view mirror and the race was on.
With no one in front and only the sun behind we made it up the mountain in time to see the moment.

We continued up the mountain and caught the sun again as it came in to view over Lake Chuzenji.

Unfortunately it seemed we were a bit too late to see the blazing reds of autumn. Instead a very strong cold wind was blowing and it started to snow. Nini did not seem very impressed!

Still, we'd gone all that way so we left him in the car and kept looking around.

More pics to come soon.....