The definitely not gruntled but not quite disgruntled factor continued as we made our way across the bridge, headed towards the Man Eating Rock, largely due to the fact that the trail meandered along for what looked like several kilometres, the weather continued to threaten precipitation, and the back pack was a bit of a load to carry. The key point was that there wasn't an obvious turn back point on the map, and I dreaded the prospect of let's just see what's around this corner.
I knew, more or less, what was around the corner, and was sure there was a similar view around the next, the one after that and the one after that. all quite magnificent spectacles, but I was more or less spectacled out.
In any case I would have liked to see whether we could switch to an earlier train for the descent, since the switch to the night's accommodation in Nagano involved a couple of rather tight moves between connecting trains. As it turned out we'd just missed one that may or may not have had room, the next was a workers' train, and we had no option but to stick with the original plan, which gave us six minutes to alight in Unazuki, collect the luggage, make it to the station up one flight of steps and down another onto the platform, negotiating the purchase of tickets along the way.
Had it been a JR line, the ticket purchase on a local line would be unnecessary. Wave the rail pass and you're fine.
In any case, after a rest and a refreshing drink the descent was just as spectacular as the ascent, we managed to be first into the carriage, which got us a premium position for alighting at the other end, the bloke manning Reception at the hotel produced our bags as soon as he sighted us and we made it to the ticket office at the station just as the train was about to depart.
A couple of substitute tickets from a friendly conductor upstairs, a mad scramble down the stairs and we just (literally) made it as the train door closed. There was another train we could have caught half an hour later, but that would have produced the mad scramble at the other end as we transferred ourselves from the Toyama Regional Railways line to the JR one.
Actually, as it turned out, we sighted the later service while we were waiting on the platform at Ouzu, and our Hayate service was, as things turned out, running late.