My husband and I travelled around Kyushu in October 2014. Kyushu is an amazing place with castles, volcanoes, onsen, beautiful cities, fantastic gardens and great food. The highlight of our trip was river rafting on Kumagawa river. We booked this through Japan Travel, half day £126.

At the start of our day we travelled by steam train SL Hitoyoshi (2hrs) to Watari. The train brought back memories of my childhood with the whistle blowing and the smell of smoke. The train interiors were wooden and you could buy snacks and souvenirs. As the train wound through the countryside we could see Kumagawa river through the trees and the train stopped at various stations for photos to be taken

We arrived at Watari Station and everyone on the train waved as it set off down the tracks without us. We found Land Earth the company organizing the river rafting 5 minutes walk from the station. They spoke good English and we changed into swimwear and put on wetsuits, lifejackets and helmets

We were taken by bus with two instructors to the river where we were given a safety talk and where the boat was set up We were shown how to use paddles and then our adventure began down the river over white water. What a thrill!

I was so scared but the instructors soon put us at ease. We enjoyed it so much that I wanted to do it again. You really just can't beat it! sadly we returned to Land Earth by bus, showered, changed and were seen back to the station The experience was filmed so we had a nice DVD of our day.

We continued by train to Hitoyoshi station about 10 minutes journey where we finished the day at Yoshino Ryokan. Here we relaxed with a nice onsen (they have inside and outside onsen) and we ate some Ayu (sweet fish) a speciality.