越生・Ogose

March 15th

I had promised myself when we hiked in Ogose back in the Autumn that I would be back when the plum was in flower, so today was the day. It wasn’t great weather but beggars can’t be choosers so I made sure I had a raincoat with me and set out. It was pretty chilly with the occasional glimmer of sunshine as I drove over and the start of the walk was very pleasant. You walk through Sakuranoyama Kouen then up a lot of steep steps, where there is a handy toilet at the top, then on to Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers (世界無名戦士の墓). Yet more steps and a good view from the top (mind the step! You’ll know what I mean when you get there as pretty much everyone is taken by surprise).

You don’t have to go back down the steps, as the route then leads on from there following signs for Otakatoriyama (大高取山). It’s a very pleasant route once you’ve reached the top, with plenty of variety and vantage points as you go along. There were plenty of cheerful hikers too which really alters the mood of a walk. I had no particular route in mind other than wanting to end up at the plum grove, but found signs to a 3月 route which seemed to be going in the right direction so I just followed them.

Unlike our previous trip to Ogose which had been to a slightly different area, there were a lot of signs – decisions, decisions – so no problem with getting lost, as long as you knew where you were aiming for. After an hour or so of walking there was a sign to Umesonoumenoekiう(めその梅の駅) which I knew from our previous hike to be a nice place to stop for omiyage, but it wasn’t where I was aiming for so this is where I diverged from the 3月route and continued straight to pop out more or less opposite the plum grove.

The plum was just past it’s peak and the smell was gorgeous. I didn’t go into the park itself but instead walked round it (much calmer) and tried to soak up as much of that wonderful scent as I could. It’s not going to be around for much longer. Then, sadly, I headed for the Umesonoumenoeki to pick up some treats for my hard-working husband who couldn’t join me today.

I could have chosen to head back to the carpark from here but it was still early so I decided to head back up into the mountains and walk round to OPark (aka. YuPark), the now fancied-up onsen/glamping park. If you walk up the little road next to the Umesonoumenoeki you will see a sign off to your left point back to Otakatoriyama. It started off as a new route but somehow I ended up back on the path I came down on. I’m not sure how. I was following the 3月route again but in reverse so I guess I must have popped out at that junction where I chose to go straight on. It was a tough climb back up (though not as hard as last week’s trip to Kurouyama Santaki) but not too bad once I got back up to the top. I didn’t want to go back the way I came so I made sure not to follow the 3月route signs and just after Otakatoriyama took a new path to Opark.

It’s another good hour’s walk on to Opark and I think now I’d have been better off aiming for Kokuzouson (虚空蔵尊) to avoid so much walking on the road at the end, but it was fine. This last stretch of the walk was very much quieter with almost no other hikers and very slippery footing in parts too. It was coming on to rain and rather gloomy too which may have affected my impression of the area. It was nice to pop out in civilisation again and break out the sembe to eat on the way back down to the car. It’s about 35 minutes from Opark to the car park if you just follow the road which was very quiet with almost no traffic. I wish that there was some way to bottle the scent of ume; I shall just have to content myself by making some ume syrup this year, which is delicious.