April 27th Start&Finish: Yokoze station to Urayamaguchi station The weather: High 24 Low 6 Outfit/Equipment: light hiking trousers, tshirt, sunglasses, sunscreen, hiking shoes. Map: We went on the second hike on this page. Crowds: A fair number of people, especially on the first half up Bukousan from the carpark. Time: 9:15 to 2:45 Difficulty: 30,100 […]
Start&Finish: Oyahana station to Wadokurotani station The weather: High 29 Low 13 Outfit/Equipment: Light weight trousers and cool tech tshirt, hat, sunglasses, hiking shoes. Map: I was following this map from Seibu railways. Crowds: There were plenty of people around at the start, and in the park at the top but not many on the […]
April 12th Start&Finish: Shiminnomori carpark The weather: High 22 Low 10 Outfit/Equipment: Jeans, tshirt, hiking shoes, sunscreen Map: This is the map of the park. Crowds: The odd hiker and dog walker here and there Time: 9:30am to 12:30 Difficulty: 19,780 steps. The weather was simply perfect today. Warm and sunny with a cool breeze. […]
Start&Finish: Heisei no Mori Koen to Sakura Riverbank Park and back. The weather: High 21 Low 7 Outfit/Equipment: Jeans, tshirt, jumper, light shoes Map: You don’t really need a map. If you can orient yourself right you just walk straight to the river, then follow the cycle path. Here’s the park’s site. Crowds: There were […]
March 28th This is my first spring in a very long time where I haven’t had a child to prepare for a new school year and I feel like it’s snuck up on me somehow. One minute it’s winter and the next we’re well into spring. It doesn’t help that temperatures here yoyo from the […]
March 23rd Start&Finish: Shomaru station to Agano station The weather: High 24 Low 7 Outfit/Equipment: light treking trousers, tshirt, light long sleeve top, hiking shoes. Map: This was the route we followed. We skipped the first section to shomaru touge (正丸峠) and took the green route straight to Izugatake (伊豆ヶ岳） Crowds: There are more people […]
March 15th Start&Finish: Ogose Machi Chuo Kouminkan Car Park. The weather: High 11 Low 5. Hazy with cloud thickening through the day and the first spots of rain as I reached the car. Outfit/Equipment: warm trousers, sport inner, hoody, down vest, hiking shoes (and hat and gloves later on). Map: I had no particular plan […]
March 9th, 2025 Start&Finish: Higashi Agano station to Agano station. The weather: High 13 Low 1 (but we had sleet and a high of about 6 the day before so the air was cold) Outfit/Equipment: Warm hiking trousers, long sleeve undershirt, hoody, down vest, hat, gloves, hiking shoes. Map: We started off on this map, […]
March2nd Start&Finish: Shinrinkoen Station The weather: High 21 Low 4. Intermitent sunshine Outfit/Equipment: Jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt. Map: Here’s the link to the park’s homepage Crowds: Busy in popular areas but quiet on the side trails Time: 9:30 to 2 Difficulty: 25,430 steps After checking on the park’s website and seeing that the […]
February 24th Start&Finish: Shiminnomori Car Park, or there is parking in the Peace Museum nearby. The weather: High 9 Low -4. Beautiful and sunny, but cool in the trees. Outfit/Equipment: Jeans, heat tech, hoody, hat, gloves, hiking shoes. Map: We just wandered round the shiminnomori, then crossed the road over to the Peace Museam. Crowds: […]