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, […]
February 23rd, 2025 Start&Finish: Higashi Agano Station to Koma Station The weather: High 9 Low -5. Sunny but chilly in the shade. Outfit/Equipment: warm trousers, long sleeve sport undershirt, hoody, down vest, hat, gloves, hiking boots. Map: We stuck two maps together so we started on this route to Ebigazaka, took a trail from there […]
February 11th Start&Finish: Sawarabinoyu Dai3 Parking lot (there is also a bus stop nearby if you don’t drive) The weather: High 9 Low -3. Sunny but increasingly windy and extremely cold at the top. Outfit/Equipment: Warm trousers, warm long sleeve sport top, hoody, down vest, hat, gloves, hiking boots (waterproof boots and gloves essential for […]
February 9th Start&Finish: Nogami station to Nagatoro Station The weather: High 10 Low -3 Sunny but with a cold wind. Outfit/Equipment: sport tights, warm trousers, sport long sleeve top, hoody, down vest, hat, gloves, hiking shoes. Map: We followed the red course on this map Crowds: Loads of people walking the same trail but the […]
February 1st Start&Finish: Ranzan Keikoku Sightseeing Carpark (嵐山渓谷観光駐車場) The weather: Sunny and surprisingly mild. Outfit/Equipment: Warm trousers, sport long sleeved top, stolen hooded sweatshirt (don’t tell my son), gloves. Map: I had our new hiking map of the area but mostly just followed the signs. Crowds: The occasional hiker and dog walker. Time: 10am to […]
January 26th Start&Finish: Shomaru station The weather: sunny and cold Outfit/Equipment: warm trousers, sport long-sleeve shirt, long sleeved top, down vest, hat, gloves. Map: We followed this map (and didn’t get lost!!) Crowds: The odd hiker here and there. There was an eki-den in Agano but we were travelling past that area. The train was […]
January 16th Start&Finish: Ranzan Keikoku Sightseeing Carpark (嵐山渓谷観光駐車場) The weather: Sunny and cold. Outfit/Equipment: Jeans, heat tech, jumper, hat, gloves, hiking shoes. Map: I meandered round this area, following each path to see where it went. Crowds: The odd hiker and dog walker. Time: 10am to 12pm Difficulty: 10,748 steps.
January 12th Start&Finish: A loop course from Shomaru station The weather: Cold and cloudy with the odd burst of sunshine. Outfit/Equipment: warm trousers, sport long-sleeve vest, long sleeve top, down vest, hat, gloves, hiking shoes Map: There is no map. We ended up turning the wrong way and walking off the edge of the map! […]