December 21st Start&Finish: Ome station to Futamatao station (Alternatively park in Nagayama parking lot, though it’s a bit of a narrow, hair-raising drive up. There are also plenty of pay and display places). The weather: Lovely and sunny and not too cold. Outfit/Equipment: warm trousers, tshirt, long sleeve top, hiking shoes. Map: This is a […]
December 8th Start&Finish: The weather: Outfit/Equipment: Crowds: Map: Time: 5 hours hiking, from Start&Finish: Nishiagano station to Agano station. The route we were following led to a bus stop but we decided to walk rather than wait for the infrequent buses. The weather: Cold and sunny. Outfit/Equipment: warm hiking trousers, tshirt, long sleeve top, vest, […]
December 1st Start&Finish: The weather: Outfit/Equipment: Crowds: Very crowded in the park but only the odd hiker on the trail from the park. Map: You can find a course map here. Time: Around 2 hours Start&Finish: Akebono Children’s Forest Park The weather: Beautiful, sunny and mild. Outfit/Equipment: Jeans, tshirt, jumper, hiking shoes. Map: You can […]
November 24th Start&Finish: The weather: Outfit/Equipment: Crowds: Map: Time: Start&Finish: Ashigakubo station The weather: Beautiful sunshine but cold, especially at the top! Outfit/Equipment: warm trousers, long sleeve top, tshirt, light down vest, hiking shoes, hat. Map: We followed this course. Crowds: Not people evident when walking but lots of people eating bento at the top. […]
November 10th Start&Finish: Nishi Agano station to Agano station The weather: Overcast with occasional bursts of sunshine. Outfit/Equipment: Long sleeve top, tshirt, warm outdoor trousers (from workman), light down vest, hat. Map: This is the route we were supposed to be following. Crowds: A few hiking groups around but we only seemed to meet at […]
October 27th Start&Finish: Agano station to Higashi Agano station. The weather: High Low Outfit/Equipment: lightweight trousers, t-shirt, hat, sunglasses, but starting to get a bit chilly in the shade. Map: We followed this course. Well, we tried anyway. Crowds: Crowds: Not a soul to be seen Time: We started hiking at 9 and got back […]
Oh my goodness the people. The hundreds and thousands of people. No matter how lovely a place it might have been we just couldn’t take the mass of humanity. It was literally a queue up the mountain, even though we took the most ‘challenging’ route up.
September 22nd Start&Finish: Ogose station The weather: Warm and drizzly. Outfit/Equipment: Lightweight exercise trousers, vest top, t-shirt, hat, raincoat/umbrella (I had a raincoat because I hate carrying things but the other half opted for the cooler umbrella). Map: We wandered around lost for a lot of time. There are maps of here. It’s difficult to […]