autumn color at Hachimantai
18/09/2018 / Last updated : 07/02/2023 d.d Scenic Drive / Spots

Goshogake onsen and Hachimantai　後生掛温泉、八幡平

Day 45, October 2016, A grey start to the day but not so cold and no frost though the stars were visible in the night. We breakfast on coffee and toast and apples prepared in the office basement of Goshogake campsite and are enjoying this in the dining room when people start arriving for an event starting at 9. They are apologetic when we leave but breakfast is over anyway. The Akita apples ’Kita Kurenai’ are very good. We walk around the pond ‘Onuma’ which is part of the campsite. The usual raised wooden walkway carries you over the swamp and it is all very pretty but no sign of […]
autumn leaves of beech forest
12/09/2018 / Last updated : 07/02/2023 d.d Hiking / Walking

Mt.Hakkoda, Sukayu and Tsuta Onsen　八甲田

Day 42, October 2016, Another beautiful morning, a little cold but bright and clear. There has been a slight frost.　After breakfast, we walk to the nearby Sukayu onsen shop and buy onigiri, boiled eggs and tea for lunch. Then start our climb to Kenashitai wetland on Mt.Hakkoda. Mt. Hakkoda Kenashitai Actually, the start is a little delayed as we are not sure where the start is. Sorted, we are on our way. The first kilometer or so is rather a scramble through beech woods but the tree leaves shining, golden brown against the bright blue sky is recompense enough. As we clear the trees, the going is smoother and the […]
Mt.Iwaki in autumn colour
08/09/2018 / Last updated : 07/02/2023 d.d Scenic Drive / Spots

Mt. Iwaki and Jogakura Ohashi, Autumn leaves and orchards　岩木山

Day 41, October 2016, Ashino Koen(park) Wake to a beautiful morning in Ashino Koen(park). The truck gent has moved his parking spot for no obvious reason but the tent dispenses a youngish, obviously, homeless man who coughs and spits. Not the best of neighbors. We have forgotten to get bread so have no breakfast and have a spot of panic as I think I have lost my wallet but find it on the floor of the car. We go for a walk across the (apparently) famous bridges. The first, is a floating bridge which is passable but is in a distressing state. What repairs have been carried out are very […]
Osorezan
26/07/2018 / Last updated : 06/02/2023 d.d Temple / Shrine

Osorezan, communing with the dead　恐山

Day 39, October 2016, Yagen Valley　薬研渓谷 We wake to a fine day and breakfast in the early morning sunshine. Before visiting Osorezan, our plan is to walk along a small, nearby river, so we drive a little further up the valley. The footpath, we discover, is in the pine trees and very gloomy. It runs along an old, narrow gauge railway line, now barely visible and the river can hardly be glimpsed at all through the undergrowth, so the prospect for the walk is not encouraging. In the end, we walk back along the road – there are almost no cars – and take lots of useless pictures of the […]
Hotokegaura
25/07/2018 / Last updated : 06/02/2023 d.d Scenic Drive / Spots

Hotokegaura, white ant hill　仏ヶ浦

Day 38, October 2016, Oma, Aomori　　大間 After arriving in Ooma  Shimokita peninsula in Aomori by ferry from Hakodate, drive through narrow streets out to the point where everything is Maguro(tuna). We park and wander around the usual shops selling junk and fishy things. A tentacle stall catches my eye, before we find the point itself. Here people are taking pictures and the couple from Osaka are there entering into the spirit of the thing more than D. and I are able. They give D. a name card and we learn they run an izakaya in Sakai city in Osaka. Hotokegaura To find a supermarket, to get some lunch, we wind through […]
Lake Onuma
07/06/2018 / Last updated : 19/03/2023 d.d Scenic Drive / Spots

Cycling Onuma park　大沼公園

Day 36, October 2016, A warm, sunny morning and we enjoy breakfast outside, more comfortably than last night’s dinner. Packed, we drive to Hakodate and D. buys warm socks in Shimamura. (A cheap clothing chain that, we discover, has a major presence throughout the Japanese archipelago. Well, I can’t vouch for Okinawa but I wouldn’t bet against it.) Cycling Lake Onuma Thus equipped, we head back to Lake Onuma and rent bicycles. After dropping into 7/11 to buy onigiri for lunch we set off cycling. A short distance later, in Onuma Park, we are obliged to ditch our bikes so recently acquired, as they are not allowed. Consequently, we walk […]
rainbow Shihoro town
04/05/2018 / Last updated : 05/02/2023 d.d Scenic Drive / Spots

Mikuni Pass to Higashi-Daisetsu　三国峠から東大雪

Day 27, October 2016, Mikuni Pass We emerge into a windy but dry morning and decide to return to Sounkyo gorge to check the autumn colours. The day is fine but the closer we get to the mountains the more the weather deteriorates. It is very windy with frequent heavy showers. Numerous rainbows prop up the clouds for kilometer after kilometer as we skim along very straight roads boarded by mixed, but mainly birch, forests. It is all very pretty despite the muted autumn colours and the background threat of serious rain. That eventually envelopes us as we cross the Mikuni Pass, the highest road(R.273) in Hokkaido. The pass itself […]
toilet
11/04/2018 / Last updated : 19/02/2023 d.d Scenic Drive / Spots

Notsuke Peninsula and Betsukai-Peat hot spring　野付半島

Day 21, September 2016, We breakfast and pack up as usual. We bid farewell to our Osaka gent but of our young cyclist there is no sign. His tent is tied up tight but, I suspect, it barely contains the raging hangover within. Notsuke Peninsula Leaving the Odaito fureai campsite, we drive a short distance to Notsuke hanto(peninsula) The drive along the peninsula is of some distance before we come to the barrier that is the limit of vehicular traffic. From the car park, we walk along the track with high reeds stretching out on either side. These reeds, for the most part, obscure the pools of brackish water. We […]