As I Live and Breathe
A prime example of how askew and erratic things have been of late is the arrival today of my Olympic tickets for the Tokyo 2020 men’s mountain bike race. What the dickens? Yes, you read that correctly and more than two months late I might add. The rationale being that due to constant dilly-dallying about whether or not to allow spectators there wasn’t sufficient time for them to be delivered before the race. Since I technically opted and paid for paper ticket delivery the Organising Committee have held up their end and evidently decided ‘better late than never’. At any rate, a nice little souvenir to hide-away in a drawer.
With that being said, my disappointment with not hiking over the past couple of months mercifully looks to be coming to an end. Today Japan is winding down the state of emergency today in all 19 prefectures including Tokyo. To that, I gingerly raise my glass in merriment. The blog has been ‘stuck’ on 98 hikes for seemingly ages but have pencilled in a couple to hopefully reach this major milestone before another unforeseen occurrence befall us all. Hope you all enjoy some brilliant hikes this autumn ?
One for you if you haven’t done it : Last month I hiked, and highly recommend, the Kumano Kodo Nakahechi. Really enjoyable. Convenient transport: direct flight (1 hr) Haneda to Nanki Shirahama beach town. Direct bus from the airport to the trailhead at Takajiri-oji. Direct bus back to the airport from Hongu Taisha shrine. This is not a cultural walk like the Nakasendo — it is a genuine hike.
Very nice! By the looks of it this section is 68km and takes around 4 days. Also, in the Nakahechi area it appears there are four auto camps. I haven’t hiked any of the Kumano Kodo mostly due to the logistics but looks like it’s pretty easy to fly down there.
Hope this helps, David:
https://www.tb-kumano.jp/en/kumano-kodo/nakahechi/
Haneda direct flights to Nanki Shirahama on JAL only. Nakahechi : Takajiiri-oji to Hongu Taisha = 40 km over 2 days. I took the morning flight+ connecting airport bus, dropped at Takajiri-oji trailhead at 11am. Paper map available across the road at Visitor Centre (useful for the elevation changes). Trail marked in English (you can’t get lost). 1 L of water enough. Few places for food. I ate at the Michi no Eki rest stop (about 3pm on Day 1). I camped at Kobiri-oji near the Hino Budo Institute building (you can guess how) after about 20 km of hiking on Day 1. Next day, left at 6am, another 20 km to Honga Taisha shrine; there by noon (Day 2 much easier than Day 1). Biggest torii gate in the world is 5 mins from the shrine. Bus back from shrine to airport (only 1 in the afternoon) leaves about 2.30pm. You can extend the Nakahechi easily, but then it’s a very long bus trip back to the airport. The Kohechi is about 80 km with 3 passes over 1000m; wild and rugged; few facilities. A very helpful foreigner at Tanabe City Tourism office answered my email questions (see website link above for contact details)