Japan visit #14 - October and November 2026 - Page 6

There is one train an hour on the line I will use today, but the great news, IC cards work! I was early, so here is a photo of a freight train at Tsuruga station.

Shin-Hikida station. A fantastic feature of this hike and Tsuruga in general, this stop is 8 minutes from Tsuruga. You might think I would therefore walk to it, but the train goes in a loop over itself, inside a tunnel, to get to here. The roads are inside car only tunnels.

Today I will go up there. Actually beyond there over a couple of interesting rocky plains.

Here is the actual start. There is a car park behind me and a bunch of people in all their gear were doing their stretches, I was glad to beat them to the trail. If you feel like it you can write down your hiking plan and put it in that box. No bear warning? Cool.

First summit of sorts, no view. It was mainly blue sky today and quite windy, I think probably 17c.

Very steep section. I think I mildly pulled my monkey muscle! I heard a small pop and it aches now but doesnt seem to slow me down.

Roots, lots of roots.

One of the few sections on the way up with ropes. At least it is not a waterfall, later it will be.

First decent view.

The path was getting great. No steps, no seats, no picnic tables today.

Excellent ridge route.

A lot of mountains between me and Lake Biwa, you will see the lake soon.

The way up was fast.

Over the ridge and the trees became nicer.

Landslide, probably, but not recently. You do not climb up this bit, just stand perilously on the edge and stare into despair.

Getting higher. You can see Lake Biwa in the distance.

The rocky plain. A great spot, and somehow other people appeared.

Main summit area. Nice rocks.

Down there is Tsuruga. The mountains are so close to the town. Also you can see the ocean.

I like the big rocks.

Now I will head in that direction, to the next peak.

More rocks and more Lake Biwa.

Not a lot of fanfare marking the summit. No seats at all today.

Down there you can see the rocks from the earlier photos.

Another shot of Tsuruga.

Location marker. The cloud cover makes the photos more interesting.

I think over there is my hike in a couple of days time.

Not an antenna, a reflector for the signal from another antenna (I think).

The lonely reflector was suitably bleak.

Now to head down, into the dark valley.

A creek appears. Note that a lot of these photos will now have pink ribbons, which is the trail.

Still nice and colourful.

I was deep in a canyon, questioning the heat map that suggests many others have been this way recently.

Waterfalls. Thankfully the rocks were not too slippery, but both my feet went under at different points.

A lot of waterfalls. Reminder, this is the trail.

Occasional respite was offered when there were brief sections of trail alongside the creek, but inevitably, you then had to cross the creek again.

Here there is a rope to help you cross safely.

Nice, a red tree, nearing the end now.

Apparently, I exited into some ruins. Or maybe a farm with walls made of rocks.

To complete the loop back to the station I walked through this quaint town alongside the highway, I could feel the eyes of the locals peering at me through the windows.

The inside of the station, it looks like a serial killer sits here to write his manifesto.

And finally, the stance. I had to be careful not to stance onto the track, especially since a freight train went past soon after.
If you made it to here, you made it past 42 photos from today.

AL Plaza department store, the pride of Tsuruga. With 2 food courts, a games arcade, a cinema, a supermarket, car parking! Oh my.

Near the station is this grassed area, a combo of fake and real grass, I walked on both, I think I prefer real grass.

I was mildly amused that Tsuruga has a night time entertainment information booth. Well normally these things are all for night time entertainment, but this one includes fishing and shrines.

There is the station at night, the solar cells in the middle or the road were not producing much voltage.

A lot of the restaurants were closed on Sunday, but there are at least 10 food trucks down the main street, with decent seating areas.

However this nearby restaurant is probably annoyed that the food truck set up right out the front.

I mentioned the statues down all the streets, here is one, there does not appear to be any specific theme.

I doubled back to the department store, which was probably about to close early, here it is. There is a Muji inside too.

Sadly the upper food court was closed, I am not sure if this is a Sunday thing or if it is not open at night, I will check on it again tomorrow to find out.

And for dinner, omurice, not from Coco but a cafe that had an extensive menu of all the favourites. The owner decided to speak English to me, and then expressed his absolute shock that I would stay in Tsuruga 4 nights, and the only activity I am here for is to march up the nearby mountains.
And on that note, tomorrow is not a hiking day... but I think there will be a hill involved with a view.