A Walk Across Akiyoshidai

Akiyoshidai, a karst of about 100 square kilometers in central Yamaguchi Prefecture is the largest limestone plateau in Japan.

About 300 million years ago it was a coral reef under the ocean. With limestone being soluble in water karsts tend to have lots of underground water and therefore lots of caves and caverns. Underneath Akiyoshidai is Akiyoshido, the largest cavern in all of Japan.

The surface of the plateau has lots of sinkholes which makes for a very uneven landscape. There are also loads of rock pinnacle sticking up.

In the late autumn when I walked across it there was a lot of Japanese pampas grass growing. It is a very unusual landscape for Japan. It is semi artificial in that every year the dried grass covering the plateau is burned which tends to inhibit the growth of trees and stops the landscape reverting to forest.

Onomichi Temple Walk

Before I headed off on my walk to Shikoku along the Shimanami Kaido I spent the morning walking Onomichi's temple walk.

Though a relatively small town, Onomichi is home to 25 temples that, like the town itself, are mostly located on the steep hillside running down to the sea.

The route, only 2.5 k long, is easy to follow, especially with the free maps from the towns tourist information office. An easy half-day wander, mostly along narrow lanes and up and down steps.

As well as the temples, some of which are not particularly impressive, there are also a handful of shrines as well as other funky old buildings and other tourist sites.

There are also lots of nice views down over the town and across to Mukaishima across the narrow channel.

Fall Colors walk: Yudani Gingko

Winter has arrived early this year, and with being extra busy and the Fall weather being wetter than usual I didnt get to do as much walking in November as I had hoped, but I did make a Fall Colors walk up the Yudani Valley that ends at the Gonokawa near Kawamoto and starts up near Mihara. First stop was this abandoned temple that I had hoped to explore inside of but it has already begun to collapse and their were construction workers there to stop me from entering a "dangerous" place....

Further up the valley a farmer had a grove of gingko trees and he was busy collecting the nuts from underneath...

Solitary gingkos in a background of green are perhaps the most typical image of fall colors round here for me...

I had been told that the huge gingko at the temple in Mitani was particularly spectacular but it had only just begun its metamorphosis from green to gold....

The shrine in Mihara.....

Lying down in the Mountains

heading off for a few days in the mountains again so I thought I would post some pics from a recent trip sleeping out on top of a mountain to show the obvious reason why...... the views...

All these photos are from a night I spent on top of Mount Kannomine on Osakikamijima, an island in the Inland Sea

Its only 453 meters high, but getting to the top means starting at sea level so its still a good climb.

Unfortunately it was cloudy so the light was not as good as it could have been, but still there were some stunning views over the numerous islands that dot the Inland Sea between Honshu and Shikoku.

The sun set over the Aki Nada chain of islands that I had spent 2 days walking across to get here

Unfortunately it was even cloudier at dawn but still it was an awesome view across the  islands that the Shimanami Kaido now runs across from Ohnomichi to Imabari....

Aki Nada Island Hopping

The Aki Nada Islands are a chain of islands in the Inland Sea off the coast of Hiroshima Prefecture that run approximately from near Kure to near Takehara. A series of bridges have been constructed that link the islands to each other and to the mainland so now it is possible to drive, cycle, or in my case walk from island to island. The Aki Nada Ohashi bridge connect the mainland to Shimo Kamagari Island.

This bridge connects Shimo Kamagari Island to Kami Kamagari Island. Shimo and kami mean "lower" and "Upper" and refers to which is closer to Kyoto as this was the main transportation route between Kyushu, Western Japan and the old capital.

Kamikamagari connects to Teshima. Not to be confused with another Teshima further east in the Inland Sea off Hyogo. That Teshima has become quite well known as an "Art Island" and when I booked a room at a minshuku on this Teshima they wanted to double-check that I wasnt confusing it with the other Teshima.

Teshima connects to Osaki Shimozima. There is a little bit of fishing on the islands but they are too steep to support agriculture but all the islands now grow a lot of oranges on the steep slopes.

A very short bridge connect Osakishimozima to Tairajima, a small uninhabited island.

Tairajima to Nakanoshima.

And finally, with an almost carbon copy of the previous bridge, Nakanoshima connects to Okamura Island which is in Ehime Prefecture.

The largest of the Aki Nada islands, Osakikamijima, lies to the north and is only accessible by ferry.

A Walk from Honshu to Shikoku Day 2 (afternoon)

After crossing the Tatara Bridge the Shimanami kaido runs down the SE edge of Omishima. Omishima is the biggest of the islands on the route, and there is plenty to see around the island, but I had been here a month or two earlier so this time I decided to press on and try to get to the next island, Hakatajima, to spend the night.

On calm, sunny days, of which there are plenty in the Inland Sea, the sea is really quite beautiful. There are just a few small fishing harbors on this part of the island.

Omishima and Hakatajima are quite close together, so no suspension bridge is needed. The arch bridge was the first of the bridges to be built on the Shimanami kaido, opening to traffic in 1979, and at that time was the longest arch bridge in Japan with a span of 297 meters. There are a few minshuku on Hakatajima, and I was hoping to rent a room for the night, but I had no luck, not because they were full but because they were empty and didnt want to open at such short notice for just one customer, so I replenished my supplies at the conbini and headed the short distance to the next bridge to try and find somewhere to sleep out.

Hakatajima connects to the last island Ohshima by two bridges. The first reaches to a tiny uninhabited island called Michika Island and there is an exit from the bridge for pedestrians and cyclists because there is a campsite down on a small beach. The campsite was closed and no-one else was on the island so I set up camp in a roofed picnic area right on the highest point of the island. I spent the last hour or so of the day relaxing, eating, and drinking as I took in the great views of the sunset....

A Walk from Honshu to Shikoku Day 2 (morning)

I woke before the sun and headed off around the north coast of Ikuchijima and enjoyed the sunrise lighting up the surrounding islands. I got into the town of Setoda by 8 and my plan was to stop in at the Kosanji complex that opened at 9 so I sat on a bench and watched the town come to life around me. I had been to Kosanji before, but this was a different time of year, a different time of day, I had a new camera, and I was a few years older, so plenty of chances for new photos. earlier posts on Kosanji can be found here

On top of the hill at the sculpture garden known as The Heights of Eternal Hope for the Future, the brilliant white marble was dazzling in the bright sunlight.

After Setoda the coast road heads south to Sunset Beach, a really nice beach with an Onsen nearby that I had planned to stay at but as it was only lunchtime I decided to push on and try and get over to Omishima and then to Hakatajima.

 

Ikuchijima is home to the "Island Wide Art Museum" which is a series 17 sculptures placed in public places around the island. Near Sunset Beach there were three that I found, including this one, Calm Time-Red Form / Inclination, by Keiji Uematsu.

 

Ikuchijima is connected to Omishima by the Tatara Bridge,the longest cable-stayed bridge in the world when it was built.

Vacation 2011 Day 14 In the Valley of the Roses

After leaving the gite we wandered through the alleys of the village before emerging on the banks of the river in the Valley of the Roses.

We followed the river upstream all day, sometimes needing to ford it. The water was cold and fast, being melted snow coming down from the Atlas Mountains.

Unfortunately we were too early to find any roses, however poppies were very much in abundance in the gardens of the villages we passed through.

One house had an unusual ornament on the roof......

Further up the valley the geology changed and we could have easily been in Arizona....

Camp was on the riverbank where the mules had plenty to drink and the chorus of frogs kept up all night....

Encountered on the trail

Came across this skeleton of a young buck Sika Deer yesterday as I was hiking across the Kitayama Mountains at the western end of the Shimane peninsular. Every time Ive hiked here I have seen deer, and one time when I slept out there I had them running by me all night as I slept on a small piece of open ground..

It may have died a natural death, or it may have been fatally injured in a territorial dispute with another buck. They no longer have any natural predators.

The name Sika Deer comes from the japanese word for deer, shika. There are not many in the mountains of shimane, but this little range of mountains is like an island and it is well populated with them.

A Walk from Honshu to Shikoku Day1

There was a spell of fine weather last week so I took the opportunity to go for a walk. My route was along the Shimanami kaido, a new 70k road that connects Onomichi in Hiroshima on Honshu with Imabari in Ehime on Shikoku. The road passes through 6 islands via 7 bridges. I spent the morning on the Temple walk in Onomichi, a route that zig-zags up and down the hillside visiting 25 temples and several shrines. From the top of Senkojisan there are fine views down on the town and across the channel to the first of the islands Mukaijima.

The bridge across to Mukaijima doesnt have any sidewalks, so its recommended for cyclists and pedestrians to cross over on one of the frequent ferries. there isnt a lot to see on Mukaijima, and the first part of the route, well marked with blue lines along the road, passes through the built up area but then heads south down the west coast where the views become nicer.

The Innoshima Ohashi is the suspension bridge that connects Mukaijima to Innoshima. It was built in 1983 and is 1.4 kilometers long and  has a main span of 770 meters.

Pedestrians, cyclists, and mopeds travel under the bridge. My plan had been to head up to the top of Mt Shirataki , the highest point on the island, to spend the night and enjoy the views over the Inland Sea at sunset and sunrise, but it was only 3pm so I decided to push on across the middle of the island.

Roughly in the middle of the island is what is the main tourist attraction of the island, the Murakami Suigun Castle. Sometimes called a navy, sometimes pirates, they are best described as privateers who controlled the waterways of the Inland Sea for much of the medieval period. The reconstructed castle houses a museum. Woirth a visit if you are passing by but not worth a special trip unless you are into that kind of thing.

the sun was getting low when I reached the other side of the island and the Ikuchi Bridge that connects Innoshima with Ikuchijima. With a span of 790 meters, this was the longest cable-stayed bridge in the world when it opened in 1991.

I went a few more k once I got to Ikuchijima before I made camp on the sea wall on some waste ground between two small shipbuilding yards.