Checking-out the hills overlooking Yamashina.

                                                                                                                                                                          I have spent many hours cycling through this area over the years, but it was another post on my 'Strava' page that alerted me to the possibility of some off-road cycling/hiking tracks. Checking this map, and other maps of the area, I came to the conclusion that there was quite a network of tracks, entering & exiting at different locations within this part of Kyoto City.

   Access to the area known as Yamanaka, is via the Yamanaka-goe Road, or route-30. This road, that connects the cities of Kyoto and Otsu, is narrow and quite windy, and care is needed when traversing. At the plateau is the entrance of the 'Hieizan Driveway'. 
   There are also several distractions, especially on the Kyoto side, like the . . . .

Nitten-ji Temple & Shrine (map location). As car-parking is non-existent, being on a bike/foot is an advantage.

   Other distractions include religious icons.



   My plan was to do a reconnaissance ride into the area, and connect with the track my Strava connection had taken but, unlike his trip, I would descend. My research revealed that some of the tracks lead to (Mt)Daimonjiyama, a mountain overlooking Kyoto City and made famous for the 'Gozan-no Okuribi' Festival.

   Arriving at the plateau of the Yamanaka-goe, I then branched off and made my way through the settlement to where my off-road adventure would, I hope, commence. The settlement is constructed in a Grid Plan  layout (map location) and one wrong turn, and god-knows where you can end-up. Like I did on my first venture into the area. Exiting the settlement, my road entered a forest then, after passing a small temple, it became a rocky forest road. A couple of kilometers in, and I arrived at this small shrine (map location). This isn't the first time I have been here and, on each occasion, and others like this, I am continually intrigued as to such a place to establish a religious site.

   After a banana and a few mouthfuls of water to wash it down with, I turned and began to head in the direction of the track I needed to take. And this is what greeted me, remnants of 'Typhoon Jebi' that wreaked havoc throughout the region in early September 2018: wherever one goes they will see scenes like this. I leaned my bike against a tree-stump and headed up to the track. The devastation surrounding me was horrific. It didn't take much to convince me that proceeding was not only impossible, but dangerous. So I decided a u-turn was my best, and only, option. It was just as I was about to return to my bike, when a lone hiker appeared. He had just come from (Mt)Nyoigadake - where I was planning to head to - and was heading to Daimonjiyama. He told me, once I reached the summit, I wouldn't be able proceed further, due to the storm damage, and my best option was another track, which would emerge at Bishamon-do Temple, at Yamashina (map location).

    Shaking hands and expressing my gratitude, I returned to my bike and made my way down. At first I was a bit nervous - dragging my bike over, under or around fallen trees, isn't my idea of a bike-ride - but, as I proceeded, evidence of a clean-up was all around and, at times, I was able to mount my saddle, and ride. Albeit for a few meters.

    Partway down I came to a clearing with a large rock in the middle. This was my cue to take-a-break, have a bite-to-eat, and take a photo.While here I had to re-plan my course, and my best route home. I decided to get onto the Biwako Canal path and, from there, another path that would take me through to Rokujizo and home. I missed my turn-off and ended up cycling through Kyoto City. No sooner had I arrive home, that I was planning my return. And, eleven days later, I did just that.
   Course details & map - https://www.strava.com/activities/2151913989 

                                                                                                                                                                          The morning of Wednesday 27th dawned cold, miserable and overcast; the previous day we experienced spring/summer like conditions. I made a beeline for the shrine - no sightseeing this trip - and, 40km x 2-hours later, I arrived with the overhead conditions improving. I decided to lock my bike up behind the shrine and explore the track to (Mt) Nyoigadake on foot, and also look for the track that lead down the valley.

   That way, if my reconnaissance wasn't successful, I wouldn't have had to lug my bike the sixteen-hundred meters there & back for nothing. But I was in luck. Like my previous excursion eleven days prior, the track had been cleared. Arriving at the summit, I then went in search of the junction that would eventually take me out and down the valley. And again I was in luck.
  Excited at the prospect of a successful conclusion to this outing, I returned, retrieved my bike, and made my way back to (Mt)Nyoigadake.
   By now it was about 10:30am and the temperature was beginning to heat-up.

Summit of (Mt)Nyoigadake.
Map Location.

        
   The summit was somewhat of an anticlimax. Where someone would expect a marker denoting the summit, with possibly a view of the surrounding hills as a bonus, an aircraft communication/navigation facility was located there instead.

   Leaving the sealed access road, I now commenced my descent down a well maintained forestry road to emerge at, I hope, at Fujio-jinja Shrine. I visited this facility a couple-of-years ago, when I was in the area checking-out other off-road tracks, and would give me an idea where I was in relation to my journey home. The first three kilometers were made-up of several hairpins and, it was about now I was congratulating myself for taking the descent option. Unlike my friend who took the ascent. But, when I arrived at this site, my smile soon disappeared. It was at this point my well-maintained forestry road suddenly became a rough-and-rocky track. In some places it was too hazardous to cycle and I needed to dismount and walk and, on top of that . . . .

  

   . . . . I had to navigate my way through, or over, or around several fallen trees. At this point, in the above image, I began to get the feeling I was nearly at my goal.

Fujio-jinja Shrine.
(map location).

   And my hunch was right. As I broke through the barrier, there, just a few hundred meters down the track, was Fujio-jinja. It was a sight-to-behold; at one stage of my descent I began to worry if & where I would emerge. Parking my bike, I grabbed my drink-bottle, took a banana out of my bag and went and sat on the Kagura-den. By now the sun was unobstructed and glaring in my face - a far cry from the conditions when I left home. I didn't want to get too comfortable, I still had the best part of 40km to ride.
   While sitting here a plan was beginning to form in my mind of a hike, commencing here, that would zig-zag through the hills, ending at the summit of (Mt)Daimonjiyama. But that is another post. 
   Course details & map - https://www.strava.com/activities/2178374376

   As always, thank-you for viewing and, until next time - 

Sayonara.