When on high or open ground in Nagoya it’s not unusual to see Mt. Ibuki (伊吹山) looming far off in the distance to the northwest (not to be confused with Mt. Ontake to the northeast). It’s a popular and well known hike that I am yet to complete. I’ve driven up at least twice on […]
Category: microadventure
A New Direction
You may or may not have noticed that there hasn’t been that many posts in 2018. While I’ve been spending more time than ever outdoors in the countryside cycling, bike packing, mountain biking, hiking, and photographing in Japanese mountains, the Australian countryside, or back ‘home’ in the U.K., the name Bike Packing Japan has often […]
Agematsu – Mt. Ontake
I did a short trip from Agematsu (上松) on the Nakasendo (中山道) to Mt. Ontake (御嶽山) recently, catching the late afternoon train from Kachigawa (勝川) north of Nagoya to Nakatsugawa, where I changed trains to Agematsu. Altogether about two hours of travel. From there I rode just under 40kms or so west towards Kaida Kogen […]
Urugi – Fujimi Panorama – Shiojiri
Urugi – Fujimi Panorama – Shiojiri At the end of July and beginning of August I had a few days spare to do a short bike packing trip before a two week trip to Australia for work. A friend of mine, Alex, who I hadn’t seen in a while and had previously been living just […]
Shimanami Kaido with First Over Everything
Bike Packing Japan hasn’t had a chance to ride the iconic Shimanami Kaido (しまなみ海道) route yet but Bradley from First Over Everything has and he made a video this time last year. As it’s one of the most popular rides in Japan for foreign tourists it’s well worth taking the time out to watch. As […]
Matsumoto – Hafudake – Kusatsu
One of the benefits of living in central Japan is that most places are within a reasonable distance in relation to cycling and bike packing, and with the JR Chuo line (中央線) running from Tokyo (東京) to Nagoya (名古屋) around the Minami Alps it doesn’t take much time and effort to get out into the […]