Light at the end of the tunnel.

Literally.

I found another interesting place again from Heart of Japan and since I do not have any specific plans for my winter break, I asked some friends if they were interested. Five gave a positive answer, so on the first day of my winter vacation we were off to explore the abandoned railway of the Fukuchiyama Line.

There are two ways to approach the old railway, from JR Namaze Station or from JR Takedao Station. The latter is much easier to navigate but we opted to start from the former, following the  direction given by Heart of Japan.

Let the hike begin

The warning sign. To summarize it : “This is not a hiking trail so Enter at your own Risk”, and we did. If you are coming from Takedao station, you will see the same warning.

Beautiful view of the river. This would be a great place during spring and autumn.

Another warning this time it says “Be careful of falling objects”.

Notice the pieces of wood?. Those were the old railway.

It’s time to enter the first tunnel. I found out that my head lamp was useless and that my iPhone camera was much better. It was a bit scary for me, I’m kinda afraid of the dark but this time it won’t get in the way of this adventure, so in we go.

We are going in. No turning back now.

We made it. We can see the light 🙂

Another warning: ” No lights inside the tunnels.”.

I’m doing it 🙂

To the second tunnel we go. This would be very beautiful during the spring.

Entrance to the second tunnel and I think the longest one. There are lots of wooden tracks inside so you really need a good light to make sure you don’t stumble and hurt yourself.

After coming out of the 3rd tunnel we found this. A close track crossing the river.

It would have been really interesting if this was open but unfortunately the other side of this was blocked by a big tree.

There was a small bridge on the side to cross the river and the side view of the track bridge. At the end of this track you can find some of the wooden track drag to the side and turn into semi-benches. So we decided to make a stop and have some lunch and warm drinks before moving on.

The other side of the track, trees were blocking the way 🙂

After we came out of the fourth tunnel we saw again the big warning sign and a very nice view of the river.

We found some old charcoal so somebody was probably making a fire near the it.

Need directions? The Sakura Trees are just 300 meters away.

The fifth tunnel. You can already see the end of it from the entrance.

JR Takedao Station. We safely made it.

It was definitely a very interesting hike. It is very easy but dark and you just need a good walking shoes and a very good flashlight 🙂