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Originally Posted by GregX999
Oh, but those dark green mountains sure look inviting! I do like getting out in nature occasionally (I really like hiking too). Looks like nice areas for that just to the west as well (across the river).  |
Don`t get me wrong - I love mountains too. We`re history / nature buffs, and have taken quite long trips just to visit historical mountain locales. (俱利伽羅峠 for one.)
You`ll probably be a bit surprised to find that for the huge number of mountains, there are relatively few hiking trails out there. Mountains are literally everywhere in Japan, so they really are normal background to life and not seen as something all that special.
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Just from looking at Google, to use the area we're talking about as an example, it looks like the area between and around Seto, Inuyama, Tajimi and Toki would be great for riding - a mix of riding though/by fields, woods, temples, towns, etc. Or between Gifu and Seki. But I could be totally wrong, not being able to see it first-hand.
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Judging by the colors on Google Earth can be very misleading.
*Anywhere* on there that has human activity, be it buildings or expanses of fields, looks pretty much the same when it comes to color. You have to look a bit closer to see the sort of thing I am talking about...
Just a random zoomed in area;
Google
There are fields, a clump of houses, more fields, another clump of houses, etc. Zoom out a few steps... And it`s right in the middle of what looks to be "built up" area. It will all look like a grey cityscape... But pop down to streetview and... you`ll see that calling the area "built up" would be quite a stretch. Outside of the heart of town, (and even in some parts of it...) you`ll find that the green stuff really is only deep mountains... And that the grey can be anywhere between concrete jungle and traditional villages with rice fields.
To show off - this is about 10 minutes (by bicycle) from my house... Which is in turn about 25 minutes (by bicycle) from Nagoya station.
http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/910413.jpg
Japan isn`t city that cuts away to mountain, no matter how the coloring on Google Earth makes it look.
