Family Hike to Hokyo San

It is spring time again, and time to go out with family and friends, enjoy nature and get some exercise!

Family hike is an easy and leisurely hike for all abilities - with nice views! It is a real hike, yet light enough for all ages.

Everyone is recommended to join this walk (you don't necessarily need to be married or have children). But people with children are encouraged to come, as well as with parents, in-laws or friends.

Hokyo-san is nice for a family hike especially because of its proximity and moderate height. It is closer from here than Tsukuba-san, and less than half its height. We will visit castle ruins first, then walk through farms, and then up through the forest.

Where and when to meet: April 5 (Saturday) 9 AM at the Tsukuba station short time parking. This parking allows only up to 20 min. of free parking, so be there by 9 AM.

We should be back by 16:00 in the afternoon.

Clothing according to weather, and rain protection (in case).
Walking or hiking shoes.

What to bring: a lunch box and drinks (water/ juice/ cha).

Fees: Children and drivers are exempt from club fee of 200 yen.

Let me know if you are coming by car.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me!

Inform anyone else who may be interested, especially with children.

Note: in case of bad weather, I may postpone to the next day (Sunday) or another day.

MEETING at 9:00 AM
PLACE Tsukuba station pick up/drop off parking (20 min free), next to the Bus station (behind the bus ticket booth)
START from the parking at 9:10 AM (this parking is free for only 20 min., after that it costs 100 yen per 10 min.)

A map of the area is here (in Japanese; I cannot find an English version (if you can, please let me know))
https://www.city.tsukuba.ibaraki.jp/dbps_data/_material_/_files/000/000/008/676/houkyousan.pdf

At first, we will MEET at castle ruins parking, top left in this map, in red/orange. After that, we will decide where to park for the hiking.
https://plus.google.com/103063229748334716745/about?gl=jp&hl=en
平沢官衙遺跡
３５３ Hirasawa
Tsukuba, Ibaraki 300-4213
029-883-1111

DRIVING ROUTE: The driving route is here:
https://maps.google.co.jp/maps?saddr=36.082774,140.112633&daddr=36.176766,140.104084&hl=en&sll=36.176486,140.104135&sspn=0.001004,0.000956&geocode=FVaUJgId-fJZCA%3BFX4DKAIdlNFZCA&t=h&gl=jp&dirflg=d&brcurrent=3,0x60220ea57657d8dd:0x13933d093d3a0ce,0&mra=ls&z=13

HIKING ROUTE: We will take the hiking route marked 1.山口コース(1) (Yamaguchi course (1)) in this map.

We will stop and have LUNCH at the point marked [7] on the route in this map, before finally going to the top.

I thank all the participants for joining this hike and making it so enjoyable. Forty participants, including four children, is a record number I think. Some other could not make it because they could not arrive in time.