千葉県鴨川市【菜な畑ロード】で菜の花摘み＆ミニSL体験！(Nanabatake Road in Kamogawa, Chiba Prefecture)

2月25、26日に、一般社団法人プレスマンユニオンのご案内で千葉県鴨川市を取材しました。2日目に訪れた「菜な畑ロード」の菜の花摘み体験期間が3月12日（日）までなので、まずはこちらからご紹介しようと思います。

I visited Kamogawa City, Chiba Prefecture, on the weekend of February 25-26. I’ll start out by writing about Nanabatake Road, where you get to handpick canola flowers until Sunday, March 12. Canola flower is also known as rapeseed or rape blossoms, but I’m going to avoid using these terms for obvious reasons.

(Why do canola flowers bloom in the midst of winter in Chiba?)

…という疑問をまず抱いたので調べてみたところ、鴨川市がある千葉県南部の房総半島は太平洋に面していて、黒潮が近くを流れているため、一年中温暖な海洋性気候とのこと。だから2月下旬でも、こんなに菜の花が咲くんですね。

I was curious, so I looked it up. Kamogawa, which is located on the Boso Peninsula in southern Chiba, is right by the Pacific Ocean. The Kuroshio current runs nearby, bringing warm waters — hence why this part of Chiba has the warm maritime climate and allows all sorts of flowers, including canola flowers, to bloom in February.

菜な畑ロードで摘めるのは観賞用の菜の花

(Canola flowers at Nanabatake Road are not edible)

There are different types of canola flowers — some are edible, while others are only for enjoying through your eyes, or for extracting canola oil. Here at Nanabatake Road, you get to handpick the kind that you put in a vase and enjoy its lovely sight. As you can see from the picture above, these flowers are quite tall, reaching the height of an adult’s hip.

お値段は、ひとり10本150円。長靴とハサミを無料で貸してくれるので、特に何も持参しなくてもOKですよ。もちろん、子どもサイズの長靴も完備。ただ、花粉症の方はマスクが必須です。

The cost is 150 yen/ten stalks. They rent out rubber boots (of course, there’s children’s size too) and scissors for free, so there really isn’t anything you need to bring. If you’re allergic to pollen though, be sure to put on masks.

I saw many couples while I was there. There were families too, which grandparents, parents and children all busy at choosing which stalks to cut and take home. But it might be wise to watch out for honey bees — there were quite a lot of them flying around, pollinating flowers.

(Board the mini locomotive for added fun)

そして今年からはもう一つ目玉が増えました。なんと、ミニSL！お花には興味がないけれど、電車は大好き、というお子さんを連れてきたい方にピッタリなのではないでしょうか。しかも、このミニSL、石炭を燃料として走っていて、かなり本格的。乗車料は1回200円です。

Starting this year, Nanabatake Road has another exciting feature — mini locomotive! If you’d like to bring kids who aren’t necessarily interested in flowers but are in love with trains, then by all means make them check out this little train! What’s fun is, it’s quite realistic, using coal as fuel. It costs 200 yen per ride.

私も乗ってみましたが、思いのほかレールが細いので、なかなかスリルを味わえます。顔に吹き付ける風が気持ちいい！私は片手で手すりを握りながら、もう片方の手で写真を撮っていましたが（だってブログに載せたいですし）、皆さんは車掌さんの言うことをちゃんと聞いて、両手で手すりにつかまりましょうね。笑

I actually went on one, and to be honest, it’s quite thrilling — because the tracks are pretty narrow. But, if you hold onto the bar in front of you with both hands, everything will be fine (I wouldn’t recommend copying what I’m doing in the picture below — grasping the bar with one hand, taking pictures with another). The wind blowing toward my face felt soothing!

Event the sound of the crossing gate was real. Of course, there weren’t any railroad crossing.

Unfortunately though, the mini locomotive won’t run again until next spring. If you’re interested, please check back early next year. The contact information is listed at the bottom of this blog entry.

食用菜の花やその他農産物、切り花も販売

(Shop for edible canola flowers and other farm products)

菜の花を見ていたら食べたくなっちゃった、食用の菜の花もほしいなぁ…という方は、ミニ物産コーナーへGO！こちらでは、食用の菜の花が袋にこんなにたくさん入って、たったの100円で売られています。

Being surrounded by canola flowers, it’s understandable if you start to feel like you’d like to eat some. If so, visit a small store located near the entrance to the flower field. Here, you can buy a pack of edible canola flowers for… just 100 yen!

For people who don’t have time to handpick flowers but want to bring back some, the store sells ones that are ready-to-take-home, neatly wrapped up in newspapers. Again, the price is 150 yen for ten stalks. You can also find various other kinds of flowers for sale here.

Spring is just around the corner, but if you’re dying to get a taste of spring right now, check out the Nanabatake Road. You’d have to wait until next year to board the mini locomotive, but canola flowers are available until Sunday, March 12.

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菜な畑ロード (Nanabatake Road)

千葉県 鴨川市 横渚1450(鴨川市役所そば)
(1450 Yokosuka, Kamogawa City, Chiba Prefecture; right next to the city office)
JR外房・内房線安房鴨川駅西口から徒歩15分
(15 minutes walk from JR Awakamogawa Station West Exit)
お問い合わせ：鴨川市観光協会　04-7092-0086

(For details, please contact: Kamogawa City Tourism Association, 04-7092-0086)
ホームページ：鴨川ポータルサイト「かもがわナビ」/
菜の花摘み体験時間 (handpicking time)：9:30~15:00