Mount Fuji and Hakone

In retrospect, we should probably have done the trip to Mount Fuji on Wednesday. We knew that was the best day this week for weather.  In the event, though, we went yesterday.  And we had a very good day.  Enjoyed it immensely. It was just a bit cloudy.  Which wouldn't normally matter but can be an issue when you are doing mountains :-D

We set off early in the morning and found the pick up place for the coach. After that we spent most of the day sitting rather than walking.  My feet were hugely pleased.

We were trundling along, getting close to Mt Fuji when Fumi-san, the guide, said that we now had one of the best views of Mt Fuji.  I couldn't see it anywhere. There it is, said Sandy.  Nup.  Can't see it.  Look, said Sandy.  There!  Looked and looked.  And then realised I was looking too far down.  The bit of Fuji that we could see through the clouds was up there.  Right up there.

These are Sandy's photos:

We didn't have very long at the 5th station, by the time we had got our Mt Fuji cakes, drunk our coffee and got back to the bus in time to get back on board. So we more or less had to choose between looking at the view down below, or trying to convince Fuji-san to take off her hat and reveal her head.  Alas, she remained hatted while we were there

Visitor Centre

Mt Fuji in cake form

Mt Fuji was quite tasty, but I rather preferred the cream cheese pancake

We had lunch in a restaurant in a forest somewhere.  It was a ninja themed restaurant and I have to say the lunch was remarkably good for a tour lunch. It was beautifully presented and was very tasty.  And the venue was lovely

Then on to Hakone and Lake Ashi.  We went on a boat ride and on the cable car.  The weather by the lake was quite pleasant. 

Shall we go to the cable car by swan?

or by ship?

But no, we went on the pleasure boat we were supposed to be on

A tiny, tiny tori gate, apparently protecting us from a large, ferocious  dragon

As we went up the little mountain we went up, up, up into the clouds. By the time we got to the top it was like walking into a Doctor Who episode. Where you would expect there to be lots of people milling about, it was completely empty, with dark shapes coming into view from time to time

The trip back had the option of return by coach or return by shinkansen.  We hadn't paid the supplement for the shinkansen because we have train passes and it seemed rather a waste of money. We had intended to stay on the coach, until we realised that the shinkansen would take 35 minutes to get back to Tokyo and the coach would take almost two hours. We deployed our train passes!  

It was a great day.  Should you find yourself in Tokyo, contemplating what to do, I would recommend this tour.  But go on a sunny day!

Lindsey's preferred mode of transport