FUJI!!

M: I think today was one of my favourite days so far. Jack and I met up with Dan, Alex and Claire at Shinjuku station and got a coach to Kawaguchiko which took about an hour and a half. Once we left the Tokyo sprawl we started to see tree-covered mountains and random shrines dotted along the hilltops. There was even a small theme park with rollercoasters with Mount Fuji in the background.
When we reached our destination, somewhere up in the hills, we weren't quite sure of which way to go to best see mother Fuji. We hopped on a local bus and hoped for the best.

We drove past this sign and decided to hope off and take a look...

The ice-cave was pretty unspectacular, and a wee bit claustrophobic at times. Claire hit her head at the start but was a trooper and carried on without complaint. From there we saw that there was a path that lead up the mountains opposite and decided to give it a go.

The gang at the start of the walk...l-r; Claire, Dan, Alex and Jack

Dan insisted on changing into his 'hiking boots' before we started. I thought that it was pretty sensible to have brought a pair but in actual fact, his boots were a case of taking off his £5 plimsoles, putting on a pair of 100yen socks (approx 70p now) and squeezing back into his plimsoles - classic O'Leary!

There were remnants of snow about and these crazy ice crystals everywhere. There seemed to be layers of ice underneath the path too which sometimes crumbled under our feet which was strange

After walking for an hour, we got our first high-altitude view of Fuji, it was amazing...

Our hike was unbelievable steep at times - hats off to Claire, that managed the whole trek in a pair of ballet bumps and a sore head!

We carried on up for another hour or so until we reached a building which Jack says looked like something out of The Goonies. We went inside and it was a sort of cafe/gift shop, though it kind of looked half-abandoned somehow. They were welcoming there and we sat by the heater and they brought us tea and we ordered some soba noodles. The food was lovely and just what we needed - buckwheat noodles in a sort of stock with spring onions, mushrooms, bacon and a side of pickled chilllies, radishes and sour plums.

We carried up and along to another peak where we could see the surrounding lakes which were spectacular. There was a shine there that some guy was blessing by throwing salt and some people with horses. He gave us all some sake and one of the riders told us that they were having a special ceremony there. The sake certainly warmed our cockles and helped us on our way.

A viewing post at another peak further along...

The descent was fine when there were steps, but both Claire and I skidded onto our bums when the path had faded and there were lots of dry leaves...

Once we got back to tarmac, we headed for the main road that we came in on. We walked along for a fair while to try and find a bus stop back - no such luck, so we stopped at the hotel and asked them to call for a taxi. They were very generous and ordered the taxi for us and invited us in and gave us hot green tea whilst we waited for the taxi. There was a traditional-style restaurant there with tatami mats and low tables, and we could see the chef making the soba noodles. The taxi arrived quickly and took us to the coach station, and it acutally cost us less than the bus there in the first place!

We had an hour and a half until our coach back was leaving and having worked up a good appetite with all the climbing, descending and fresh air, there was only one thing for it, a curry! Top day!