Into the Mountains

Wet weather gear

Lunch

Today dawned very cloudy, with the suggestion of rain forecast for Hakone. The bus journey was supposed to take 2 hours, but we were soon caught in a traffic jam on the motorway which added another half hour. We stopped half way at a service station with a huge shopping area selling sweet snacks and souvenirs. Our guide showed me how to get a hot cappuccino from a machine: no English at all in the instructions!

We went up the mountain by cable car and watched more Autumn colours appearing as we gained height. At the top, it started to drizzle but I had been persuaded to buy a cheap plastic mac from another vending machine. There would have been a beautiful view of Mt Fuji from this point, but there was absolutely no visibility today. All we could see was sulphurous smoke coming out of vents in the rock face. It was very crowded on top. The main attraction seemed to be Black Eggs (just hard boiled eggs in a black shell) which were supposed to add 7 years to your life if you ate one!