Day 1
I had booked a simple hotel on the shores of Yamanakako about a week ago. Cancellable until 2 days before so I was checking the weather forecast on a daily basis. It was kind of unclear but seemed okay enough, so today in the morning with a relatively early train I went out to Hashimoto and from there into the mountains again. Along a road that featured in the Tokyo Olympic 2 years ago.
It is a nice mountain road, with not too much traffic but enough vending machines and several small villages along the road to cycle up slowly but steadily. It is actually also a nice incline and would probably even make for a nice descent (which I did not try on Day 2 though). The descent down to Yamanakako on the other side was relatively short, as that lake is quite high. I arrived very early at my hotel, so I had more than enough time to do ride once around the lake and enjoying the views of Mt. Fuji floating above the clouds.
Day 2
My original plan for today was to attempt to ride up to the 5th station of Mt. Fuji... but there was no Fuji today:
It had been replaced by incessant rain for the entire day. Anyway from where I was staying there were only 2 ways back home and both involved riding a bicycle at least for some time. Method #1, back over the mountains and downhill to Hashimoto. Method #2 over to Kawaguchiko and a train back from there. Riding downhill for a long time in the rain, is not my definition of fun nor does it feel specially safe... plus it would probably have been freezing cold. So option #2 it was. And actually cycling in the flat (or at least not a lot of downhill) in the rain isn't that bad, as long as you don't stop. The rain jacket does keep the upper body dry to a certain extend, but the pants get completely soaked and obviously are seeping upwards into the jersey. But as long as you are riding and it is not too cold outside, it is not that unpleasant as this picture might make it seem. Stopping however for a lunch or any other longer break wasn't really a good plan. Sitting mostly wet in a restaurant is neither good for the restaurant nor for me.
So I just cycled around Yamanakako, then over to Kawakuchiko and as I was in good enough spirits made a loop around the Kawaguchi Lake, but did not venture further to the other 3 lakes.
At this likely famous photo spot I run into bus loads of foreign (freezingly cold and miserable looking) tourists who had booked a day trip "to see Mt. Fuji"... and all they saw was their money gone, their clothes wet and the inside of a gift shop. But not a single glimpse of Mt. Fuji. I guess those tourists were feeling even more for me, out there on a bicycle in the rain... but I can go back to Mt. Fuji nearly any weekend, and I have seen Mt. Fuji from all its 5 lakes in glorious weather last year. And know that I will have so many more opportunities to see it, that I didn't mind. And as said, as long as you don't stop too long, cycling in the flat in the rain, isn't that bad.
However bad enough to really want to go to an onsen, wash, dry and hopefully find a dry spot in the afternoon to catch the train back. And so I did. I had found a super sento close to Fujikyu Highland amusement park and cycled there. In onsens normally you take of your shoes at the entrance and leave them in a locker. But my feet (still cycling in sandals) where so dirty that that didn't seem like a viable option. So the front staff gave me a small towel to whip down my feet ... which I handed back totally soiled... but now with reasonably clean feet to walk around.
Washing in that onsen felt wonderful. All that road grime to get off, and then soak in the water. I spent several hours there between bathing and having lunch, before it seemed that there was a window of opportunity in the rain to head down to the closeby station and get on a train back to Tokyo.
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