Friday, 11 April 2008
A nudge in the ribs summoned me back into the world of consciousness around 5:10 the following morning. ‘Er Indoors was quite keen for the two of us to make an early morning visit to the onsen, but a quick check revealed the bathing facilities were closed for maintenance purposes from 5:30 to 6:00 so we spent the next few minutes discussing the various Fuji-viewing options available.
Our train to the Deep North was due to leave Tokyo at three-something in the afternoon, and our only other commitment was a lunchtime appointment with The Interpreter, so that effectively gave us the whole morning to mount an attempt to glimpse the mountain.
Eventually we decided that a repeat of the previous day’s train > cable > ropeway epic was preferable to a bus trip to Moto-Hakone, which would be likely to prove fruitless if there was cloud about. At least, if the weather improved, even if we didn’t get to see Fuji we’d be able to see the scenic views we’d been unable to enjoy yesterday.
Since we could possibly save some time if we caught the train from the nearby station at Tonosawa that gave me an excuse, once I’d returned from the onsen, to go for a walk in an attempt to locate the station, which we knew had to be located higher up on the slope on the other side of the stream.
Given the fact that there were two suspension bridges across the stream, one on either side of the hotel, I guessed that one or both must lead to the station, and that it should be possible to more or less complete a circuit, crossing one bridge on the way to the station, and crossing the other one on the return journey.
I planned to try to confirm my hunches by inquiring at Reception on the way, but the area was deserted when I passed through, so I was left to trust my own instincts.
Which, of course, turned out to be totally wrong.
I turned left once I’d left the hotel, figuring to do an anticlockwise traverse around the imagined loop, crossed the stream by the downstream bridge and encountered what seemed to be a private residence with no obvious path up the slope towards the station.