Road Blocks

Two hours later and after going to the visitor centre and watching a video on how beautiful Mt Fuji is, we came to a police block in the road and had to turn back. The snow was just too heavy and there was no way we were getting up there today.

Not only that, but visibility was so poor that we didn't even get to see the mountain. Yesterday we could see it in the distance from central Tokyo, standing tall in the blue sky. And now, less than about 2 miles away and nothing but fog. How things can change in one day!

We headed for a local restaurant for an early lunch. We had a set menu of sushi, tempura and noodle soup. We ordered a large bottle of Asahi to accompany and realised it was only 11:55am, ah well, we're on holiday.

After lunch we headed for the main port of Ashi where we took a ferry across the lake. The lake was wide and still, and with the cool air, snow and mountains either side, we could have almost been in a loch in Scotland. Such a contrast to the buzzing city and sunny days we have experience so far...