Last Monday I was absolutely determined to climb Mount OoYama, the mountain closest to Atsugi. Unfortunately it rained that day and I stayed at home. That night I vowed to climb it the next day, but somewhere during the night my determination faltered, and I somehow managed to change my alarm clock from 8AM to 11AM during my sleep. I managed to wake up before my alarm went off at around 10:30, and I was thoroughly annoyed when I looked out the window. A beautiful day. Sucks to stay at home and procrastinate on a beautiful day, so I decided to go anyway. I went by bicycle to Isehara, a 30 minutes ride. From there I took the bus to the big mountain and I was halfway to the top at 12:00. Thanks to the cable car, of course. I suck at climbing.
This was the first time that I climbed the mountain alone. I still feel a vague uneasiness when it comes to going into 'the wild' alone. After all, what if a bear attacks you or you break a leg, and there's no help? Well, the wild in Japan is not so wild, and although there are supposed to be bears I've never seen one. I started to climb with confidence, and that confidence only increased after I remembered that a large amount of elderly Japanese people climb the mountain by themselves. It's amazing how energetic old Japanese people are. At the age that Dutch people will usually start to get heart attacks the Japanese climb mountains as if they were twenty years old. Well, Holland has no mountains anyway. Hah!
It was an incredibly clear day, and you could see not just Enoshima, but also the peninsula of Yokosuka behind it, and even Chiba across the Tokyo bay. It's a brilliant view, and I really can never get enough of it. The view from the other side of the mountain was not bad either, with a steaming Fuji-san greeting me from afar.
I managed to reach the top in less than an hour, which is a new personal record for me, I'm sure. Since I have a lot more photos to show I decided to split up this report in a couple of posts instead. In other words: To Be Continued... :D
