by Mary Annear
Well, some people are still talking to me, so it can't have been THAT bad. (Although I do still get recurring death threats from Shirelle.) It turned out to be a perfectly overcast day, which was good considering we had to climb up up up! A hardy group of about 13 were stupid enough to join me on this particular adventure, no doubt lulled into a false sense of security by the thought of an onsen afterwards. We met at Isehara Station, and took a bus out to the bottom of the "hill." SOME other groups were taking the cable car up, but that takes the fun out of everything, so we just started walking. Up. The scenery was really nice going up the mountain, but it was too cloudy to see anything from the top. It was also bloody freezing! If you do this in autumn take a woolly jumper or five! It was hard, but god it felt good to get to the top ... especially for Jason carrying a 10 kilo camera! The onsen was definitely needed afterwards, so we jumped on the train for one stop and went to Tsurumaki Onsen on the Odakyu-Line (1000 yen in the weekends and holidays).
Ahh, sauna, cold pool, hot pool, relaxing ... I love that place. As for the mountain, I hope to go again on a sunny day so if anyone wants to come along and see the view you missed, you will be quite welcome. Oyama is really good because it is so close to most of us, but if anyone else discovers new and uncharted territory, give me a call and hopefully we can plan another day. Thanks for all coming along, and I hope to see you all next time!