Day 109

It is the penultimate riding day of stage 2 of my trip, and the final part of the GlobeBusters journey and the remnants of the tornado that we have been dodging for the last few days, is just some light rain to start our day off.

Hiro had one of his friends come along to ride with us today and he was riding a Harley Davidson Street Glide. Due to the light rain, we started the day with our waterproofs on, and set off as a group of 7 riding out of town with Hiro leading.

Once clear of the town we headed to a wooded area and followed an old broken up road going up. Now with the wet weather and the fact that we were all on roads tyres it proved to be a bit of a challenge and one group member got caught out by some large slippery stones which led to them laying down to rest for a bit. Another few hundred yards and there was another rider down so it was decided that we should turn around as it was getting steeper all the time. But what really amazed us was that Hiro's friend on the Harley just trundled along behind us, even up that slippery forest track, totally awsome!

Once the rain had stopped we removed the waterproofs and roads towards Mount Fuji. Initially we got a good clear view of Japan’s highest mountain. But then within 5-10 minutes, and before we had a chance to stop for a view without buildings and powerlines in the way, the clouds had come in thick and fast to the point we could hardly see it at all. I was a little annoyed with myself for not stopping to take some photos when I first saw it, but this can be the downside to riding as a group. We went to a hotel up a hill where we then had coffee and cake waiting for the clouds to disperse which they did slightly move so we could just about make out the shape of the top of the mountain and taking a quick photo before riding on. As we rode around the coast line we got to see it again from the other side of the water but it still was nowhere near as clear as it had been earlier on. 

I let the others ride on whilst I waited to see if the view of Mt. Fuji would become any clearer which it did but only a little. I just felt like I needed to ride alone so that I could stop at other viewpoints or make U-turns when I thought the light had improved in order to get my best chance of seeing this iconic mountain in my own time.

And the time ticked by faster than I had anticipated until  it soon became apparent that I was not going to make the 6pm meeting. I did try sending a message to Kevin to say I was OK and just running late but later learnt that this did not get through. I pressed on up the coast heading towards the hotel, but even as the light of the day started to fade away, photo opportunities kept arising and as much as I tried, I just couldn’t let them all go by without a quick snap, after all, I doubt I will be back here in again so I convinced myself to seize the moment.

The concentration on time then shifted from the meeting to the start of dinner at 7pm and although I was getting very close now, when it came to finding the hotel I just rode up and down until eventually I saw a couple of the group who had decided to come away from the meal and point me in the right direction as they too had found it difficult to find. This was much appreciated, and just showed the bond that we had achieved since starting on this journey back in April. So I had missed the meeting altogether and the start of the meal, but I had also forgotten it was one of the group members birthday, which meant I also missed that part too which was a shame and made me feel a bit uneasy. So not the best end to the day but you can’t end every day on cloud 9.
Doh, mustn’t mention clouds, they ruined my photos of Mt. Fuji earlier and I don’t want reminding of that!