Today is mount fuji day highest mountain in Japan 12000 ft.sat in a cafe having breakfast staring at the mountain,excited and worried(fitness levels of a 20 a day smoker...no excuse but one I will be using several times during this blog)......UPDATE 1 ..at station 6 sat in the clouds which very refreshing the mountain is a volcano which meant the first part of my climb was through lava rock which is like climbing 50 degrees through sand sucks the life out of your legs, stopping to rest drink and eat ,,finding it harder to breath at this altitude......Update 2 ..okay at about er about 8500 ft give or take brain isn't functioning that well bit of a headache legs are good lungs are struggling...above the clouds now and the sun is hot and just noticed some of the Japanese climbers have spray cans of oxygen they have paid 20 quid on a small tin of air laughing now but in an hour I will be trying to steal some ha.....ok at about 9500 ft headache a bit worse so gonna stop for acclimation and this weird Japanese energy drink that seems to be across between frog spawn and petrol not that pleasant dying for a fag .....at 10500 feet my lungs and my legs are f#%#ed stopping again still want a fag even though it feels like someone is sat on my chest......okay only 1500 feet to go every step is knackering stoping every five minutes to catch my breath....I'm at the top the last 1000 ft took me an hour unbelievable ... Had 20 min kip and then went into the mouth of the volcano .got to get down altitude is killing me lost feeling in my fingers and my head is pounding...... The way down is much easier on the side of volcanic ash and crystallised magma it's kind of like skiing down sand ( they say it's the closest thing to being on the moon pretty cool) the view is unbelievable above the clouds like a painting of heaven breathtaking( ok maybe bit dramatic prose but it is like another world) ok so it took 5 hours up and only two down I am absolutely knackered still have the headache .... Just one more thing to add I climbed a f##*+g mountain .ha "top of the world ma top of the world""............. Sat on the bus back to town and I just thought I jumped out of a plane over 12 thousand feet,climbed a mountain at 12 thousand feet only one thing to do hang glide at 12 thousand feet bring on the Himalayas ha .sorry mum and dad can't help doing stupid things .