The morning view from our cottage was splendid. A huge tree-ridden mountain range with a large crystal clear lake in front of it, reflecting the mountains perfectly. Walking our dog Tora along the lake was a treat in itself. As it was a holiday, we took our time to get up. Breakfast consisted of what we had bought yesterday at the convenience store and was good enough, even without plates and knifes. Tomorrow we'll take it at the restaurant.

Our first stop was the bat cave. We took a walk along the lake and met some nice people who gave us a hiking map of the surroundings. That proved to be the most useful gift of the day! Unfortunately dogs were not allowed in the bat cave, but it looked nice enough and we decided to return there the day after and leave Tora at the cottage.

We went back to the small town we had crossed before to start our hiking trip. All the houses were quite big and had a very roomy setup with each their own garden. It was a strange realisation that there was no restaurant or convenience store or even a supermarket in this little town! The first part of our hiking trail was quite steep, but when we reached the top we had an amazing view of Mount Fuji. This was the second time we took our lunch in the sun overlooking mount Fuji this holiday! We realised then that it had been exactly seven months since we stood on top of Fuji. Still amazing we climbed that high. The hiking trail continued along the mountain ridge with still some strong climbs here and there. And every other turn there would be a clearing or opening in the trees with a nice view of Fuji. After a while we had taken more pictures of it than we would ever need in a lifetime.

When we reached the top of mount Sankodai most of the climbing was over. 'Just a little further' and we would be descending again. Well, first you had to descend a small part, climb an intermediate mountain and find the right path to descend. It was a nice walk but just far enough to start wondering if we had missed the road down. However, we did reach it and what a descent it was! We had to go down several hundred meters on a steep, slippery path layered with fallen leaves, loose sand and the occasional steep slope next to your 30 cm trail. It was one hell of a ride but certainly worth the experience. At the end we probably missed a turn since there really wasn't a path worth mentioning anymore. It was falling and sliding from tree to tree. Funnily enough it was during this whole descent that Tora was truly in his element. Running along with us, jumping down fearlessly and he even started playing with us. And just as we were about to slide down the final 15 meters on our bottom, Tora decided to sit down on Michelle's lap looking around as if she wasn't sitting in a perilous situation and desperately trying not to fall down!

We were back just in time, since it was dark even before we had our dinner served. Doing that descent in the dark would surely have been a disaster. Another round of katsu curry and tonkatsu filled us to the brim again, leaving us an evening of talking, tea and reading.