September hiking

Such a long time since I've done anything interesting! This is because it is hot. Very hot. And humid. Very humid. One might even say very very humid.

Today was no exception, starting off at 7am around 26°C and 70% humidity. But it does not look like it is planning any fall weather soon, so I set off for a small hike anyway. I took the train to Kanazawa-bunko and then walked to the zoo, to do my favorite walk to Kamakura. It was fun to see all the mushrooms coming up all over the forest, and it was quite a relief to see the ginko trees have not yet started losing their fruit.

The main temple in Kamakura was also relatively empty, but that just gave me more space to stand and take in the relaxing sight of a huge lotus pond. The flowers have finished already, and most of the seed pods are already drooping to release the seeds, but it was still very beautiful. And the very very old weeping willows lining the ponds just make it that much more serene. The oodles of monstous carp made it somewhat less so, but they are part of the japanese culture, too.

I then decided to take the Yokosuka line in Kamakura to the Higashi-zushi station, which means East-Zushi, and that's just where it is. From that station, it is an easy climb to the Oppama-Jimmuji path, and I came home along that. By easy climb, I mean the path climbed easily. The combination of heat and humidity made the walk ever so tiring, and the sweat running down my face made it rather difficult to look up into the trees to look for birds and cicadas. But that meant I had my eyes down when I startled the most amazing skink. It was quite small, but amazingly fast and agile, with a shiny brown body with cream stripes, which turned into a violent blue on the tail.

My photo, where you can just make out a bit of blue tail.

A photo off the internet, done either with a very fast camera, or of a dead animal.

There were surprisingly few people out, and the forest was absolutely beautiful. Also absolutely beautiful was the sky, with huge rolling white cumulus, on a crystal-clear background, without so much as a humidity haze in the distance.

This doesn't mean Fuji-san was obvious, though. It reminds me of the Castle in the Sky, which is just an odd cloud, before you look at it again, and it suddenly turns out to be the castle, which now seems to have always been there. The main problem with Fuji-san is that it does not appear to be in contact with the ground. There are the hills you are walking through, the hills in the distance, the sky above the hills with its collection of puffy cumulus. Then look higher still, and you shall see Fuji-san, proud as a peacock, seemingly floating on a sea of clouds. With a tantalizing patch of clear sky below it, in which the bottom of Fuji-san cannot be seen.

If you can't see Fuji-san, you're looking too low!

However, when you do tear your eyes away from it, the view across the whole West coast of Tokyo Bay and onto the shore of Chiba prefecture on the other side was truely worth the long walk. I was not the only one to be enjoying the sight, in fact, as there were several people painting on top of the lookout tower.

After this, what I needed was an ice cream, to cool down a bit, and then a nice cool shower. I don't think I have ever sweated so much in so little time. Can't wait till it starts getting cooler! And more dry would be nice, too, but that will probably have to wait till the end of the typhoon season.