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One of the highlights of the second part of the puzzle party, in Hakone, was to be what was styled as a puzzle-hunting rally, around the local lake, a popular tourist resort. We were to visit several different locations, where we would be deposited for a short while before being driven on by coach to the next destination. As our banks had managed to leave as a bit short of money, our puzzle-hunting was a little bit limited.
We therefore decided to take a boat trip across the lake on a Captain Hook-style pirate vessel. Early in the day the misty weather was a little bit unpredictable, and there were times when we were out on the lake, unable to see the shore, which made it seem like something out of a bizarre sea-going mystery. When the boat docked at the far end of the lake, our next mode of transport awaited us.
The Hakone Ropeway, an overhead cable car that took us very high up into the mountains where we had a short stop to visit the sulphur springs, on the side of a volcano. We indulged in a little bit of puzzle buying, as well as enjoying black eggs which had been hard-boiled in the volcanic lakes. We then had a second journey by ropeway, before making our descent from the mountains by a cable car funicular railway.
Not everybody would enjoy a busy, event-packed organised holiday, but when it is organised by, and spent with like-minded friends from around the world, it is a wonderful experience. It means that wherever you are, and whatever you're doing, there is a like-minded soul, usually a few feet away, with whom you can share the magic of a particular moment.
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