Mitake: the queue is the real problem

The walk down from Mitake is easy. The hard part is the cable car queue, and it's entirely avoidable.

Last November I arrived at 10:30 on a Sunday and waited 40 minutes. Two weeks later I took the 8:10 train and walked straight on. Same mountain, completely different morning.

At the top there's a small village where people actually live — post boxes, laundry, a couple of shops. I didn't expect that and it ended up being my favourite part.

The stone steps near the shrine are slick after rain. I went down on my backside once. Trainers were fine otherwise.

The soba place by the station at the bottom closes earlier than you'd think on weekdays. We got there at 14:30 and they had stopped serving.