Vaucluse Dreamer

We had such a wonderful day yesterday, walking around the lake and visiting the volcanic site, and of course, we slept well.

It was so tempting to spend another night there, walking along the other side of the lake and taking a different cable-car to the Hakone Mototsumiya Shrine, high above the lake. But, we decided against it, as we have so much more to see and it would be far too easy for the days to simply slip away. Also, we needed to have a shower!

The camper van doesn’t have any washing facilities (other than the kitchen sink), as they aren’t allowed in Japanese vans. And there’s only so much you can do with a stand-up, flannel-down at a sink. So we had to find an Onsen, where we would be able to shower, wash our hair and enjoy a soak in some thermal waters.

Onsens and Sentos (public baths), are a way of life here. The Onsens use the geo-thermally heated water from the volcanic activity across the islands and are in ready supply. There are not posh spas, as we would imagine thermal resorts to be in the UK, but easily accessible and cheap bathing facilities.

There is also a very strict set of rules accompanying a visit to an Onsen, which include segregated male and female bathing areas, nude bathing and open showering facilities that have to be used before entering any of the baths. Also tatoos are not allowed, or at least have to be fully covered.

The nudity aspect of using an Onsen has always given us a bit of anxiety, which I know is ridiculous, but it is so contrary to everything we have done before. But we needed a shower and so the need to find an Onsen went to the top of the list of what had to be done today.

We started the day, sitting by the lake with our coffee, whilst watching the kingfishers and black kites fly overhead, and being entertained by a heron fishing just behind us, 

Also, what appeared to be someone’s pet duck waddling up and down a jetty, at their feet.

We looked at the map and found a little Onsen, about half-way down the spine of the Izu Peninsula, which sounded perfect, with baths overlooking a river, so decided to head there. Our plan had always been to make our way down to the bottom of the peninsula, so this seemed perfect.

Before heading off though, we took a walk out onto the headland at Hakone, passing through the reconstructed Edo Post town, and into the gardens, which had originally been part of the Japanese Imperial Family’s holiday residence.

It’s now a nice garden area, with steeply stepped pathways, viewpoints and planting, offering lovely views across the lake, and on clear days to Mount Fuji too.

But, by just after 9am, we were ready to move on, and waved goodbye to Hakone, heading west, over the hills towards our next stop. All we had planned was a visit to the Onsen, and had no idea what else lay ahead.

At first, we couldn’t believe how busy the roads were. We had been in a little bubble at Hakone, especially on yesterday’s walk, but soon came back to ground with a bump, as we joined a steady stream of traffic.

But, there was so much to take in. From the incredible views as we started the descent from the high ridge,

to the chaos of road-side advertising signs and wires in the towns,

And the (what I think are) chocolate vines swamping trees and even starting to encroach on the roads.

It was a good drive through, and by just after 11, we arrived at the Onsen. We went in, and took off our shoes, popping them in a locker, before paying the entrance fee, of 800 yen each (£4), and saying goodbye to each other, as Andy went one way and I went the other, into the separate bathing areas.

Once inside, I popped my clothes into a locker and went through to the baths (happily following the lead of another lady, who arrived at the same time.) I took a small stool and sat on it to have a thorough shower, using the shampoo and bodywash provided, washing everything down, after I had finished, before moving into one of the baths.

It was peaceful and very lovely sitting in the thermal waters, moving through the different temperature baths, whilst watching the river flow by below. One of the baths was almost too hot, but quick dips in the cold-plunge cooled me down nicely.

By the time we got out, an hour had passed and not only did we feel wonderfully clean, but perfectly relaxed too. We had been anxious before going in, but very quickly it had all felt very normal for me. Less-so though, for Andy, who said the last time he had been in a bath with 20 naked men was when he was playing rugby in the 1970s. I have feeling it will take the full 6 weeks for him to feel comfortable, but I am already looking forward to our next visit.

Once out of the Onsen, we popped to buy some more food, getting used now to not packing our own bags, but just marvelling at the precise packing that is done by the cashier.I feel ashamed at the way we normally just throw everything into a bag, as quickly as possible. Here packing is an art-form and done with such incredible care too

Then, it was time to continue on, and I’d noticed a site called Joren Falls, just a few kilometres futher down the road, so we popped there for a late lunch.

This was one of the top 100 Japanese waterfalls. A 25m tall flow of water over basalt columns that had been formed after volcanic eruptions, thousands of years ago.

It was really very beautiful, reached by steps that led down into the valley, where the wall of rock is covered with ferns that are very local to this small area.

The power of the flow was such that even from where we were standing, we could feel droplets of water on our faces. The vivid turquoise of the pool, where the water was landing was bright against the black rocks and dark green of the ferns too.

From here the river continued, babbling between large rocks and forming pools, where people were fishing for trout, with long bamboo canes.

You could hire these from a little shop on the way down, and despite the simplicity of just a bamboo cane with a line attached, we saw a number of wriggling trout being pulled from the water.

Alongside the river was a large wasabi growing area. The hot Japanese horseradish apparently thriving here and elsewhere on the Izu peninsula. The bright green leaves carpeted the bed and a small shop was selling the produce, from raw roots to wasabi ice-cream too. I must admit I didn’t partake of any of that!

We enjoyed the cool and the peace of the river, before heading back and finding a place to park for the night, so that we could plan a route.

I found a small car park, with public toilets by a little beach at the far end of the peninsula and set a route towards it.

We continued on, down the spine of this volcanic area, passing through a dramatic landscape, with steep, heavily forested hills and banks of wasabi production.

We followed a road that took us on the Kawazu Nanadaru Loop bridge, an incredible piece of engineering that brings a road down an incredibly steep mountainside on a series of loops, like a spiral. It reminded me of a toy garage that used to be popular, when I was a child, and we slowly made our way down, marvelling at the minds that had even come up with the idea in the first place.

At the bottom, we noticed a sign for the Kawuzu Seven Waterfalls, so decided to take a look.

Again this was an incredible site, with the river making its way over the beautiful structure of columns formed from lava, many thousands of years ago. The water bounced over the falls from different directions

coming together to take one final leap over the O-Daru Falls,  and a 30 metre drop into the pool below, where there are open air Onsens to one side. We arrived late, just 20 minutes before it was due to close, otherwise we would have been tempted into a second Onsen experience of the day. And Andy would have been happy, as due to where it is, you have to wear bathing suits in this one!

But, the night’s camp spot was calling, so we continued on, following a road that snaked its way through paddy fields and small villages, each kilometre quieter than the last. Before we took a final turn and drove down a narrow road to where we had found a parking spot for the night.

We didn’t know what to expect, but we drove down through the bends to a gap in the steep hills and emerged onto a little beach that could have been in Cornwall.

It was peaceful, empty and all we could hear was the gentle lapping of the waves against the grey sand.

It was utterly stunning, and we took a walk out around the bay, and out along the harbour wall, watching the sky shift to shades of pink and gold as the sun started to set.

It will be the perfect place for a night’s sleep, although there is an eerie, blood-curdling howl from time to time that we are told by the internet is a Racoon Dog, rather than anything more sinister…

But if there is no blog tomorrow than perhaps it was something else!