Vaucluse Dreamer

After time ran away with us yesterday, we arrived at our parking spot in the dark, after the 2 we had planned to use were chained off. It was a small spot, and it sloped in every possible direction, so we had an uncomfortable night, feeling as if we were slipping down the bed, every time we moved.

It taught us another valuable ‘vanlife’ lesson, to make sure that we have always found somewhere to sleep for the night, before it gets dark. By the state of our crunching limbs, this morning, we can’t afford too many more nights like that.

When we woke, we pulled up the blinds and saw that it had been a very pretty little place, with a river rushing down the hill behind us, and trees all around. We couldn’t see much further, as the heavy overnight rain had dragged the clouds down with it, and the trees were shrouded in sodden, grey blankets.

That said, it was rather beautiful in it’s own way, giving where we were, a timeless and etheral quality. But we had to move, as with the angle of the van, we would have struggled to keep our morning porridge in the bowls. So we drove a short distance down the hill, to somewhere that was amazingly flat, and enjoyed our breakfast watching the bedraggled birds in the trees.

Last night, we had decided to take a route around the north of Lake Biwa, on our way to Shikoku. We know that Osaka and Kyoto have incredible historic sites, but we are keen to avoid the cities as much as possible, as we are most at home exploring the countryside.

But we did want to visit Gifu Castle too, so decided to head there today, as it wasn’t really a day for a long (or short) walk, and then we would be able to start making our way further west.

We set off, in the driving rain, along roads swimming with water and with the clouds catching in the trees on the hillsides. It was like driving through the set of Jurassic Park, or The Land That Time Forgot.

It may have been pouring, but that really wasn’t deterring the fishermen, with the rivers busy with people angling, waist deep in the water, whilst very soggy and miserable herons sat on branches, just watching. It was evidently too wet for them!

We had decided to head towards Gifu via a small village called Itadori, where there is a small pond that has become known as Monet’s Pond, so-called as it resembles the one that Monet painted at Giverny.

When we arrived, the rain was almost bouncing waist-high on the road, so we took an opportunity to make a coffee, in the hope that the rain would ease, a little. It didn’t. So we popped on all the wet weather gear we had brought with us, looking more as if we were going for a hike on Dartmoor, rather than a walk around a small pond.

It’s only a tiny pond, but is exceptionally pretty, especially with the acers starting to take their autumn colours, and I’m sure that on a sunny day, when the waterlilies are out that it is exquisite.

But even on a rainy day, in October it was worth stopping. The water is incredibly clear, and the brightly coloured Koi Carp look as if they are floating on air, rather than swimming.

We ambled around the pond, with the raindrops breaking the surface distorting the reflections before heading on again.

Arriving in Gifu felt a bit of a shock, after the quiet roads and small towns that we have visited over the last 10 days. And we stop-started our way through the traffic lights, towards the parking just below the cable-car up to the castle.

When we arrived at the parking though, there was a no-entry sign at the gate, indicating that the parking was full. But as we approached, the man on the gate indicated for us to come in, and told us to take one of the empty, bus-parking spots, giving us a note to pay the normal car fee of 310 yen (£1.55), which was so kind.

We had seen photos of Gifu Castle, which is a recent reconstruction of the fortress, sitting high above the city. But, we could only see halfway up the hill, as the clouds had settled so low. Even the cable-car that takes visitors up wasn’t visible. So we gave up any thought of seeing the magnificent view of the city from the top.

We sat and had lunch, before buying the tickets for the cable-car (2600 yen – £13 for 2 returns) and hopping into the gondola for the trip up to the castle.

At first, we could see the city below us, but soon we were cloaked in cloud and the views quickly disappeared, but on a clear day, this must be quite a fantastic trip.

At the top, we climbed the steps up to the castle, which like Gujo Hachiman that we visited yesterday. is quite an impressive sight, paying the small entrance fee to look inside.

It is a much more modern reconstruction than Gujo Hachiman, but had an interesting history of the site, which had been the base for Lord Nobunaga, head of the Oda clan,who seized the castle in 1567.

There were examples of how the armour would have looked from the time,

And other artefacts too, including a fascinating globe and screen from the Edo period, showing the world, as it was understood, at the time.

But, I am sure that the highlight (on a clear day) is the view from the top of the castle, which looks across the city and beyond.

Unfortunately, today was just cloud in every direction, which was a shame, but it was still good to visit it and find out more about the history of Nobunaga too.

As we walked down towards the cable-car, we noticed that the cloud was lifting slightly, so walked up to a panoramic platform and were treated to glimpses of the views across Gifu and the Nagara River. It was quite amazing.

By the time we got back to the car park, the cloud had lifted enough for us to be able to see the castle, now standing proud on the hilltop, and it was an impressive sight.

But, we were already getting aware that the day was slipping past and we were determined to arrive at tonight’s park-up, whilst it was still light and had to visit an onsen first.

Happily the parking and onsen we had found were relatively close to each-other, and we arrived in tonight’s (very peaceful) sleeping spot, just as the 5pm chimes rang out over the loudspeaker.

It’s a perfect spot for the night, in a totally empty car-park with another castle just behind us

and a thatched village to one side.

The rain is still drumming on the roof, but the insects are calling and we’re on a flat space that means we should sleep a lot more comfortably tonight.

Now, we’ll start to look at where we’ll head to tomorrow.