Vaucluse Dreamer

After yesterday’s lovely ride around the lakes, we decided to stay another night and head off, on the bikes, to explore in the opposite direction.

It was just so lovely to be able to ride again, especially as we haven’t really been on the bikes since finishing our cycle down through France, just over a month ago. And the simple joy of having the campervan is that we are under no pressure to do anything, or be anywhere at all.

Our days are slipping by in a delightful way, and we have a little routine now, with what has to be done each day, and we are always a little perplexed that sunset comes around so quickly.

So, we sat on the quay by the lake, watching the ducks and the birds of prey wheeling above us, whilst we drank our morning coffee..

Then got the bikes out of the storage compartent, made some drinks and headed off. It was a stunning, blue-sky day, and was already warm by the time we pedalled out of the parking area.

We started following the blue arrows along the road surface, which show the Wakasa Bay Cycle Route, which does make navigation a lot easier. But, as ever, we hate blindly following routes and I had found one that would keep us off a long section of the National Highway, following little back-roads instead.

It was a lovely ride through the rice fields, just to one side of the main road, and was much quieter than if we had blindly followed the arrows.

The only slightly annoying thing was that I had forgotten to bring my phone-holder for the bike, so had to stop regularly to check the route, and get ourselves back on track, when we occasionally missed a turn.

But eventually, we wingled our way through to join the route again on a slightly quieter stretch of road and passed through a short tunnel to cross the first headland.

One thing we hadn’t appreciated about Japan is just how many tunnels there are , on just about every road. They range from just over 100m to some being 5km long, so to do a ride without going through one is quite unusual.

Once through the first tunnel, the bay opened up in front of us. The sea in shades of turquoise and blue, fringed with a golden sandy beach that ran alongside the road, as we pedalled past.

Then we followed the marked route onto the coast road that runs along the headland, skirting the rocky beaches and coves along the way.

It was such a peaceful route, with the sound of the waves for company and just the occasional car passing by. The rocky coastline here was scattered with fishermen, who seemed to have found all the possible ways to access their favourite spots.

And even a Tori gate built on one outcrop, which looked stunning in the morning light.

You can see a little video from this part of the coast here

We passed another pretty beach, where the sea was busy with surfers, waiting to catch the perfect wave. We could have been in Cornwall.

Then we carried on, turning across the headland and into our second tunnel of the day. As I mentioned, tunnels are a way of life here. The country is so mountainous that without them, many roads would be impassable, and some areas totally inaccessible.

This was much longer than the first, and we pedalled like demons to get through it, as we felt a little vulnerable having left our lights back at home too. We needn’t have worried as the road was so quiet that we didn’t see anything else in the tunnel, but decided that we needed to find a shop where we could buy bike lights and a phone holder for me too.

Once through the tunnel, we coasted downhill to the coast road on the other side of the headland and continued on towards Tsuruga, where we stopped on the beach to watch the world pass by for a while.

The beach here was in front of a beautiful pine forest, with the trees almost growing into the beach too.

The bay is very pretty, but is home to a huge ferry port with ships serving Hokkaido, the most northern of the Japanese islands, as well as other ports.

Sitting on the bench, time slipped past really easily as we watched the waves, the fishermen and people just gathering shells on the beach, before dragging ourselves away and continuing on.

Here, we left the Wakasa Bay route and took a route back towards where we are staying, heading out of town and over the neck of the headland to rejoin our route out.

It had been a delightful morning’s ride, and we took another route on the way back in that took us on a narrow lane, cutting through the rice fields, before following the bay back to our van.

Over lunch, we decided that we would spend some time this afternoon searching for some bike lights, as we’ve decided to ride again here tomorrow and don’t want to go through tunnels, without lights again. So this afternoon, we had our first trip into a local DIY store, which was shown as stocking cycling accessories too.

Andy had wanted an excuse to visit one, since we arrived and so this afternoon, we popped into a couple in town (there are no specific cycle shops where we are)

There’s always domething fascinating about shops in different countries and we now feel at home in the supermarkets and love squirrelling through the aisles to see what we can try, each day. But a DIY store is always a fascination.

Outside one, we noticed a little cubicle and watched as a lady drove up to it, pulled a heavy bag of rice out of the back of her car and went into it. She tipped the rice into a hopper and waited. We have since discovered that these are self-service rice mills or polishers, which take the raw rice and remove the bran, according to taste. It seemed like a great idea.

The store was very similar to the UK and French ones, with everything you could need for DIY, with car and bike accessories too, and bizarrely some food as well.

We managed to buy some lights, so feel happier now, but still have to find a phone holder, so we’ll be stopping to check directions on our rides for a little longer.

As we were leaving, a car pulled up alongside us and a man rolled down the window and asked us where we were from. We replied and he went on to ask us how we were liking Japan. We explained, as best we could that we loved it and that it is beautiful, and then answered his questions about our favourite food here too and he smiled & thanked us, wishing us a good holiday, before driving off.

It was the first of 3 delightful interactions today.

A short time later, in the supermarket, I moved out of the way for a lady to get to the till, but she ushered me forward and went to one side. She returned moments later and tapped me on the shoulder, handing me what turned out to be a 2 for 1 voucher, so we were able to reduce the shopping cost considerably. It was so very kind of her, but that has been our constant experience since we arrived.

Then, finally in the Onsen, after the man at the counter gave us keys for the highest lockers, indicating, with a smile,  that we were tall enough to use them. I was in one of the baths, when a lady arrived with her grand-daughter. She asked where I was from and we had a very basic chat, using the few words of japanese that I know (and I feel ashamed that it is so few), and her speaking a bit of english too. It was a lovely moment, and she took the opportunity to teach her 7 year old grand-daughter hello, thank you and goodbye too.

We have met nothing but kindness and generosity of spirit from people we have met, since we arrived, and it feels very different to some attitudes we sadly experience elsewhere now.

At the first place we stayed, there was a sign on one of the boat-hire stands, which said ‘ Consider manners to be one of your skills’, and that seems so natural here.

From the staff at the fuel stations who guide us in, fill the tank and clean the van windows, as the tank fills, to the couple running the little cafe and shop at Ojingarawara Canyon, and the lady who wanted to make sure we had the discount voucher at the supermarket today. Everyone seems keen to know where we are from and most importantly whether we like Japan.

There is simply only one answer to that question.

We love it.