Vaucluse Dreamer

When we looked at the dates for this holiday, we looked at all the information we could find, doing what we could to avoid typhoon season and the main holiday periods in Japan, such as Golden Week at the end of April into May.

But, we somehow missed that we would be here for the Sports’ Day Public Holiday, which takes place on the 2nd Monday in October, to commemorate the opening of the 1964 Summer Olympics, held in Tokyo.

In fact, the first time we were aware of it was when we were looking at parking places, and one mentioned that its hours may be different on Monday due to Sports’ Day. So we have found ourselves in the midst of a bank holiday weekend.

During yesterday’s cycle ride, we noticed that the roads were a lot busier than they had been the day before, with a stream of cars and vans heading west on the National Highway towards Tottori. Marine Land was filled with visitors, as we passed it and more cars were heading in that direction too. It felt much more than just normal Saturday traffic.

We then woke early this morning (very early- about 2.30 to begin with), when fishermen started arriving to fish the tide, in the early hours. Parked on the quay, we were aware of cars arriving and people chatting, before we drifted back to sleep, only to be woken occasionally by the agitated bleeping of a fishing-line alarm going off.

When we woke, we were surrounded by cars and fishermen, with their families sitting on chairs, waiting to see what was being caught, some with little barbecues ready and waiting for the catch. It had a real holiday feel to it.

Yet bizarrely, as the tide turned again at 8.30, just as we were sitting down with our porridge, they all started to pack up, loading their cars and leaving, to be replaced by the day-time fishers. It was all very fascinating.

We had thought about doing another bike ride along the coast today, but it was a lot chillier and grey, with the occasional spot of rain in the air, so we decided to head on again to where we had chosen to stay tonight, a mountain trailhead, just outside Daisen (a winter ski resort).

In our mind’s-eye, we imagined that perhaps heading into the mountains would be a bit quieter than on the coast, and we would be able to take one of the walks that led out of the town, to explore a bit more of the mountain, but we really got that wrong.

The drive out was busy, as we followed the main road, which is being upgraded into an expressway. It was a stream of traffic, all moving, through a string of tunnels that have been cut through the steep hillsides. and at times felt almost as busy as we had experienced on our first day, heading through Tokyo.

The work that is being done on the road is quite incredible, with a whole new road being laid alongside the current one. Its flyovers have been built, and they have yet to be connected to a new road, but you can see that there is clearly huge investment in traffic infrastructure here.

From what we saw, we also managed to get an answer to questions that have been going through our heads since we arrived. What comes first the tunnel or the bridge, as often one is immediately followed by the other. Today we saw places where tunnels had been opened up, but the bridges were yet to be built, so it has stopped us chatting about that one for a while.

Finally, we reached the spot where we turned off the main road and started to head to the mountain-top resort, Daisen that we’d targeted for tonight, even though we couldn’t see it, as it was cloaked in cloud.

We stopped for supplies at a huge supermarket, where a quick 10 minutes to grab a few bits, turned into nearly an hour walking up and down the aisles, buying some more different things to try.

The grape-filled daifuku were incredible

And when we were looking at a row of what turned out to be steamed cakes, a lady suggested we try the chestnut one. We’ve just had it for supper, and she gave us some great advice, as it was delicious.

We were also rather taken aback by the huge bottles of whisky and also what appeared to be whisky in milk cartons. The big containers held 4 litres of the spirit for the equivalent of £15. We’d never seen anything like it.

Once driving on again though, we realised within a few kilometres that Daisen wasn’t going to be a quiet idyll amongst the Public Holiday busy-ness. All the attractions on the way up were packed with cars and people, with a couple of the carparks we had noticed, already full. As we arrived in the ski-town, it was incredibly busy, with the vast main carparks being almost full and the small ‘Trail Head’ parking impossible to even enter.

So our plans for the night immediately went out of the window, and we drove on, waiting for a moment (and some space) to stop to decide what to do next.

Of course, we shouldn’t have been so naive as to think that a major hiking centre would be quiet on a Public Holiday. Why would it be? In fact, with the start of the trees beginning to take their autumn colours, we should have realised it would have been busy.

Eventually, we managed to find a spot, where we pulled over, had some lunch and replanned the day. I must admit that this has been the real joy of having the campervan. Just being able to decide to sleep somewhere different, if something isn’t right, and tonight, it has proved to be absolutely perfect.

We replotted the route, taking the Expressway below the mountain, we had planned to sleep at, before turning off and heading south, through a valley, starting to make our way down to the crossing point for Shikokhu. We found a little onsen, where we would be able to take a shower, and a parking area just by the entrance to Kanba Falls.

The parking is what we had hoped it would be. We are the only ones here, there is a mountain stream flowing down the hill behind us, a gentle, constant sound that will lull us to sleep, and there is a pristine toilet block about 20m away.

It’s peaceful, calm and what we love and there are also over 150 monkeys living here too. We will aim to walk to see the Falls tomorrow morning, before we continue on, as they sound rather spectacular & fingers crossed, we’ll see some more monkeys too.

So we may not be where we had planned to be tonight, but we certainly are very happy with where we will be sleeping, and perhaps it is for the best, as we have found some rather nice places to visit tomorrow too.

This trip is an ever-changing delight.