Vaucluse Dreamer

After yesterday’s long drive, we arrived in Hakone, in the pouring rain, planning to stay there until Sunday, when we would make our way to a spot, by a lake. not far from the van hire company.

That was last night’s plan, but when we woke this morning, we both felt that we’d already done Hakone, and as we still had 2 nights with the van that it would be a shame to spend them, somewhere we’ve already been.

So, after an early breakfast and a wander along the lake-front, we hopped in the van and headed off, deciding to make our way around (well. more precisely, through) Tokyo. to stay by the lake we had found for our last night.

In our early-morning minds, it gave us a sense that the adventure was still alive, whereas staying at Hakone was making us feel that it was already over.

As we drove out, we were met by a stream of cars heading towards the lake, which felt a bit odd. Yes, it was a Saturday morning and it’s a lovely place to visit, but that number of cars seemed excessive (especially as it was only 7.30am).

After checking, we discovered it is another holiday weekend, with Culture Day being celebrated on Monday. That explained the traffic and made us pleased that we had moved on, although equally slightly nervous about where we were heading, as it too could be overwhelmed with visitors for the weekend.

But the adventure was still going, and we soon left the autumn colours of the hills behind, joined the Expressway, and had Tokyo in our sights.

I had hoped that we may have caught a glimpse of Mount Fuji, before leaving Hakone, but the clouds had rolled in, after the rain and a blanket of grey was drifting, where Fuji should have been.

But. as we turned a corner, I caught a glimpse of it, standing proud on the horizon, with its iconic white snow-cap. So different to how we had seen it, just a few weeks ago. And although it was a distant view, it made my day,

Before long though, nature disappeared as we started driving through the outskirts of Tokyo, with other sights now catching out attention.

It was busy, and we followed the route that the map had decided was the best option today, and went on yet another magical mystery tour through the city.

Bearing in mind that we live in rural France, and a trip into Aix is a big day out, driving through Tokyo is a huge change, and with its incredible road network, it is enough to make our heads spin. Add into the equation that we are in a large campervan, then it takes us to the next level of anxiety on 4 wheels.

But, it had to be done, so I focused on the route, whilst Andy focused on the drive, as we went from Expressway to national Road, back to Expressway again. The junctions on the map looked at times, as if they were simply the doodles of a bored attendee in a tedious meeting,

And the navigation simply declaring ‘Take the Slip Road’ was more of a hinderance than a help, when we were regularly faced with 3 different options at a junction.

It wasn’t a relaxing potter through the city, but a full-contact map-reading and driving lesson on Japanese motorways. At times the navigation suggested we were on a road that was either above, or below us, and lost signal whenever we entered a tunnel, or were on a road below another one

But with 2 devices open and having it zoomed in as far as we could, we made it through, without any hiccups, and soon had the city on our left and reducing sky-scrapers ahead.

Once we felt we were through, and out the other side, we stopped for a coffee and to take a breather. It was a bizarre sense of relief that we had done the drive, and we felt that we really could relax now and enjoy the last couple of nights

We set a course for the car park we’d found by a lake and pottered on, with Tokyo-driving well and truly in the rear-view mirror.

We arrived at the park-up we’d found by Kasumigaura Lake, and it was surprisingly quiet, considering it was lake-side, with views of a distant Mount Fuji, and to our delight and surprise, on a cycle path too.

A perfect spot for the last 2 nights.

We had a bite of lunch and then hopped on the bikes, just for a little ride to ease our stiffness, after 2 days of driving, and to help us banish the stress of the morning’s drive.

It was just enough to settle us down, and by the time we were back and had visited the onsen, just at the end of the car park, the sun was beginning to set.

Also, our wonderfully peaceful park-up had turned into Piccadilly Circus, with almost every space along the lake-front filled with cars and vans. At first, we thought everyone had arrived for the night, but we suddenly realised that they were all unpacking telescopes and cameras from their vehicles and setting them up along the path.

We sat and watched the incredible sunset, as the new arrivals set about focusing their equipment into the dusk sky.

It was all very peaceful, and we chatted to one of the chaps close to us, who explained they had come to see and photograph the comet, and he showed us the images that he’d captured. They were stunning.

You can Watch a little video postcard from today here

Then it all got very noisy, when we started to hear a loud deep thudding reverberating from across the other side of the lake. We wondered what was happening, it sounded like explosions, and then we noticed the fireworks in the sky, above a town opposite us.

This isn’t a small lake, but the noise and sight of the display, even from here is spectacular.

It’s been going on for over 2 hours already and is an incredible sight, and there’s no sign of it stopping yet.

We haven’t been able to find anything out about it, but I’ll keep trying. It’s clearly an incredible festival, but to celebrate what, we’re really not sure.

We may have changed our plans this morning, but we’re already really pleased that we did.

The driving is all done now, and we’re just 50 minutes away from the Hire Centre, so we are under no pressure to leave early on Monday

And the added bonus is that we are on a cycle path that runs all around the lake, which is on quiet roads and lanes & will give us a perfect ride tomorrow.

It’s always good to have a plan, but it shouldn’t be set in stone, as you never know what you may be missing.

Our last couple of days in the van is proving to be so much more of an experience than we ever imagined.