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 … More Day 38 – The joy of changing plans
The stay in the carpark by the beach was perfect, and the sea lulled us into a deep sleep, well before 9pm. We’ve discovered that another of the joys of being in the van, is that we can go to bed early and get up early, without guilt. I think the bright lights of Tokyo, … More Day 36 – Pearls and shells
After yesterday’s truly hideous day, we’ve slipped back into wonderfully gentle normality today, and already we have started to forget how we felt, this time yesterday. We were exhausted last night, and once again were in a dead sleep before 9pm, which was just what we needed, waking this morning just before 6, to find … More Day 27 – Back to wonderfully normal
We woke with the sunrise and sat watching the boats potter out of the port, as we had our first coffee of the day, and decided what to do. It was a calm morning, and we had wanted to take a short bike ride out along the coast, so planned that, followed by an onsen … More Day 26 – What a terrifying drive
We have been excited about visiting Shikoku, since we first started planning this trip, almost 12 months ago. It’s the smallest of Japan’s main islands, and is incredibly mountainous, but has so much beauty to explore. It’s also well and truly off the well-beaten path. It’s taken us almost 3 weeks, to wingle our way … More Day 20 – Shikoku and an incredible hike
Our little parking spot, at the entrance to Kanba Falls worked really well last night, and we had a peaceful night’s sleep, with the mountain stream running behind us. We even managed to find the holy grail of vanlife in Japan – a rubbish bin! We woke this morning, and had breakfast, before walking up … More Day 19 – Visiting the Cat Lord
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 … More Day 18 – It’s Sports’ Day Weekend.
We woke this morning to the sound of a calmer sea. The waves that had been thumping against the sea-wall just in front of the van, yesterday evening had settled down, and it was now a gentle lapping sound. The weather forecast was good, so a bike ride beckoned. We spent breakfast watching the fishermen … More Day 17 – the sea here is so warm.
Yesterday, we may have been a bit exhausted, but it all worked out well in the end, as we spent the night at a quiet little spot by a rather lovely beach. And we did managed to get to 7.30, before we went to bed, but not much later than that, sleeping soundly until morning. … More Day 16 – Along the coast
One thing that is rather lovely about being in the campervan, is going to bed wonderfully early, as both of us would rather be up with the lark, rather than try to stay awake. After finding last night’s park-up by the beach, we were lulled by the waves and were asleep before 9pm, looking forward … More Day 15 – Well that’s windy
Vaucluse Dreamer 