15 July, 2016

Camping tour 2016: Day fourteen (Friday 15 July)

Today we packed up camp for the last time this trip and moved to our last two nights at friends' house in Shizuoka prefecture (on our fourth peninsula for the trip, the Izu peninsula).
I survived! This selfie was just before we left the campsite. 

The stream looks lazy but had a strong current in spots. 

The campsite was pretty basic, more orientated towards picnickers (called "day campers" here). These were the toilets, a set of three pedestals and one urinal, the latter with no door. Basin on the outside. 

There were numerous shelters along the stream, some more substantial than others. This is the first place we've seen that has as much a love affair with blue tarps as we do. There were many strung up around the place. I can't believe I forgot to take any photos of them. This is one of the "camp kitchens", a typical shelter with large sinks and water found in most campsites we've stayed in. 

We spent most of the journey on expressways. This was a fun picture to take. I don't think I've seen trucks with polished metal like this. It can be distracting as you can see your own vehicle. 

A closeup of the above, that's us on the move with the telltale blue bundle on top. 

It was a little odd to go into and stay in a house after two weeks of continuous camping, but definitely enjoyable. This is a beautiful house too! Up on a hill above the city of Izunokuni. 

It's great to sit with and get to know people we've met at CAJ, but not had a lot of time with before. Their eldest son is in the same class as our eldest and has slept over at our house, but because they live a couple of hours from school we don't see them often (their son boards with a local family during term time). But actually it's unusual to stay in someone else's house in Japan. We hardly ever do, most people don't have room for five guests!

It's also interesting to see inside other families with teenage boys. I won't say any more for fear of embarrassing anyone!

Some of our guys played board games last night, which was great to see. 

We're here till Sunday and then home!












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