Camping in Chiba Prefecture

It's been 12 months since we last got to go camping. I was highly anticipating this week's camping trip and I wasn't disappointed. It's still early spring here and so the weather isn't easy to anticipate. Because it still has the potential to be pretty cold we looked for a campsite that was a little sheltered, and not too high up into the mountains. And we found it, but we were also blessed with gorgeous weather.

We drove from the top left-hand corner
of this map, in a relatively straight line.

It's been 10 years this week since we last camped in Chiba. Last time it took us 5 ½ hrs to get there, it's no wonder we've been reluctant to go back! The problem with Chiba is that there're a lot of people between us and it, so going there means crossing to the other side of Tokyo. But we took expressways and a 10 km tunnel under the bay and it only took a bit over 2 ½ hrs this time.

The last time we camped in this prefecture, we were much closer to the Pacific. This time we didn't go as far east as that, instead, we were situated close to a lot of inland water: winding rivers and dams.

Last time we were a family of five, this time it was just the two of us with our friends and their two teenagers. It was a really good, relaxing time away. Typically, the three days and two nights seemed much longer than they should have, and that's good. It's a great way to quickly relax. It was a much-needed break after some busy months. And with only nine weeks left of the school year and 3 ½ months until we move to Australia, we really did need to take some time out!

We had a relaxing walk, read books, played games, chatted, enjoyed the view, and enjoyed playing with fire and cooking our meals. Our friend loves to ride bikes. He brought his bike and his son's, and he did several rides around the area.

This was an unusually flat and grassy campsite—the usual Japanese campsite is rocky and covered in fine gravel, so this was a really pleasant change.

The time we had available to go synched perfectly with the end of the sakura season and our campsite had plenty in full bloom. It was a delight to the eyes. I had fun snapping a few photos because you can't have too many sakura photos!

A broken bridge which we didn't attempt to cross. This is a popular fishing area.

Early spring flowers.

We taught our friend Triominos and played a couple of rounds of Nimuto (6 Nimmt! in German/English).

Getting the fires ready for roast veggies (in foil) and yakitori (chicken skewers).

A couple of sakura shots while waiting for dinner to cook...

Packing up. The inside of our tent isn't much bigger than our double bed airbed and has lots of screened windows. The rectangle marks the main floor space of how far the fly extends out to create a covered entry: a space large enough for two chairs and a small table if the weather is inclement.

And a tiny waterfall and hole-in-the-mountain that we checked out on our way home. With the right sun angle, you can get a reflection that creates a heart-shape (on the side) here, alas it wasn't at noon yesterday!

Yep, we're still in love with camping. We're downsizing our camping gear because we won't be camping with all our boys in tow in Japan again. But we're looking forward to many more adventures nonetheless.