Officially The Best Weekend Ever!

It was a three day holiday last weekend so we went camping. We went to a site we have been to before, Nagurkankou near Hanno. it is in a lovely spot and has a beautiful river running through it. This is the view from  the tent...

At the site there is the 'free camp' which mean you can pitch your tent anywhere in the designated area, this is where we went, there was only one other group the first night and we had the whole place to ourselves the second night. There are also cabins which usually get booked out and the auto camp where you park next to your tent, and yes it is convenient but it is like camping in the car park! The downside to the free camp is that you have to cart all your gear over a dodgy bridge and up some steps, that said, it is worth it.

We had friends come out for Saturday and they left late Sunday, Ebi-kun loved having his mates there, there were lots of water fights...

Making 'onsens' and exploring, Saturday night they all slept out under the stars, by dinner time Sunday, Ebi-kun was exhausted and just kept begging to go to bed!

Most of the river is paddling depth but there are a few deeper spots which is where the kids practice swimming, there are also fish and tadpoles to be caught - yes, we have more pets now!

The water is sparkling clear, it also works perfectly for me, I burn very easily and get sunstroke but here I can stay in the shade and keep an eye on the kids, there is always part of the river which is shady.

We came to this spot 2 years ago, Ebi-kun wouldn't jump off the rock without holding daddy's hand then, this time he was all for it. I was using Ebi-kun camera because it is waterproof but I haven't figured out all the settings yet, this was the best water jump pic I got.

Saturday the place was pretty quiet but Sunday, we were invaded by day trippers, that said, there was still plenty of space to play and it tended to the other part of the river, near the auto-camp which was really busy. Lot of drunken 'young folk' but by 5 o'clock the day trippers had all gone home and we had the run of the place again.

One of the things that I love about this site is that there is NO entertainment for the kids other than nature, they have to find their own entertainment, the kids were totally happy to spend all day messing around in the river. It was great to see kids just being kids, no ipads, DS or any other gadgets, the only one I saw was a grumpy looking mom with a smartphone watching a show or film, completely ignoring her kids, so very sad.

Perfect spot for practicing a bit of yoga....

Other than lugging all the camp equipment to the top of the campsite, the only other downside is that the supermarket is miles away, so you have to be super organised (good job that is my super-power!) Ebi-kun declared that it was The Best Weekend EVER. 

Great weekend, great company, can't wait to do it all again.