The dojo of Ascetic Training (Kochi) was pretty hard for me. But the infection from my blisters finally cleard up, I took a few short bus rides to deal with my poor accomodation planning and yesterday I escaped from Kochi.  Today I passsed the 600 km point and so I guess I am getting thing figured.

April 3rd day 20
There was a thick mist as I left the lovely ryokan near Temple 37. Shortly after I was stopped by a classic older Japanese man who was talking to a young female henro. The man was collecting henro signatures which I gave him in exchange for pictures and some candy ossetai. I connected with the woman a few times over the next few days. She seemed to speak reasonable English but Sylvie later on told me that she really didn’t understand very much, but said hei (yes) a lot.

After less than an hour along the highway Ohenro signs led onto a switch-backing downhill forest trail off of the plateau bypassing a series of tunnels. Back to the highway again we soon came to an onsen called Saga that is popular with campers as they can stay in a nice henro hut in the parking lot and use the onsen. The route left the main highway now for a delightful secondary road where I was passed by one vehicle in an hour. I was going slowly, taking a few pictures when I was caught by Sylvie from Switzerland who I had first encountered in Kochi. We walked together for a while but she was on a tear and I needed a shoes-off-for-a -while break.

The hardest part of the day is from 1 to 3. It is hot, the traffic is bad, the feet are tired. My first 30+ km day in a while finished waiting from 3 to 4:15 for the minshuku owner to turn up. Still, using machines I got my walking clothes washed and dried before dinner. The owner and his wife, who did the cooking sitting behind a bar, must have been over 100. He forgot to bring the miso at night and to fill the rice cooker in the morning. Usually dinner includes 5 or 6 bites of sashimi, this dinner had 20. Strange place. A contrast to the elegant service of the previous night.

The next day between highway sessions in the morning and afternoon most of the day was spent going through a large park and then on a long secondary road. At around 2 I sat down for a bowl udon and while in the self indulgent mood decided to take a bus the final 5 km, which included a 1.6 km long tunnel. I have begun to hate the tunnels as the faint light and roaring motor noise seems to exaggerate my poor sense of balance.

Getting off the bus and heading into my minshuku I seemed to be entering a seedy bar but I was welcomed and the host immediately started the tub running. I had some strategizing to do here so I was hoping for a nice place. In the next two hours before dinner I had made some decisions while I hand-washed clothes and soaked in the tub.

At dinner Sylvie turned up fresh from the tub. She seemed very pleased to see me. She had been spooked by appearances when she arrived as well. When a nice woman began bringing food out she relaxed further. Apparently the rough male world she encountered upon entering the bar like atmosphere was pretty threatening.

We began sharing approaches for the next few days. From here it is 27 km to temple 38 at Cape Ashizuri and then the shortest way on is right back to where we are. I had decided to take the day to walk down to the temple and then take the bus back, leaving my pack here and spending a second night in this minshuku heading on north the next day. Temple 38 is the South end of our walk.

Sylvie plans to walk down to 38 and spend 2 nights there. She is burned out and the next day will be a heavy rain day according to forecasts. So we agreed that we would do the next day together.

We started walking at 630. I had my camera my nokyocho and an anorak. My hostess found a small pack that was perfect. She also gave us a nice lunchtime snack. I was by now very happy with my place for the two nights. Half of the walk was on highway the rest on trails or small roads. The sea was almost always there. It was fun walking and talking for a change. It took us six hours which included two short breaks. The forecasted showers only lasted about half an hour. After our respective temple processes we had a coffee together, Sylvie went to check-in at the temple and I caught the bus back to my minshuku. At dinner I met another new foreign henro, Stein from Denmark. We discussed how we would each deal with the heavy rains of tomorrow.

April 6th Day 23

It wasn’t raining at 615 so off I went heading north now. I walked for an hour and a half on a misty morning to the point at which the walking route left the bus route. It had begun to sputter, decision made, so a short bus ride followed by an even shorter train ride put me 6 km from temple 39, the last one in Kochi Prefecture, and my booked minshuku. It was now raining and would continue all day. I’m not sure if I would have been any wetter if I had walked all the way but it would have been 2 hours later getting into the hot tub.

After an easy afternoon dinner was with 3 middle aged henro, only one walking I think. I got in trouble with the hostess when I snuck out to the covered veranda for my wet rain gear which by now had shed most of the water. The trouble was I did not put on outdoor slippers I just went out in my bare feet. There are separate slippers for outdoors, indoors in the hallway and in the toilet. And you don’t wear any slippers in the bedroom. My trouble is that my feet are too wide to fit in any of them so I often don’t use any rather than shuffling around with just a few toes stuffed in.

April 7th Day 24
The rain had stopped over night but it was now quite cold. There was a short half hour forest walk to get down from Temple 39 to the highway. It took another hour and a half to walk along the highway and through a fairly large town. I was watching the henro signs very carefully because there was major deviation from the highway. A lovely forest trail went from sea level on a very steep path up to about 400 m. With this kind of steep trail I’m always more worried about coming down. In this case the downhill was very wide and gradual with not too many rocks and roots to trip me up. The trail soon became a paved path and ultimately led to the highway. Happily a Lawson’s convenience store was right there and I had a bit to eat. Normally I don’t eat during the day because I’m expecting a good dinner. But tonight’s accommodation at Temple 40 is without dinner.

It took another 3 hours on very quiet roads to connect back to the highway for the final 45 minutes into town and to Temple 40. I had put my anorak on near the top and if anything I was still too cold as I was finishing the day. I had walked into a cold headwind the whole day that sapped all my energy. It was only 2:30 when I arrived at the temple but it felt much later.

Sadly I now had to walk back out onto the deserted streets to find something to eat. No restaurants were open so I had to settle for Noodles in Styrofoam . Quite a come down from ryokan fare.

April 8th day 25

The wind whistling up the street at 6 was not very encouraging. I stopped at the first convenience store for coffee, a banana and a cup of yogurt. I had decided that I would take the coastal route rather than the mountain route on the section. In part the decision was based upon the cold wind on the mountain tops that I had got yesterday and the wind was just as strong and cold this morning.

After two and a half hours of walking the picturesque coast I came to an Onsen that I had noticed in my book. I had an hour to wait before it opened but I made the decision that my cold bones needed some attention. There was a nice park where I could watch birds, mostly ducks, cranes and a few cormorants. The Onsen was great. Three pools including a cold pool and a sauna. I spend an hour warming myself and another hour feeding myself at their very popular restaurant on this Sunday morning.

Back out on the road I walked another three hours and then took a bus for the final 5 km to my ryokan. I had decided when I chose to go to the Onsen that a bus would finish off the day for me. Yesterday I didn’t need a bus although it was hard enough that one might have been warranted. Today was easy enough that I could easily have got along without the bus. I’m not sure what my approach will be for the days ahead but I plan on enjoying the days and getting lots of walking.

Matsuyama