Day 11. Long march almost done

Today was the day I would be walking on almost literally middle of nowhere. Expectation for the day: Highway along coast, possible rain, not much stores or anything. Day that I had been somewhat anxious(and not in a good way) about beforehand.

Preparing for departure I then went in for breakfast(btw the lady turned out to be quite nice and talkative despite initially being tad quiet) and as dinner the breakfast was also delicious. And I'm constantly stunned by variety of japanese menu's. Always something new. This time I had some white bread(no toppings though...) and even coffee! That's unusual in my experience here but seems the lady loves coffee herself taking some every morning and had prepared cup for me before I had noticed what she was doing.

Have I mentioned I'm unusual Finn in that I'm not big fan of coffee? Luckily I have learned to drink it so didn't have to refuse already prepared cup.

She had also been sweet enough to prepare two onigiri's(rice balls with topping inside) and had bottle of tea to go with it. All as o-settai. Thank you! (even if I did technically have already too much food but guess I can carry this much and won't need to refill bag for a while). Oh and price for the night? Mere 5500 yen. Quite cheap, old building or not. But futon was clean, host friendly, meals delicious. No complains from me. Can see myself staying there again if I ever do this again.

After meal was eaten and bill paid took quick exit as I wanted to get as far as possible before the promised rain fell.

Suitable for rain forecast it was cloudy and windy but was making good progress. I had switched the gel bottoms on again but unlike last time had taken out the original ones and this seemed to do the trick. Feet felt pretty damn good actually!

I walked past resting spot where female pilgrim was setting up her bike ready. This section of pilgrimage is the one place where bike really comes into own.

And what would day be without a tunnel? Not a day heading to Muroto cape for sure! And the biker lady came here past me waving as she went by fast becoming small dot quickly and then vanished.

The red flags(?) have the common phrase "namu daishi henjo kongo" aka praise the great teacher. Pretty sure sign you are approaching a temple

Seems I passed some shrine. Not that unusual of course in Japan and seems Kochi is also called land of shintoism with Shinto religion being stronger here than elsewhere in Japan?

This gave me a surprise. Had I continued forward day dreaming I might have fell off there. Don't day dream too much!

First point of interest was Meitokuji temple that's one of the unnumbered bangai temples of the pilgrimage. Surprisingly big temple building. Had short conversation with the priest(?) of the temple and his big dog. Very nice dog though. Wish he(she?) had come out and play with me a bit! Looks like hard one to raise though. Probably wants to walk a lot!

According to temple legend Kobo Daishi had chosen this place for a temple when he was approached by locals who said that this is dried up valley and there is no water. Well guess you can predict what happened next. Kobo Daishi thrust his staff to the ground saying a prayer and pure water came gushing out. Washing his robes in the basin he promised this valley would never dry up and seems that in fact area within 2km of the valley HASN'T ever dried up.

There's mentions of this temple as unnumbered(Bangai) temple even in early Edo period with notes pilgrims sleeping here.

Japanese often dress up the statues for some reason.

Due to rain forecast had packed all my candles and incents to my backbag so didn't have those but figured do the standard stuff here anyway so bought those on the spot. Tad expensive but saved time and effort.

This detour was fairly short one so didn't mind it too much.

After this I entered the empty coast section. I had nice view of waves as they struct rocks(luckily well below me so short of tsunami deciding to form up while I'm here no issues).

Town called None! :D

After about hour of walking I took break eating bit. Then on my 2nd hour I spotted movement ahead me. Got slight scare if it was the wild boar that's not your safest encounter but luckily it was animal I had met before in Japan. A monkey! It even stared at me curiously from the forest but before I got camera zoomed in it had went away. Bummer.

I then spotted up some big birds(hawk? eagle?) that I managed to catch to the camera. Yey.

Magnificient bird anyway. They know how to get to a place easily. Me? I walk.

It was around this time I noticed pair of females, westerners, approaching me from the behind. Well we walked along the road with few dozen meters between us for a while them occasionally catching up when I stopped for photos but we didn't have any contact per se. Eventually rain started to fell enough that I stopped to put in camera and pilgrim bag into the backbag and put rain cover and this gave them enough time to went right past me with just simple greeting exchanged.

Wind was picking up quite a lot. Weather becoming less than optimal by now.

I moved forward in slight rain which eventually started to strengthen up enough that I put on rain coat over as well during which japanese male caught up with me. We chatted briefly before he headed off as I was putting on backbag again. Didn't see him again(these old uncles sure know how to walk!).

Waves were striking nicely at the rocks giving me good views. Also sound was quite impressive.

I stopped for quick toilet break when I came into small unmanned temple for Kobo Daishi with simple toilet along. These are very nice settings for pilgrims. Toilets don't sound that fancy but are welcome sight!

Okay not most reassuring signs. In time of tsunami ahead area is expected to be flooded by one. Gulp!

Place to sit in can mean only one thing...Breaktime!

Another biker pilgrimage passed me by. This one with quite a lot of stuff on his bike. On Tokushima didn't see biking pilgrims(Except the motorbiking lady). Guess that's because walker and non-walker paths are bit different there in many places. Here it's same long road.

In case of tsunami section marked with red on the map is unpassable. So if that happens I might be screwed. If it had happened say yesterday I would need to use public transport to take a detour through interior land likely.

Slight detour out of route 55. Yey! I could have continued the 55 and it might have been bit shorter but this leads to a bangai spot.

The bangai spot named Bukkaian named after priest Bukkai(1700-69) who did a pilgrimage to number of places including Shikoku. 9 years before his death he came to this area staying here, erecting stone statue of Jizo Bosatsu and built this and another hut called Tobiishi(an?).

He was respected for striving for the law of Buddha and supporting other pilgrims along their difficult journies. He is also have made 3000 Buddha and Jizo statues. Seems he is also buried somewhere here.

Simple hut without much of note though. Not sure can you enter and rest there? Camping out forbidden at least but rest not sure.

Junior high school spotted!

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Then came the one area of civilization and that's Sakihama town. I entered the town and noticed the 2 females ahead but they moved so fast I didn't have chance to catch up(guess they had just taken a pause since I caught up...) before another japanese male pilgrim hailed me and we stopped for brief chat. I then proceeded to find the restaurant on the map. Had sign "open" so went in but despite calling out repeatedly nobody came. Guess they were temporarily out. So I went next toward konbini on map instead. These are pilgrim heavens! Toilet? Check(and used). Food? Check. Drinks? Check. Place to sit? More often than not check.

Makes one think pilgrims just might take more time at konbinis than they do at the temples :D

Took short lunch break here enjoying strawberries plus some bread like thing with strawberries. Strawberries! Tasty!

Can't get enough of those mountain silhouettes.

Didn't eat too much though as I wanted to get proper meal soon so moved on and exited the town. Family came into view and entered building that I noticed is konomiyaki restaurant. Some brainfart though meant I didn't enter. Really should have! For one this was restaurant. I was hungry. It was also konomiyaki which I had yet to each this trip and that I like. And who knows it might have resulted in a conversation with the family. Who knows?

Instead I opted to walk quite a long way to the next restaurant...Mind set on next restaurant I guess.

 I walked along the beach passing through couple lodgings on map during which I ran into(or she caught up) japanese female pilgrim. We chatted this and that for a while. Seems she was doing the pilgrim in pieces as well and today would be last day for her. She stopped at the free toilet and since my restaurant wasn't that far off figured I won't see her again

Imagine then my surprise when I suddenly heard familiar ring ring sound from my back. She was FAST. She did catch up with me before I got to restaurant. She was bit worried about bus departure time so was making very good pace so at the front of the restaurant we bid farewells.

And in the restaurant. Decided to give me a treat in a form of banana shake.

And for meal tenpura set meal. Tasty! Been a while since I have had proper lunch at restaurant in this pilgrimage. Usually restaurants haven't opened yet when I reach them or I'm in mountains or had just eat before seeing not-in-map restaurant so hadn't had much chance so nice luxus.

From there it was just 2km or so to the lodging and I had tons of time so spent some time just watching waves hitting rocks and seeing what kind of photos I would manage to get from them.

I had seen photos of this rock formation before. Seeing this I went "aha!" remembering it.

Unfortunately road closer to it seemed to be blocked. Unsure if it's okay to enter and not willing to risk getting caught doing anything forbidden I settled at looking it from further away.

Delphines nearby it sems.

Interesting road marker. Not most obvious pilgrim marker except not much else in here this would make sense but doesn't follow standard form at all. That big symbol is sanksrit letter signifying Kobo Daishi. Only sanskrit symbol I can recognize!

Arrived to the lodging bit early at around 2.15PM. Need to pace these better though next 2 days shouldn't have problem as such(temples and distances).

One of the most luxurious rooms I have had so far.

Getting to room I laid on my back, called and booked lodging for saturday and when bath was ready entered it. After bath wrote some notes, rested and then got to dinner seeing the other guest(this place takes only 2 quests at the same time. Pretty much private house so not even that many rooms really so if she would take more it would have to be shared rooms I think).

Meal was tasty but conversation was even better! The other guy is just amazing veteran. This is his 21st pilgrimage, ALL on foot. He does this twice a year, april and november, and does it in about a month. Today he came from same lodging I stopped day before yesterday so he did 46km in a day...Oh dear oh dear. I won't be seeing him again after we depart for sure!

He was also one of the most talkative japanese persons, or of any country for that matter, I have met. Not often I have trouble saying anything because other person is talking so much I have hard time finding spot to say something! Outspoken for a change. Usually I'm the talker here so being listener for a change was interesting experience :D

We had conversation btw how lucky my timing at the Shosanji temple was. I visited it on 29.3. 2 days later...Snow fell heavily. Odds are I couldn't have climbed it 2 days later. Lucky! Thank you Kobo Daishi!

Wish you speedy travel though doubt you need it. Damn his legs are good. I'm feeling the distance after 25km.

Oh and meal was delicious. And I'm impressed at the width of Japanese food. 11th dinner, 11 different meals with something different every time. This time particular note was some sort of...SOMETHING 3 things mixed together plus water melon that was very sweet.

Tomorrow I get to temples again visiting temples 24, 25 and 26 where I will stay. Think hardest part is over for now until I get to temple 36 unless one of those infamous Kochi storms hit before that.