March 2

We were up by 5:30 and after a breakfast of bread and jam provided by our hosts we headed down the road. We had debated about which route to take, one that was off the pavement or one following a lesser used road. Our host convinced us to take Highway 147, he thought it was about 4km longer but not much traffic. The route that took you off pavement in places, had some major areas washed away. We took his advice and headed out. The sun on the Temple Tower made the tower seem that it was glowing.

Great view of the Tower sitting about the town

Japan is serious about the cherry blossoms. Even the lampposts were cherry themed

On the out skirts of town we saw the sign that indicated the next couple of days were going to be just hiking.( 76km =50 miles)

During this next section, we will be leaving the Tokushima prefecture and heading into the Kochi Prefecture, Kochi prefecture stands for Ascetic Training. I guess it begins by having us walk 50 miles before stopping at a temple. We have checked out some camping spots for the next couple of days and are looking forward to that. Our hosts from last night told us that camping on the beach is allowed. We have also been told that if a rest area has a bathroom and one gets permission from the surrounding houses, it could be okay. to spend the night there. All property in Japan is private so one needs to use their judgement about where to camp. Some rest areas with bathrooms are not near houses so I guess we will use our best judgment if we decide to camp. The temperature is a good for walking. We pull off at a view area and check out another example of cherry blossoms.

Blossoms were painted on the pavement. We keep seeing buds on trees so know that we won't have long to wait for the bloom.

When we came to another sign stating the distance to the next temple. It seemed that the road we took was more like 6 miles longer than the busy highway route. We figured that the peace of our quiet highway was worth it.

We enjoyed seeing this sign and also enjoyed knowing that we are near Lawson’s a convenience store.

There are three main convenience stores. Lawsons. FamilyMart and 7/11. We quickly learned that the convenience stores in Japan have a lot more choices than most of the small stores in the United States. They provided a lot of our lunch and snack meals. If we were camping then they provided a good source of food.

This Lawson had indoor seating as well. There were two older gentleman there that wanted to start a conversation. Don pulled out his phone and found the talking translate app. they wanted to know where we were from. They wanted to tell Don that he looked like Steve McQueen. Another couple of young girls were getting a smoothie. They knew a little English and were excited when we told them we were from Alaska.

An older gentleman came in to get some coffee and when he saw us he immediately walked over to us and became way excited, waving his hands as he was talking to us. He spoke a little English and began telling us about himself. He had two sons that lived in Canada and he had walked the pilgrim trail several times. He was so happy that we were experiencing it. He went out to his car and brought in an article then he had the store make a copy of it.

We will translate it later using google translate. The main gist was that an 86 year old man had done the pilgrimage after his wife died and was overwhelmed by the kindness of the people he met. His name is Shigeru Saegusa and he continues to do pilgrimages. He has made and handed out over 7000 dolls hoping they will bring healing and happiness. He has also given these dolls to other people to give to pilgrims they meet. Our new friend, Takumi, has one to give to us.

It is about 2 inches tall and is hand crafted.

As we were leaving and figuring out which way to go another man in a car points to a road and motions. We appreciated all the help we are getting from local people. Meanwhile Takumi has gotten in his car and pulls along side of us. He says follow me and I will show you where the trail begins from the road.l He slows his car and we follow, soon we see the signs for the turn off. Takumi wants to take more pictures….creating memories for us.

The black route follows the road, the red one goes thru the woods. Takumi was adamant that we take the red route. We thank him and head down the trail. It was a fun encounter and most likely the only one we will have with him The trail heads up to a highpoint. When we arrived to an intersection and are ready to head back down, here comes Takumi. He motions for us to put down our packs and follow him higher. He wants to show us a view of the coast where we will be walking in a couple of days.

Takumi continues to walk with us, pointing out flowers and showing us which plants one can eat. We find out he has a site called Takumni Nature. It is obvious that he does indeed love nature . On the way down the trail we pass this small memorial.

We assume that these sandals were worn by pilgrims in the past.

We say good-by again to Takumi and he gets in his car and says” I hope you have great memories.” Back to walking on the pavement and checking out new things. One was a billboard of vehicles that not only can go on the road but also a train track.

Another interesting sculpture was this dragon. It was in front off a restaurant .

We are also seeing boats in harbors, protected by seawalls in case of tsunamis.

We see a sign for our campground and when we arrive to where we think it is. We find an open bathroom, but no office or any information about the campground. Then we see the Henro who stayed with us at the Panda House. He is walking towards us and stops to talk. He tells us that his friend took the the bus and he thought that he had made a reservation here, but he hadn’t. There was a hotel/spa at the end of the road. He found out that he has to walk another 5 miles. He wasn’t very happy. He thought that we could check in at the office for camping. We walked to the end of the road and there was the office.. They said it was 2000 yen for camping and to put our tent anywhere. We found a spot and then walked over to the sun setting over the mountains. We are happy to be using our tent tonight.

Spot with running water and clean heated bathrooms.

Accommodation Isaribinomori Campground

Miles hiked 20