March 16
We wake up feeling rested and thankful. We didn’t put up our tent last night so star gazing was excellent. The island of Shikoku has changed so much from the time that Kobo Daishi walked. here. Looking at the stars and sea, we see the same environment that Kobo Daishi saw when he slept out under the stars. We are thankful for our lodging last night!
The early dawn light woke us up and we packed up to continue down the road.
As we started walking we saw a view point and noticed the red glow of the rising sun.
If we hadn’t been sleeping outside, we probably would have missed this view.
Now we have a good idea about the story behind the Japanese Flag.
The Japanese flag
We walked by several parks, that had a variety of animal sculptures and admired the views of the ocean.
It wasn’t long before we saw the guest house that we had tried to stay at yesterday.. Our Japanese friend Shinshi, that we met yesterday saw us from the dining room window. He came out and waved and wanted to know if we had eaten. He wanted to invite us in. We had eaten some food so we waved said thank-you and kept walking. There was an option of going thru a tunnel or walking a little longer and staying on the coast. We chose the coastal route.
There wasn’t much traffic and the views were great.
We saw a sign for a roadside rest and remembered that the last one we had stopped at had great food. We should check this one out. We weren’t disappointed and also bought some fresh fruit to eat later today. There was a shaded seating area, so out came our books and app. We are liking the fact that we aren’t planning too far ahead as this allows for more flexibility in our schedules. We booked a hotel and checked out some campgrounds. Booking hotels on line is pretty easy, On the move again as we headed into the town where our hotel is located.
Then we saw it….
The Golden Arches. We figured that even thought we haven’t eaten at a McDonalds for a long time in the states, we should check it out. The interior looked familiar. Most of the food on the menu, we recognized The main difference was that once you ordered your food, you received a number on a stand, took it to a table and then the food was brought to you. The conclusion after eating was that the hamburgers tasted the same and we don’t need to visit McDonalds again.
We passed this cute rest area on the way to our hotel.
As we were walking on the street to our hotel, Don noticed a Barber shop. He wasn’t busy so we opened the door and walked in. No English spoken here but pointing to Don’s hair was sufficient. Don motioned that he just wanted a short hair cut and to use a number 2 blade. The haircut was great and even included a head massage. Don may be getting more haircuts here! Don is thinking that a number two blade may be different in Japan. He had a very short hair cut!
When we were walking out the door, the barber turned to me and handed me two rocks with a Buddha painted on them. For you was understood and then we bowed! We had a good day of just experiencing the area.
Our Buddha rock
Accommodation ..Danichi Hotel
Miles hiked 13