March 17
We left the Danchi Hotel before 7 and headed to Lawson’s for breakfast and to buy food for snacks and lunch.
When we see the picture of the person sitting, we know we can eat inside
We never realized before coming to Japan how often we would rely on getting food at these convenience stores.
We have looked at different options for reaching Temple 38 which is the tip of Cape Ashizuri-misaki. Our latest plan is cut over to the west side walking thru a long tunnel and then return via the route on the east side of the cape. We will be doing some back tracking, but that makes the most sense. The weather forecast is for rain later today so we will see how far we get. We have planned to camp tonight so we have some flexibility in our schedule
As we leave the town, we pick up a small road that parallels the river.
It was overcast and one could feel that rain was in the future. As we walked thru a small village, the smell of fresh bread wafted out the door of a small bakery shop. We immediately knew that this was a required stop. Placing our packs outside the door, we filled a small tray with freshly baked rolls. Never mind that we had just had breakfast. The rolls melted in our mouths. We even went back in to buy some more for the road. As we were continuing our walk we saw 2 pilgrims walking toward us. They were taking their dog with them on the pilgrimage. They wanted to take a photo of us.
One thing that we have noticed that has been different on the long hikes that we have done in the USA is the lack of dogs here..This is the first people we have seen that have a dog with them.
One part of today’s hike is going thru a tunnel that is over a mile long.
It is a Sunday and there isn’t much traffic. At least our ears shouldn’t be ringing too bad by the time we get to the other side. There is a nice big sidewalk along the tunnel highway. We see Shinshi and another pilgrim ahead of us. We both stop at a rest area. They have hotel reservations so they need to keep moving. The one man decides that he is going to catch a bus to beat the rain. Shinshi walks with us for awhile until we decide to take a path through the woods. I am not sure why we went that way. We had a choice of taking the road or going thru the woods. It was as if someone was guiding us, then we saw the best rest area of the day. It was located near a business that was closed today. It had a cement floor and overhanging eaves, Even in the downpour the inside was dry. We could collect water from the roof for dinner and just sleep here. We listened to the rain on the roof and the wind blow. We were cozy and dry!
Accommodation Rest Hut
Miles Hiked 16