Steps: 44.069 (41,6km)
Temples: None (but we’re getting close now!)
The 11km Gorogoro-ishi (“rumbling rocks”) section of the pilgrimage runs from the None River outlet down to Bukkai-an and is known for its remoteness and lack of access to food and shelter (and vending machines). In the old days, before there were roads, pilgrims used to walk along the slippery rocks of the sea shore, which made this stretch especially challenging (and quite dangerous I imagine).
The rest of the 25km stretch of coast line from Ikumi down to Muruto cape doesn’t feature much of the above mentioned either, though. There are also no temples until you reach no 24 at the tip of the island.
For those same reasons many pilgrims choose to skip this part in favor of a bus. But since we were well rested after two days of relaxing (Jonas) we chose instead to do a 40km tour-de-coast with post-food-poisoning-acid-reflux (me) which is the longest any of us have ever walked (so far). None of us are eager to repeat it anytime soon, but it’s nice to know that we can, if push comes to shove.
I kid of course (not about the acid reflux though, send help) – we actually had a really great day. We even saw monkeys! (Shy ones though, so didn’t get a picture).
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, we were really lucky with the weather, and once we got going it felt like the most natural thing in the world to be walking again.
When we were almost at our hotel we passed a point of special significance. The two caves where Kobo Daishi lived and trained to obtain enlightenment. The unobstructed view of both sky (kū) and sea (kai) from the mouth of the cave, earned him the nickname Kūkai, which is what most people call him.
The hotel we’re staying at tonight is almost a hundred years old and has a very Hayao Miyazaki’sk feel to it, which I dig very hard.
And even though we had roads to walk on all day, I still got my share of slippery rocks when I slid on the bathroom tiles and fell on my ass trying to sit on one of the little plastic stools. It was a sight for sore eyes.
PS ask and you shall receive. While I typed this up, Jonas spoke to the receptionist whose daughter is a pharmacist, and now I have just drunken a magic drink for upset stomach so fingers crossed 🤞
Den grønne drink hjælper helt sikkert! Flot I klarede så mange kilometer!
Go tur videre😘🙋♀️🙋♂️