Day 46: A Smile However Forced

Steps: 31.051 (28,6km)

Temples: 62 + 63 + 64

Preparing ourselves for a whole day of walking in the rain, we set out the door with the words “The more annoying you find it, the more you have to smile”.

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The more we do this, the more I realize how important your mindset is – especially when it rains. A smile (however forced) can add extra speed and take 5 kilograms off your pack in an instant – and it works just as well (or badly) in the other direction.

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We needn’t have worried though, because the rain wasn’t bad at all, at the temples lay close together.

At temple 63, there is a big rock with a hole in it. It is said that if you walk with closed eyes from the main temple and manage to hit the hole with your walking stick, your wish will come true.

I asked Jonas if he wanted to try it. Standing there in his dripping wet rain poncho he gave the most Jonas-esque answer of all: “but I already have everything I could want”. I swear, this guy could teach a class on Buddhism to a group of monks.

Miraculously, the rain seemed to stay clear of us after that. Walking all day with the sea to our left and the cloud-covered mountains on our right, we were very happy with our decision to visit the mountain temple yesterday (and even more so when we came home in the afternoon to find the entrance of our hotel covered in mud-caked hiking shoes from those braver than us)

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Temple 64 was huge and beautiful as it lay smudged in between the misty mountains. So many nice little details had been added here and there, such as the raking of the sand in the incense pots or the rust colored water fountain where little 1¥ coins were growing into the moss.

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The weather kept improving as we walked towards Niihama station, where we caught a train back home. It’s funny seeing the landscape you have just spent hours walking through flash by outside in an instant.

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For dinner we decided that even though the hotpot at our hotel was delicious, three nights in a row might be a little too much. Instead we ventured down the road to an Italian restaurant, where we had ginormous servings of pasta and a delicious glass of orange wine – something we haven’t seen on the menu anywhere else here.

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The train back to Niihama doesn’t leave until 7.49 tomorrow morning, so unfortunately we will have to stay in bed a little longer than usual.

PS to all the worried moms out there reading along (I know there are a few of you): my foot is doing so much better now, and we are taking good care of it every day 😇