Steps: 32.487 (24,9km) (+10km)
Temples: 68 + 69 + 70 + 71 + 72 + 73 + 74
Woof today was a long one. In fact it was so long it feels like several separate days have happened since we left our ryokan at 6.30 this morning.
First, there was the day where we decided to climb up on a hill to see Zenigata Sunae – a famous landmark, where sand has been formed in the shape of a lucky coin with a circumference of 345m.
It is said that those who look upon it will live a long and healthy life free from money troubles, so climbing a few stairs seemed like a small price to pay.
Then there was the day, when we got confused at the grounds of temples 68 and 69. The two temples share an entrance and lie so close together, that it was hard to tell which temple halls and deities belonged to which. W
e ended up just putting a little bit of incense here and there, agreeing that the intention was probably more important than the execution after all …
After that, there was the day when Jonas started to feel like he was coming down with a cold, and decided to try and nip it in the bud by shaving off 10k of the walk with a train. Since I wanted to walk, we decided to part after temple 70 and meet up later at temple 71.
This was the first time we have been apart for more than an hour in almost two months, so there was a little bit of separation anxiety from both sides as we waved goodbye 😅
I got shat on by a bird and discovered how much more concentrated you have to be when you navigate alone, but other than that it was a rather uneventful 12 kilometers.
After that, there was the day we reunited at temple 71 and discovered that this one too had a million steps to climb to get to the top. Luckily though, the view was really worth it and the temple itself was also one of the more memorable ones. It was built on multiple levels and sculpted around the shape of the mountain.
It also had a really unique Daishido (the temple dedicated to Kobo Daishi) which was located inside a cave in the mountain. Jonas even proclaimed it to be his favorite temple so far.
All of this would have been plenty for a day, but we had only just passed 1pm at this point and moved quickly onwards to temples 72-74.
Finally, the last and longest part of the day, happened just after we finished visiting temple 73. It had been humid all day and now the sky suddenly opened up and released all the built up tension in the form of heavy rain, thunder and lightning.
We sat for an hour under that entrance to temple 72 listening to the thunder rumbling above us and counting the seconds from the lightening flashed till we heard the crash.
When it finally calmed down a bit, we dawned our rain ponchos and trotted through the rain to cross off the final temple of the day.
Never have I ever needed a hot meal like I did after that, and when the first udon place we got to said they were closed I almost started crying (which wouldn’t have made any difference since we were already drenched 😅)
We ended up at a nice izakaya instead where we ordered one of each before finally ending the day by checking in to a nice guesthouse near temple 75.
We have a very needed zero kilometer day planned for tomorrow. Jonas is already asleep, and soon I will be too.