Temple 8 to Temple 11, 20km
The host at last night’s accommodation, Minshuku Okudaya was charming and helpful. He drove 7s to the Onsen via a convenience store so that we could provision for breakfast, then explained the protocols at the onsen and the attached restaurant. Wonderful hospitality!
Tonight we are in Ryokan Yoshino, near T11. No English spoken, but lots of hilarity using translation via cell phone! A ryokan is a step up from a minshuku apparently, but both are usually family-run private accommodations. Dinner and breakfast are “included”. Here’s a peek at the dinner tray. After stopping for a huge (and reasonably priced) lunch at an udon noodle restaurant, the dinner spread had us loosening the belts of our yukatas – a Japanese housecoat – which we donned after utilizing the giant onsen-type soaker tubs! Quite the step up from an albergue with cold showers!
The walk today was externally dry, but very high humidity – a bit like walking on a treadmill in a sauna. We figured we’d support the local economy by having a coffee at the “cafe” outside T9 as the instant machine coffee from breakfast wasn’t cutting it. Sadly the cafe ordered from the cafe was also instant. As they say, you pays your money and takes your chances. Now we know to stick to convenience store coffee. There’s lots of Starbucks outlets here, but that would be supporting the evil empire! After that letdown we had to tackle the 333 steps up to Temple 10 – only manageable because we’d left our backpacks at the store at the bottom of the hill where we purchased our Henro kit:
Tomorrow we have the first hill climb up to T12, but by good fortune we’ve booked a ryokan that offers to transport our backpacks as part of the deal. Not sure how you say “mochilla express”in Japanese! It’s a climb that requires a good night’s rest, but we’re not yet adapted to sleeping on wafer-thin futons on a tatami mat floor. Maybe we’re not tired enough!
2saunter 