Shikoku day 7

Katsuura to Temple 22, 20.5 km

Not a long day in terms of distance, but there was about 1200m of elevation gain, and about 1200m of elevation loss. A very tough day on the legs! We were blessed to do this very challenging day in the dry – large segments of the trail had clearly been impromptu streams in yesterday’s deluge.

Both temples 20 and 21 have beautiful hill top locations, but the setting of Temple 21 (Tairyu-Ji) amongst the ancient cedars was spectacular. There are also a couple of viewpoints away from the temple complex, but not everyone makes the effort to visit them. This is probably due to the ropeway (aka cable car) which allows people to visit the temple with minimal effort. Apparently when it was built, this ropeway was the highest and longest in the world. The boys rode it down to save their aching knees, while I did the descent the hard way.

We did have some company while walking today, notably a young Japanese man dressed in the full kit, even down to the canvas shoes, who literally was singing and dancing his way up the mountain. Max wanted to ask him for his playlist! Whenever he stopped he smoked and talked loudly on video calls, which combined with his extensive tattoos clearly identified him as a character who didn’t necessarily subscribe to what we understand are Japanese cultural norms!

The other character of the day is our host at our accommodation, Minshuku Panda (Panda House). He is extremely welcoming and friendly, and is trying to plan the next few days for us. “You are strong. No problem to walk 32 kilometers” Maybe all his cousins have lodgings along the coast. After a long day he insisted on filling the soaker tub for us (to the point of overflowing) and made us a wonderful dinner. Unfortunately house cleaning is not his forte!

The town we are in near Temple 22 defies being named on any/all of the mapping spps we have, but it is the first to have any obvious economic activity, with a couple of large enterprises which I’m guessing are agricultural products related. And many of the homes have minivans rather than micro vans so clearly there is some prosperity here. The smaller hamlets we pass through often have a significant number of old traditionally-built homes abandoned and visibly decaying, and in sections there are abandoned greenhouses and other agricultural structures. It’s common to see ancient farming terraces now overgrown with trees – presumably the marginal land is abandoned now that produce can be brought to the island on one if the causeways across from the mainland.

Here are a selection of oics for rge day: