Usacho to Awe ( just south of Susaki) 33.2 km
Due to the expansive Japanese long weekend, the boys stayed behind in Usacho for a rest day, while I walked – in the absence of the ferry – to Awa. Normally it would be an easy day (actually the app has today’s stage as finishing in Kure, but that assumes one has taken the ferry, which is 10 km less walking. I wasn’t that keen on a 40km day when the temperature is forecast to reach 32⁰!)
First up was a visit to Temple 36, Shoryu-Ji, which has a beautiful forest setting close to the first swimming beach I’ve seen. Unfortunately an ocean plunge wasn’t top of mind after only 2 km of walking! Here’s the view from further down the staircase:
From the temple it was a challenging path up to the road – challenging to find the actual path because so few pilgrims actually walk this section, and physically challenging due to disrepair of the path. At times it felt like I was bush-whacking even though the little blue dot on the app said I was on course!
The first road section was quite pleasant, with periodic views of the very dramatic coastline, with no ocean battlements in sight. It’s hard to believe that further north areas near Tokyo have been whacked by a typhoon.
After the coast road and as the path gets closer to Susaki however, there was much more traffic and less scenery – other than industrial complexes, big box stores and elevated highways. Tonight I’m staying in what was likely a prosperous roadside inn, complete with a restaurant downstairs and accommodation upstairs. It’s not dissimilar to places where I stayed on the via de la Plata in Spain: businesses beside the old highway have fallen on hard times because the new motorway bypasses them. The lady running the place is very sweet, and made me a wonderful dinner which I got to eat in the shuttered restaurant (at least it was clearly not open for dinner!) And for a change the tv wasn’t on some low budget Japanese game show. Instead I got to watch Sumo wrestling with my hostess!
