Mihara village to Sukumo, 24.7 km
Everywhere around us appeared to be getting rain, but we managed to dodge the showers for the entire day. Carrying furled umbrellas for the last 12 days has certainly proven to be a good weather luck charm. There’s another typhoon out there but it is forecast to drift out into the Pacific, sparing Japan this time around.
Today we transited some pleasant but unremarkable farm valleys – either it is a farming valley or precipitous, forested hills. The slight detour to the dam was interesting. It has a large fountain, but we weren’t there during the hours of operation! Also interesting is that the dam has no hydro electric generating function – it appears to be solely for water flow control.
After a minor detour to a convenience store for lunch (consumed in the spacious bus shelter opposite as very few convenience stores have seating) we visited Temple 39, Enko-Ji. It’s most memorable feature was its lack of visitors, as usually there is a steady trickle of motorized pilgrims. The path after the temple complex was actually a trail for a short time, making a pleasant change. Walking on anything other than paved surfaces is very unusual, and certainly much different than Europe, where they make concerted efforts to avoid roads wherever possible.
Tonight we are in the town of Sukumo, where you could catch a ferry to Kyushu if you so desired! Our lodging offered meals but they were s bit pricey for our budget, so Sam sourced a local Indian restaurant which was very good and cheap – and the kitchen staff were Indian which is always a good sign at an Indian restaurant. Naturally we had butter chicken – Canada’s National dish! 😀
