Kumakogen to Matsuyama, 30 km
It was a brisk, foggy morning leaving Kumakogen, but the sun burned through before I’d gone too far. With the help of the wonderful lady working at the Garden Hotel, the boys had a bus to catch so that Sam’s gimpy knee would be spared the worst of the day. The bus route was not even on Google transits list, but I’d established a rapport with the hotel lady as I noticed her screen saver was s photo of a rugby team. It turned out that her daughter was a keen rugby player at high school, so we started showing each other photos of our respective kids playing rugby. She was also very impressed that I had also been a coach and referee! Her daughter’s boyfriend is a rugby player: according to his team profile he is 181cm tall and weighs 117kg. He’s a big lad!
So I walked a rather tiring section following the highway -which was quite busy until the junction with the new highway – up about 230m altitude gain, before plunging down towards the coastal plain of Matsuyama. It was a 680m decline, partly on a forest trail that made it slightly more bearable, but then on the steep and relentless paved mountain lanes.
I met Sam and Max at Joruji Temple (#46), and from there it was a progression of Temples as we essentially traversed the city from south to north: Yasakaji (47); Sairinji (48) which unusually is on low ground and is compared to hell as it is lower than the surrounding area; Jodoji (49); Hantaji (50); and Ishiteji (51), memorable for its tunnel that leads from behind the temple. With so many temples in one day they kind of merged together – especially after the spectacular Temple 45 from yesterday.
In the evening we went to Dogo Onsen, one of the three oldest onsens in Japan. It has been extensively restored, so the inside has been modernised and is now just a tourist trap, especially for Japanese tourists, who were clogging the entry taking photos. Of course it didn’t stop us going in for a soak!
