Goyomatsuso to Shikokuchui, 29.6km
The first 20 kilometres was a tiring traipse through endless suburbs of the Japanese variety – each village seemed to merge into the next one. The monotony was broken by the periodic appearance of a float on the road, which at times prevented any further progress while they manoeuvred their wagons around some tight corners.
The last few km were a steep but more inspiring path through the forest to Sankakuji (Temple 65) on the hills above Shikokuchui. Normally we’d have followed the official trail down into the valley, but of the two possible accommodations, one is closed for the month of October, and the other is full. Full doesn’t necessarily mean it is full, but if one person books, they get their own room, even if that room could hold more people. They don’t generally do dormitory style accommodation here, which is a wee bit frustrating! Originally we were going to walk into the valley and catch a bus back into town, but for some reason the only bus today is at 0730, which is not ideal for us.
So instead we walked the equivalent 7 kilometres into town to our hotel. We’ve now discovered that to there is no bus going up the valley tomorrow morning, and adding 7 kilometres to an already challenging day is out of the question. Hopefully we can get the hotel staff to order a taxi for us.
