Day 10: 88 Temples (24) - Muroto

After some research we concluded the section of highway along the ocean was long and a little dangerous and decided to take the bus most of the way to the cape and the next temple.  


From the hotel we walked back toward Awa-Kainan to a DMV train station.  A DMV - Dual Mode Vehicle ... is a train and a bus!  We caught it on train tracks at a former train station that used to be part of the Mugi Line which brought use here.  We were a little puzzled why a train line would be adapted and replaced by a bus/train.  Each station had lower level platforms for the bus and at the conversion station there was a huge ramp to get the bus down off the elevated train tracks.  But why think about that ... It's a train and a bus!


Between the DMV and bus we cheated 39km.  This portion was a good bit to miss as it was a busy road with little shoulder.  Watching Henro walking this section from the bus we did not regret skipping one bit.  We met our Hong Kong friends at the DMV/bus transfer point and they skipped the initial really bad first 5km section before getting out to walk.  They were walking to accomodations near where our bus terminated.  We started walking from Muroto Global Geopark.  After the Geopark a bypass across the cape took away most of the traffic and there was a side walk.


We walked with amazing ocean views whenever the foliage between the highway and the water opened up.  There was a nice sidewalk all the way past a park at the water.  Shortly after that we headed straight up on a path to Temple 24.


Leaving the temple we headed straight down on a road with many switchbacks.  Our accommodation for the night was directly below us the entire descent.


We stayed at Umamenoki Inn.  The room and bathrooms are great and tonight's dinner is probably the best we have had in Shikoku.



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