Day 14: 88 Temples (29-32) - Kochi

Mike and I had breakfast and then I headed out to catch the 7:34 train back to Gomen.  The train was packed with high school kids.  One thing we have not seen between Tokushima and Kochi is young people.  Didn't understand why the were going from the city to the country for school.

Out of the station they all disappeared and I was walking in a quiet suburb-farmland-rual area.  A few hundred meters and I was on the Henro trail.  It was few kilometers to Temple 29 which was a nice temple.

The walk from 29 to 30 was one of the nicest so far.  It was well marked - I only missed one turn that would have put me on a quieter street but I need up in the same place.  This whole day there was clearly effort made to get us off busy roads and on to quiet ones or through farm fields.

At Temple 30 I saw a young woman I would see many more times during the day.  Near 31 she was walking towards me and I thought she must have missed a turn.  It was me who had missed the turn and several hundred meters after checking the map I turned around.  At 32 she was coming through the main gate as I was leaving.  

Temple 30 was not very exciting and I proof of that as I was walking away I realized it is the first temple where I took no pictures.

Leaving 30 I was soon on a path beside a canal.  There were major roads near by but the route avoided them where possible.  When I was beside a busy road there was an enormous sidewalk.

I came to a Family Mart and got a litre of tea, some chips and a piece of fried chicken.  This was lunch.

When I missed the turn before 31 I felt bad when I got back to it as it was pretty clearly marked.  The route went between some houses, around a house and became a path that went straight up a mountain. At the top there paths were manicured and it obvious I had entered some place that charged admission.  The Henro signs were hard to find and I used my route map to find the way.  I ended up at the entrance of the facility and there seems no way out.  A grounds keeper asked if was looking for the temple and took me to a secret Henro exit between the restrooms.

Temple 31 was still had to find until I realized it was right in front of me.

As I got near Temple 32 I thought I needed to go through a tunnel and it would be on the other side.  It was a long tunnel and when I came out I realized the temple was above the tunnel.  Back through the long tunnel and up and around with the required steep path and the temple gate was in front of me.

Temple 32 makes the list of best views.

Walking down it was 2:30 and I thought I needed to make Temple 33 or have a super long day tomorrow.  33 was 11 or 12km and that is bring me too close to closing time if I made it at all (and another 11 or 12km of walking!). I looked at tomorrow's distance and realized I actually have an easy day starting from 33 and taking the bus to get there.  I'm done for the day.  I found the next nearest bus back to Kochi and walked to the bus station.

I had to wait about 40 minutes and was standing and stretching much of that time ... there were no seats.  I turn around and that girl has come up to the bus stop.  She was on the phone so we didn't talk until we were on the bus.  She is from Hong Kong working in Japan for a period and being a public transit Henro when she can.  While I was walking between temples today she was waiting for buses and the walking to the temples.

Back at my hotel I was not feeling very energetic or hungry.  I knew I should eat but was feeling pretty lazy and went to the nearest restaurant with a decent rating.  The izakaya place I went is across the street from the hotel.  It wasn't fancy but the food was good.  I ordered  4 plates and the waitress kind of walked away when I got to 4 even though if she had stayed I would have kept ordering.  When the food started showing up I was ravenous.  A good choice for tonight ... ¥3050 and I'm stuffed.