Day 8: 88 Temples (22) - Minami

Our friend from the last few days was leaving the same time as us and we all took selfies.

She is from Fukuoka and comes to Shikoku to be a walking Henro for a week or so at a time.  She asked about the Camino after seeing the shell on my pack.  She wanted to do the Camino someday and asked which was harder?  I said Shikoku because of steep climbs and harder walking surfaces.  She asked what about the Pyrenees?  I said that was one hard day but not as steep as Shikoku.  She used a lot of Spanish words while we were communicating.

It was a beautiful day and the short walk to the temple was well photographed.

Temple 22 was our only temple for the day.  There is another in our destination, Minami but not another for 75km ... about 3 days walking.

Shortly after leaving the temple we exchanged a few word with a walker from Okinawa.  We walked up and then down a quiet road in the forest.  A most enjoyable start.

Down at the river we could see and hear the busy freeway we would soon be walking on.  This 2km section was on a raised shoulder of a busy road with fast moving traffic.  To make it more unpleasant there were two tunnels.  The longer wider one had guard rail.  The other, a painted line.

Just after the second tunnel we exited the freeway and got back on a quiet road.  Our host last night said something about a Henro walking path that was nicer than the road.  When we saw a sign taking us off the route on our map we took it.

This was a good choice.  We walked a forest path that took us to the top of the ridge and an ocean view.  There was a little picknik table and we had our nigiri there.  A simple rice ball can sometimes be amazing.

Coming off the hill we were by the ocean.

Our hotel hangs off a cliff and it seems other of our Henro friends are here.

We headed to town for dinner and it is now getting dark at 5:30pm.  We arrived in town in the dark and found a little okinomi place.  After dinner it felt very late it was 7pm.