Day 19: 88 Temples (38) - Tosashimizu

I slept well last night and was looking forward to a day without the pack.  I put rain gear and my stamp book in my day pack.  I did not put in sunscreen.  I used my hood a lot today.

This morning before my very good breakfast arrived at 7am I poured over the maps. There was no way to do the central route to Temple 39. I decided to continue up the coast stop at a resort hotel and then stay two nights in Sukumo where I could do an out and back to Temple 39. Infrastructure in Shikoku requires a lot more planning and they really don't make it easy.

The 8:08 bus showed up just as my watch changed to 8:09.  I wasn't taking it far but I wanted to avoid the busy narrow road back to the route on the other side of the peninsula and shave off a few kilometers.

At the next stop a young French Henro got on the bus. We chatted for about four stops.  He was hoping to finish in about 45-50 days.  He was also having trouble getting accomodations in this area.

After I got off the bus the first 3km were on a very quiet road through the forest.  After that I was along the coast all the way to the temple.

Temple 38 was manicured with a lot of modern touches.  Pretty but it didn't have a lot of character. 

A young Japanese henro I saw yesterday was getting stamped when I entered.  Afterwards I went to a second floor restaurant across the street from the temple and he and I were the only customers.  He seems to speak a little English but wasn't very chatty.

The area before the Temple was some sort of park and the area past the Temple had a lot of 1980s resorts.  The views on this side got really spectacular.

Coming toward me was one of the Henro that walked past me while I was waiting for the bus yesterday.  He also speaks a little English and we exchanged a few words.  It is sometimes hard to know how much someone understands so these exchanges often end up getting a little awkward.  But we both smiled a lot and that is all you really need to say.

As I walked along the stunning coastline with fishing villages, I was thinking that if this were in France or Italy the area would be packed with tourists.

I could see the town of Tosashimizu clearly for a long time but I was on the other side of the bay.  A some points I could swim across it was so close but it was a long walk around.  I passed my lunch friend, he was either going slow to kill time before check-in or he was tired.

I wanted to get back to my room as quickly as possible but I was low on cash and had to find a Lawson to get money.  Cash is required here.  There are some places to use cards but it is still very much a cash economy.

The rain finally came as I was trying to pick a restaurant.  The one I ended up in was the first I looked and if I'd gone straight in I would have been dry.  Food was good, I was satisfied.  I think all restaurants in Shikoku are going to close in the next few years ... people running them are all way past 70.