Shikoku Pilgrimage Day 29

The blister saga never ends. Today I started off feeling fine, but by the end I was hobbling with my walking stick. I'm staying with Dan Herbison at Temple 37. Tomorrow will probably be a rest day.

Shikoku Pilgrimage Day 28

Short day today, only 17 km or so. I stopped early enough to catch the end of a fish market in Nakatosa. I'm staying at an inn near a sake brewery - though sadly the brewery closed minutes after I got into town.

Shikoku Pilgrimage Day 27

Temple 36 is called Shoryuji, but all I could think of was the shoryuken move from Street Fighter. After I delivered a finishing blow to that temple... I went down the Yokonami peninsula and ate at a restaurant that floats in the bay! I'm camping out at a roadside hut tonight, outside of Susaki.

Shikoku Pilgrimage Day 26

What a long day. I'm seriously done with these over 30km days (20 miles for the Metrically challenged).

First, Temple 34. An awesome Japanese lady let me drop my big bag off in town, so I went up the hill to #35 with my day pack. Then across a bridge to a hotel on top of a mountain, near #36. I was too late for visiting #36 but I'll do that first thing tomorrow.

Even though I wasn't carrying my full pack all day, and my blisters are almost healed, it was still exhausting. I'm really going to stick to 20-25km from now on.

Shikoku Pilgrimage Day 25

Last night I went to Temples 31, 32, and 33. 33 has a free room for walking pilgrims so I stayed there. No shower though.

I took a side trip over an insane bridge to see the "beach" of Katsurahama. The waves were so crazy that no one went into the water, but a lot of people went right up to the edge.

Shikoku Pilgrimage Day 24

I took a rest day in Kochi City while my feet are healing. I went to the botanical garden, only to find out I'm going that way anyway since it's directly on the pilgrim trail! But I also managed to see Kochi Castle and the Hirome indoor market. I wouldn't have gone if it hadn't been for the rest day.

Shikoku Pilgrimage Day 23

Temples 29 and 30 are done. Then I had to reward my legs with a long-awaited hot spring visit.

People have many things to say about Kochi Prefecture as it relates to the pilgrimage. This may be the wine and blister cream talking, but I'm just going to say this: Kochi is Hell, and Kochi is Heaven.