15 March 2025 - Day 13 - Temple 28 - 23,5 km

This morning, breakfast was at 7, so I left the Inn just before 8. Due to my problems in finding lodgings the last days, today’s stage was theoretically very short, but to get from the Inn back to the Henro Route took me already 2 km.

The small sunburn I caught yesterday shouldn’t bother me today, as it was again cloudy and rainy. The first few kilometers along the coast on the bicycle road were quite nice, but then I couldn’t find the signs that led to the smaller roads direction Dainichiji and when I checked my position on the Henro Helper app I was too far away to turn around, so I walked along the busy highway for several km. Many roads lead to the Temple.

By the time I reached Temple 28 it had started to rain so the time spent here was again rather short even though the Temple and the gardens were really nice. I had booked my Minshuku about 200 m from the Temple, but as check-in usually starts only at 15:00 I had almost 2 hours to spare. What to do in a small town when it rains and a cold wind blows?

First I entered a small pilgrimage store to buy some more gear. Then I went up and down the street in search for some kind of coffee or tea house where I could have a hot drink and a dry place to sit. There were 2 in the street, one was closed and the second one had seen better days, it must have closed years ago. I continued on to a small convenience store where I bought some stuff I didn’t really need. When I came back to my minshuku I had walked 2 more km and I was still 30 minutes early, but decided to wait in front of the door, the only place where it was dry.

Luckily the hostess saw me and let me in. And what a surprise! I have a whole cabin to myself!! As it was early I immediately made a laundry and wanted to soak in the hot tub, but the water took so long to fill the tub that it didn’t remain hot so I gave up and just had a good warm shower.

Dinner was excellent, business as usual one would say, and the hostess gave us a little concert during dinner, which was quite nice.

Today I also finished the first quarter of the pilgrimage, having walked more than 300 km already in just under 2 weeks!

As always, thanks for reading and stay tuned for more stories from Nippon.