20 March 2025 - Day 18 - No Temple, easy day and a feel good place - 18,5 km

When I left the inn I had stayed at, I was the only guest again, it was so cold I was thinking about buying myself some gloves. On the other hand this was the third day in a row I had to put sunscreen on my face, which is a very good thing. While I was still pondering about getting gloves, a lady in a car let me cross the road in front of her and then motioned to me to come to the car. She gave me a huge buntan (pomelo) as ossetai! I was pleased even though this was at least one more kilogram for me to carry.

The road to Kure, my next overnight stay, was pretty short so I didn’t rush and enjoyed the walk and the pretty sights when they occurred. In Awa at the train station I made a short break and when I walked out of the toilet, there were 4 people looking at me, bowing and greeting. I greeted back and walked around the corner to my backpack, put it on and wanted to walk on. But the two women came to me and offered me another buntan as ossetai. I accepted and thanked them and there was one more kilo on my back.

After Awa I wanted to take the scenic road along the coast to Kure which would have certainly been a really awesome walk but after a few hundred meters, a lady stopped her car to tell me that the road was closed to all traffic. I then got confirmation by another Japanese man and when walking back I actually saw the huge sign.

I was sad because I had been looking forward to this part of the road and now I had to walk along a big noisy road with a 1 km tunnel that was badly lit and had no real sidewalk. Needless to say I was happy when I was out and alive.

When I arrived at the Resort Hotel I had booked for the night (it was the only room left in the whole town and was excessively expensive) I was of course early again but left my backpack and kongozue at reception.

Kure town is known for its Bonito fish (a kind of tuna/mackerel) and right next to my hotel was a little take-out where you could get bonito dishes. I chose the smallest one - I had just eaten the bigger one of my buntans - and got a rice bowl, miso soup, some vegetables and 5 huge pieces of seared bonito (half raw sashimi). The whole thing for 1200¥ or roughly 8 €. I was in heaven.

And that’s where I remained! The lady from reception came out looking for me shortly after 14:00 to let me know check-in was now ok. So I entered, took off my shoes and swapped them for comfortable slippers. Another lady showed me around: lobby on the ground floor, onsen on the lower floor, my room on the 4th floor (for Europeans it would be the 2nd floor). My room is huge! 2 beds, a sitting room with TV, fridge, coffee machine, separate toilet and shower with bathtub. And the best thing: huge windows looking at nothing but the Pacific Ocean. Even from the bathtub.

I obviously tried the Onsen (first time!) after checking if it was ok because of my tattoos. The feeling of soaking in 40+ degree water looking at the ocean is quite ok. Later I had a 5 course dinner that to me felt like at least 2 star cooking! The only better thing I can imagine is: having this someone close to me here with me to share this wonderful experience with.

Now I’m sitting in my sitting room and write these lines. I think it will be very hard to get moving again tomorrow morning…

On this, I leave you. Thanks again for reading! Thanks for your messages, they mean a lot to me!