22 March 2025 - Day 20 - The long way to Kongofukuji - Part 1 - 31 km

The sun was shining and temperatures were supposed to climb into the twenties so I decided to finally wear my 3/4 pants I hadn’t used yet in my almost three weeks in Shikoku. With a thin T-shirt and some sunscreen on the face it was the perfect match.

So I left my Inn in Shimanto Town and started the long walk towards Kongofukuji, Temple 38, which is situated at the southernmost tip of Shikoku, more than 80 km from Temple 37. Will I still remember how to do the rituals when I finally get there?

The walk was uneventful. Partially because I chose the main road instead of the hiking trails as I didn’t want to lose time (and too much energy) on those steep and sometimes dangerously narrow trails. Partially I chose the main road because I thought I might gain a few hundred meters of distance compared to the smaller road that ran almost parallel.

But I soon regretted this decision when the traffic on said road became unbearable and so I was looking for a connection between the two streets. When I found it and changed to the much nicer and smaller trail, I also found Shion (I hope I write her name correctly) and Elliott, the nice English couple I had met a few times before, and we continued together for a while.

After having had a break we split up as they had even further to go than I and they preferred to stick to the (at this part definitely shorter) main road. I was happy when I finally arrived at my Guest House after 30 km and was let in by (yet another) extremely nice and friendly hostess and her almost 4 year old daughter.

There were two more Japanese ladies staying at the Inn and we had an interesting talk over dinner. In fact the hostess speaks French quite fluently so she translated between the 4 of us so that I didn’t feel too left out. Domo arrigato gozaimasta for this! Needless to say that dinner was excellent, as it has always been so far.

A funny thing that seems to be happening to me pretty often the last few days is that people compliment me on how well I can use the hashi (chopsticks). I knew how to use them before coming to Japan but it seems I am getting even better at it now.

This will be all for tonight. Tomorrow will be a shorter day but breakfast will be at 6 so time for bed soon. Thanks again for reading and staying with me.