31 March 2025 - Day 29 - To Uwajima, no Temple but a Bekkaku and a Castle - 22 km including walk through Uwajima

Our hotel had no restaurant so Cyril and I started around 7:30 for what was going to be a short stage of under 20 km for me, Cyril needed to go a few towns further.

There is a mountain between Tsushima and Uwajima so there are 3 possibilities: trail with mountain pass (No!), very long tunnel through the mountain (No), small road over plus short tunnel through the mountain (Yes).

The walking was rather easy but it was very cold, but with the two of us talking, I was surprised how quickly the time passed. We then decided to make a break and have some coffee with breakfast. The order had to be typed into a computer screen, the drinks were self service and the dishes arrived via a robot waiter. A little spooky but ok.

After this break we had only about 2 km to walk until we arrived at Uwajima Center, and we got there before noon! We thought about having an early ramen lunch, but both restaurants Cyril had found close by were unfortunately closed. So we walked on to Bekkaku Nr 6 (Ryukoin), which I visited after wishing Cyril a good continuation, he needed to get going. In addition to the 88 Buddhist Temples that make up the OHenro Pilgrimage, there are 20 Bekkaku Temples that can also be visited but at the cost of an extra 300 km and some heavy mountain stages. Needless to say I decided from the beginning to stick with the “basic” 88 Temples. But this particular Bekkaku was easy to visit, I had time, so I did.

After this beautiful and unplanned Temple, I climbed another hill to visit Uwajima Castle which looks especially awesome now that all the Sakura are in full bloom. There were lots of Japanese people who had the same idea and everybody took tons of pictures.

Unfortunately it was not time for check-in yet so I strolled through town some more, bought some more food for tomorrow and was finally let in at 16:00. The kind hostess gave me some additional information about tomorrow’s stage (no toilets, no convenience stores between Temples 42 and 43) and then I could have my hot shower and relax in my room.

As I was the only guest, I felt a bit lonely for dinner, but the food was exquisite and after I finished, my hostess helped me to make a few more reservations for the last days of the Pilgrimage.

Tomorrow will be a long day with three Temples again. So I will wrap it up now. Thank you as always for reading. Oyasuminasai!