5 March 2025 - Day 3 - Temples 11 - 12 through the misty mountain forests - 22,5 km, 1500 m altitude gain

After a really excellent stay at Awarakuja Guesthouse (dinner was amazing, so was breakfast and the hosts were exceptional!!!) I left for Fujiidera at 7 and it wasn’t raining.

Temple 11 is a very old and beautiful one, built in a very nice surrounding. After the visit, the hike to Shosanji started. The one dreaded by a lot of henro because it is a very steep one with several henro-korogashi - where the henro falls, with the supplementary difficulty of slippery muddy trails.

The walk was very tiring, even without the big backpack that has been transported from one inn to the next. But the walk was extremely beautiful and fulfilling at the same time.

On the way I reconnected with Mike, who had lost his pilgrim staff along the way and as I was behind him I took it partially up the mountain. That was good luck for me, I was now twice protected by Kukai and I had two walking poles which helped a lot in many slippery and dangerous parts. Also the bells of the two staffs have a different sound, so they talked to each other when I walked.

Mike and I met up and we continued walking together to the top of mountain one, then down and up again until we finally reached Shosanji Temple, exhausted but happy! The temple was also beautiful but it was getting cold and foggy, so again we didn’t linger.

The way down to the inn was a little less tiresome and after a shower, I met again with Nicolas, the Canadian, also David the American and the Japanese man who stayed with me yesterday were at the inn. Dinner was a multicultural mix of people and languages, very inspiring!

I also connected with the first female ohenro (finally!!), Yasuko, who I shared a room with and we had some good talks and laughs.

Tomorrow will be a long day again, so thanks for reading and supporting me!