88 Temples of Shikoku 2023

 It took me 33 km to get to Imabari. Total waking distance is now at exactly 800 km, which means that more than 2/3 of the total walk lies behind me. In front of me are 15 walking days, out of which 5 are challenging mountain tours. But tomorrow is a break; I will do a cycling tour (and will meet Suzuki-san and Jim) along Shimanami Kaido providing spectacular views onto the Seto Inland See. I have done this before by car, but doing at slower pace slower on a bike will be better. I will report tomorrow how it actually was. Todays walk was long, exhausting and for the most part boring. It can not always be exciting, if you walk long distances without cutting certain parts out. Basically 80-90 % of the walk was along a pedestrian protected road with many, many cars and a lot of noise. Initially I could look over the Seto Inland Sea which was nice, but later even this was no longer possible. The two visited temples were  not really worth to be mentioned (pictures are misleading!)....

Today I walked 29 km (total: 767 km) which were not very much exhausting (since the area was basically flat) from Matsuyama to Hojo. Only 60 meters altitude, nice sunny weather with morning temperatures of 12 degrees Celsius and a daily height of 22 degrees Celsius. There is nothing to report about the two temples I have visited nor about the the way I walked today. I am back to the seaside and that is always nice. I was sitting with the hostel owners until 8:45 p.m. which is long for my current way of living, therefore my post comes late today. Hostel owners with their dogs Before that, I could see the sunset from Kashima Island which you can visit from Hojo Harbour by ferry boat in a few minutes. Ferry boat to Kashima Island Sunset at Kashima Island … I liked Cafe Train, which I passed  on my walking way. The restaurant allows a very nice view onto the seaside and every place was occupied at lunch time. Cafe Train

First of all I would like to thank all of you, who have written nice and encouraging comments to my posts. I would have liked to answer every single person. However I am not a professional blogger and I was system-wise not able to do so. Specifically I was unable to find the mistake in my system settings. Today was a short and relaxing day. I explored the town, visited the castle (altitude: 100 m) and took a bath in Dogo Onsen.  Matsuyama Castle (1) Matsuyama Castle (2) The whole castle as a defense structure is huge (much bigger than the ones I have reported on before). Very impressive. It looks also good from larger distances (e.g. my hotel room) and at night, when it is illuminated. I talked about the history of Dogo Onsen already in my yesterdays post. Today I took the chance to see it partly (the relaxation rooms are currently refurbished) from the inside and take a bath. It was a nice and relaxing experience. Considering the famous status of this particular onsen (catapulting...

 Here is my summary and my greetings from day 32. A nice picture Today I walked from Chochin-ya hostel right into the center of the big city of Matsuyama (about 500 000 inhabitants). The walk was mainly flat, but still 170 m of altitude was measured by the Smart Watch. After leaving the mountains it is getting warmer again, with a morning start temperature of 12 degrees Celsius which increased during the day up to 22 degrees Celcius. The sun was shining the whole day. I passed 5 temples from which I can not report anything special. Temple 51, Ishiteji had been praised to be a fascinating one which I can not agree with. Unique was a cave which is part of the temple complex. Cave at Ishiteji Temple (T51) Cave at Ishiteji Temple I had an interesting conversation (as much as this is possible when language barriers exist) with an older Japanese man who gave me his golden name slip (Osame-fuda), which means that he has done 88 temples 50-100 times. I guess this was not every time by walk...

„Walk safely“ is the advice of elementary school children to Henro pilgrims when descending out of the mountains down into the direction of Matsuyama. And actually it was a long steep walk down, with many small lose stones on parts of the trail. And here it happened the first time: I fell backwards on my but (shortly after I had taken the below photo), luckily without consequences. It reminded me, that something can happen any time which may end your journey. I was lucky so far (except the dog bite) and the pain level in the legs and the shoulders and knees was not relevant to be mentioned. Also, I was not suffering from blisters.  So everything is good so far and I hope it remains this way until the very end. Go savely! Looking down from the mountains towards Matsuyama (the picture is not very good also due to weak long distance visibility, but it still gives an impression and if you zoom in, you can recognize the city, which I will reach tomorrow). View from the mountains towards...

After a challenging walking day yesterday, today was no relaxation either. I walked from the Tenstsuki guesthouse  in the mountains to see T44 Daihoji and T45 Iwayaji to end in the guesthouse M. Hacchozaka in Kuma-kogen Town: 25 km (total: 671 km). The challenging part was the constant up and down and steep inclines on forrest trails: 920 m altitude had to be managed. In the morning it was foggy and already quite cold at 9 degrees Celsius. During the day it was sunny and a temperature of 20 degrees Celsius was reached. For me temple Iwayaji T45 was the most appealing temple so far. The location in huge rock formations and the old cedar trees were just marvelous. Iwayaji Temple (T45) Iwayaji Temple At Iwayaji This steep ladder leads up to a cave in the rock at T45 The huge straw sandals which you can see at the main gate of Daihoji (T44) are remade every hundret years Early morning fog in the woods Early morning view from the mountains Our host of last night  The guesthouse loo...

Today I walked 32 km (total now: 646 km) from Uchiko to Tentsuki Guesthouse in the mountains. That was quite a task, since the altitude which had to be mastered on top of the distance was 700 meters. The day started with fog, the max. temperature during a sunny day was moderate at 20 degrees Celsius. The motto of the day is the kaki fruit, which is currently harvested on todays way in many orchards, sold on the streets in front of private houses and also provided as a gift to pilgrims passing by. For the non Japanese: the kaki fruit is similar to an apple with the appearance of a tomato of orange color. The taste is sweet and I personally like it very much. Since the fruit has s lot of vitamin A, it is also healthy food. I took some photos related to the kaki fruit, during todays walk. Harvested kaki fruits Kaki fruits on the tree Selling kaki fruits After I had again issues (the upload of three pictures took 30 minutes each) with the internet (no real surprise in a remote location in ...

Today I walked 22 km from Unomachi to Ozu. Most of this walk was along busy car streets. I had to pass a 1.2 km long car tunnel, where there was no sidewalk for pedestrians. Very scary. Later on, the same unprotected walk continued on the open street, where many trucks where passing by (see picture). One smaller part of the walk was along a quiet street, where I could observe a long snake. Don’t ask me about the name of this creature or if it is poisonous. I don’t know it. In any case I always assume the snakes are poisonous. Car tunnel in the mountains (1.2 km long) Busy streets, unprotected for pedestrians (Corinne walks in front) Long snake close to the road While the whole walk was not really exciting, I later had the pleasure to explore the town of Ozu and thus added 6 km to my todays walking distance: 28 km (total: 614km). The morning was foggy and cold at 12 degrees Celsius, during the day it got sunny and the temperature climbed up to 23 degrees Celsius. Altitude was 200 m. Ozu...