This is the reality of what greeted us this morning...77 kms to the next temple at Cape Muroto! This will take 2.5 days of tramping and all on road...hard road. Highway 55 runs the whole way south and is extremely busily with lots of trucks and all sorts of traffic flying along. David told us that often people skip this part because of that. I'd done some homework for this trip that said the MInami-awa Sun Line was very quiet, though hilly. We elected to take this 18 km stretch along the water to avoid the busy highway, and we were so glad we did. A very peaceful walk. We met a young German fellow named Simon just before we parted to head on this less walked Route, and we met him at the other end while having lunch, though our route was longer. He said the 55 wasn't very nice, so again a good decision. While the profile says the route today is flat, the way we went wasn't, but very nice! Here are a few photos.
This is a 20 kilometre deviation, and well worth it. The rain sprinkled once, but no wet gear was required. Our French friends were half a day ahead and as we looked south we could see that they were in solid rain.
We thought finding this scallop wheel was kind of fun. So far from Spain and Europe.
Hey Rob, no Westys here so far, but found this today. It fits two people, but you'd have to be pretty short and really flexible!
We arrived and walked through the back streets of Mugi and then found a place to get some food and a cold drink. We again met Simon and headed out along the...
...noisy highway 55.
We plugged in our headphones and bopped along to the Beatles:) it was pretty funny actually. About the only way to handle the noise and traffic.
We were away from the highway occasionally and found some beautiful quiet places.
At one point we found a hut with free drinks, osettai provided by the local village. We wondered what to do with our empty bottles...
As we approached our place to rest tonight we stopped to purchase our après walking rehydration drinks:) a good part of the day after the hot bath and shower.
We are presently having dinner with Simon waiting for our ride. The wifi at the hotel with all the cement is poor, so I'll finish this now. A quick post today. I want to comment on our visit with Philip and Yu, but will write about that tomorrow when more opportunity.
77 km between temples? So you're staying somewhere in the middle--another guest house?
ReplyDeleteRoadwalking is hard. There are no footpaths around here so to make some walks you'd have to go along the shoulder. Not pleasant! Hope you find another detour tomorrow.
Ken