Day 7 -- Coastlines in the mist

Total distance: 23.6 km

Pictures start here.

Saw the sea today!

I overestimated my ability to walk today. I woke up this morning with a dull pain in my left foot. Probably from all that mountain climbing yesterday. It’s actually something interesting I’ve noticed. When I need to step down from a high place, like those huge wooden stairs that they keep putting up on the mountains or from like rocks or something, I inevitably lead with my left. It’s actually really hard to make myself lead with the right. I’ll have to keep that in mind for the future.

Temple 23 薬王寺 Yakuōji  (23.6km)

I spent the entire day today moving from temple 22 to 23. Crazily, I had planned to do an extra 10 km on top of that to get me to where I am now, but luckily when I got to Yakuōji I came to my senses and hopped a train to the next town where my lodging is.

Still, some excellent photo opportunities.

The weather was nice—there was no rain or anything—but it was quite foggy the whole time, which kinda sucks because today was the first day I got to see the ocean from the walking trail. It’s okay though. The next few days are going to be spent walking along the coastline. I’ll have plenty of opportunities for oceanic sightseeing.

So, speaking of the next few days, I have my itinerary just about entirely planned out. It’s a little weird because since the temples are few and far between (I’m going to walk 75 km before I get to another one) the lodging options are also rather few.

Anyway. I'm going to spend the rest of the evening making reservations for the next few days. If I wait too long and they fill up I'm going to be up a creek. 'Night!