Day 19
Total distance, according to my bike’s trip meter: 80 km
What the total distance should have been, according to my book: 60 km
Most of day 19 was backtracking. About half of the trip was scheduled to be that way. The other half just happened to be backtracking because I took a wrong turn and continued down that path for a good 10 km before realizing I was going the wrong way.
Temple 39 延光寺 Enkōji (50 km)
The majority of the path was through farmland. Particularly, rice farmland. I took a few pictures here and there, but honestly nothing happened until I hit temple 39. Pretty though.
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| A garden inside Enkōji |
At temple 39 (the last temple in Kōchi, by the way) I met a guy from the Netherlands who was camping out the entire time. I’ve always been pretty impressed by the people doing that. First of all, it’s tough for me to even imagine finding shelter, and secondly carrying all your camping equipment with you as you walk must be heavy as hell. I mean, my equipment is heavy and I’m not camping. Though I am dragging a laptop along with me.
Still though, even if I replaced my laptop with camping equipment I’m sure my ankles and knees would be in a similar situation. And I figure I’ll take this opportunity to state that I’m still very glad I bought the bike.
I stayed at a business hotel near temple 39. But I did not write a blog update.
Day 20
Total distance: ~63 km
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| Kanjisaiji |
I think I’m going to up my goal kilometerage to 60 per day. Sometimes, like on day 18, there’s plenty to do, but sometimes, like yesterday and today, there’s just not a whole lot more than riding a bike down a nondescript highway for five hours.
The weather was supposed to be rainy, according to the weather report, but it turned out to be not so bad. A few cloudbursts here and there, but they cleared up pretty quickly.
Temple 40 観自在寺 Kanjisaiji (21 km)
I got to the town this temple was in pretty quickly, but I couldn’t actually find the temple itself. A friendly girl saw that I was a bit lost and walked to the temple with me. She got me a little good luck charm, so I gave her a Pennsylvania state quarter.
Uwajima Castle (~40 km)
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| Uwajima castle |
The rest of the trip was as you would expect. A bunch of country roads through rice fields.
When I finally got to Uwajima, it was pretty amazing how urban the whole place was. That having been said, the coolest part of Uwajima is definitely the castle. I had been planning to spend a bunch of time there, so it’s the first thing I looked for when I got into the city.
It’s a fairly small (smaller than Okazaki castle) structure on an enormous mountain in the middle of the downtown area. It has a great view at the top. Really enjoyed it.
Anyway, that’s about it. Now I have to plan my next day. Peace.
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