Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Rainy Starts

Tu:10/24 First day of sunshine for several weeks. The Kumano Kodo walk was spectacular, with incredibly beautiful scenery, but was walked almost entirely in the rain. 



For several of the last days of that walk all the news was of Typhoon 21's imminent strike on Japan --- passing the coast right where we were walking on our last day.

It did hit on Sunday, cancelling many people's flights home, but i was able to get one of the last trains still running to run north, away from the coast and to the hotel where I was meeting the woman i am guiding around Shikoku for a few weeks. 

We managed to get another train up to Mt. Koya before the typhoon rains caught up with us; but barely. The rain Sunday night and into Monday morning was awe inspiring. A deluge is putting it mildly. In fact on the way back off the mountain on Monday afternoon we had to be shuttled by bus because the train tracks coming off the mountain were either damaged or washed out. 

In the end we got to Tokushima Monday evening and started walking Tuesday morning, walking from Temple 1 to Temple 5. 

We're spending the night in Kotobuki Shokudo just before Temple 6 because i love the nabe pot dinner they give us. A huge pot of boiling stock in which you cook cabbage, carrots, onions, leeks, mushrooms, and other "stuff" i don't remember. Plus you add a jumbo shrimp, a small filet of salmon, oysters, and some slices of pork. It is sooooo delicious. 

Then, to top it off, the owner asked if she should call ahead and make our next two night's reservations for us. Of course i gladly accepted. 

Tomorrow off to Temple 11 so we are set up for the climb to Temple 12 on Thursday. The rest of the week is supposed to be sunny, but Typhoon 22 seems to be working it's way here, aiming for landfall next week. Hopefully it will turn north and spare us more rain.


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