Day 24: Kikuma to Imabari City, Nakadera

Walked to Temples 54-58 and 2/3 of the way to Temple 59 today. Beautifil sunny day with temps about 26° (79°F).

Checked out of the marina hotel about 7:00 this morning. Here's what the place looked like. The hotel is the top few floors, the rest is marina facilities.

Here's a section of today's trail.

But that's the modern version of a cemetery. For henro in the past they were lucky to get anything but a hole in the ground. Found this section of old henro grave markers that had been set aside and marked as such.

Yet another view of the sea as i came out of the hills where Temple 58 is located. This time in the town of Imabari.

An older woman was sitting in a rest hut today and getting walking henro to stop and take a break. In return for chatting with her you got a can of V8 Juice. She was tickled pink with my ability to talk and said i was the first foreigner she had talked to.

Had a great conversation with a few elementary school kids as well. They practiced all 6 of their English phrases so i switched to Japanese and tried to convince them that this is America. They got really confused until their mother laughed at them. 

Today was the first day where i have to admit that i have been tired all day. My feet are tired. 30 km a day for three weeks is wearing me down.

I have two weeks to go but another way to look at it is that next week is my last full week on the move. I finish this week then after next week i have only a partial week left 

I must have lost weight because i moved my belt in one extra notch this morning.

Tomorrow off to Temples 59, 61, & 62. It may be a short day, i haven't added up the kilometers yet. Then it's two 30 km days again to get to the base of Temple 66, which i climb on Monday. After T66, i am home free and it is all downhill from there. Still a few mountains to climb but nothing very difficult 

Forgot to post this picture of a statue i found a few weeks ago. The sign said, if i read it correctly, that this is what the original Japanese women looked like, unlike their skinny modern counterparts. The statue is called "Mother's Statue."