The Littlest Henro
(Title courtesy of Chantelle).
So, after nearly 4 years of telling myself and everyone around me "I'm totally going to do it", I finally did - last weekend Megan and I walked from Temples 1 to 10 of the 88 in Shikoku.
Misuzu had told me that she had done it in 2 days with my predecessor's predecessor Becky - apparently you can do it in 2 days, and they stayed at temple 5. Well, that sounded like a challenge to me, and Megan was game too, so we picked a weekend that we both knew we had free and Saved The Date.
Megan prepped by getting guide books, maps, etc. We both bought awesome bucket hats (to protect against the sun), and the special vests that henro wear. She bought a walking stick, but I resolved to find one on the way. I had a bunch of the name slips left over from previous trips, so we packed those along with our stamp books. The forecast called for rain both days, so we also threw in rain gear with our changes of clothes. We both had fully charged up cameras, of course.
What followed was a pretty darn awesome weekend.
Day 1 - May 16th
To ensure an early start on Saturday, Megan had come out and slept over the night before. We left on a 6:45am train head out Tokushima way, and were full of excitement. We had a fantastic guide book that actually scheduled out the timing for the 2 Day Course we wanted to do, so we felt pretty confident. At the station we changed into our henro gear and Megan unveiled her walking staff. Then we strode confidentally out to the road...and realized we had no idea where we were going.
I mean, no clue. Megan has a better sense of direction than me (anyone does, really), and a good sense of maps, but even still we were kinda frozen at the first turn. But then a lady got off the next train and said "Going to Temple 1? Follow me!" and then took off briskly. We shrugged and tagged along, and reached the temple surprisingly quickly. We took pictures with the lady (who, it turns out, works at a cafe nearby) and she wished us luck. We went into the temple grounds, payed our respects and dropped the name slips in the box, and went to the stamp office. The guy at the desk was kinda weird, as he basically gave us a lecture about how the pilgrimage isn't what it once was, that young people these days treat it like a stamp rally. We couldn't tell if it was directed at us, or if he was just lamenting the general state of affairs these days. Anyway, another woman there had us sign their guestbook - everyone who is actually starting their journey (not not just making a one-off visit) signs the book with their departure date, and when they finish they come back and sign it again. We told her we weren't intending to do it all, at least not now, and she was like "Well, come back when you do".
As we were leaving we were briefly confused again as to how to continue, and another pilgrim stopped and pointed out the way to us. We ended up walking with him and chatting for a bit. His name is Teruo and he lives in Tokyo, and has done the pilgrimage 6 times! He then did us a favour, the importance of which mere words cannot describe: he pointed out the marked path. Now, there is a recommended trail, but people can go however they like. We had the maps and assumed we could do it, but twice had been kind of stymied by turns. But he showed us how someone(s) had actually gone around and labelled the path with stickers and signs! And it turned out that truly every part of the path was marked in this way. And yes, we would have noticed some of the more blatant signs on our own, but being told by a practiced henro exactly what marks to look for, and that they could be implicitly trusted, was a lifesaver. While walking we just marvelled at how lost and late we would have been if we'd had to follow the maps instead of just trusting the path. Especially because at times the path actually deviated from the roads and became a literal dirt path behind someone's house. It lead through the woods and some bamboo groves. But the stickers kept us on the path (at one point someone had actually labelled a tree). We made it to 2 and then 3 without incident.
I had held off on buying a proper walking staff, as I didn't think I'd want/be able to take it back to Canada, so while we walked through the bamboo forests I worked on chosing a fallen stick. Every one I chose was flawed in some way, so Megan started testing them by whacking them with her own. Finally she found one that was the perfect height, width, had a hand-hold shape already, and was very strong. It was the perfect impromptu walking stick and it served me well.
The distance between temples varies, as some walks were only 15 minutes, and other were over an hour. One thing we noticed was that the time estimated by the model course was too much - we were consistantly ahead of schedule without much effort, which was a relief. At 3 we took a break and ran into Teruo again. He asked if he could take a picture with us, and was just giddy. He was adorable and we exchanged information. We fully intend to send him some udon or something, for saving us. His last bit of help was a warning that a LOT of people get lost between temples 3 and 4, so be extra careful of the path. Oh, while Megan and I were snacking on some jerky, I saw one of my elementary students! What a weird moment for both of us. The walk to 4 was longish, but despite its tricky twists and turns we made it. Then the walk to 5 from there was pretty short.
The model course had said to take lunch between 3 and 4, but we had never passed a place (aside from a jankety little udon shop full of students on a class trip), so we decided to soldier on to 5 and hope for something on the way. There was nothing, so at 5 we asked the stamp ladies if they could tell us of a place, and they whipped out an English map of the area and directed us to a little restaurant. And it. Was. Awesome! We got super cheap but giant and delicious tempura sets and felt a million times better after having eaten. This was especially important as the walk from 5 to 6 was the longest yet. We could have stayed at 5 like Misuzu, but during the planning phase Megan had made the excellent point that the more walking we finished on the first day made for an easier time on the 2nd. This turned out to be genius prescience.
We arrived at 6 tired but immensely proud of ourselves. The temple is very pretty, and the staff is very nice. When we signed in to our lodgings they appologized for having misheard my name over the phone and booking us as Tapura-san. Meh, I like it. Anyway, we were shown to our (pretty big) tatami room and there was tea and snacks, and a tv waiting for us. There were also massage chairs in the smoking area, so you can bet we used them immediately.
Dinner time arrived and we went to our assigned table. We were ready to dig in, but first the head monk gave a little speech welcoming us all, saying how just the day before there had been over 100 people staying, so the mere 30 we had that day meant leisurely bath time for us all. Then he directed us in a Buddhist prayer for our food and we dug in. An embarassing thing happened then, as I had told Megan that I was craving a beer, so when the waitresses were taking orders I put up my hand...and was served a GIANT bottle. I mean, it was Party Sized, definitetly not for one person. The ladies sharing our table had also gotten one to split. Megan doesn't drink beer, and I tried to convince myself I could finish it, but had to accept that doing so would have meant falling alseep under the table. Ashamedly I asked the waitress to take it back, but then the ladies actually poured me a glass of theirs! We chatted with them and they were cool - one of them is a crazy fan of the CSI series (yay!), but especially of Miami (boo...I mean *sunglasses* YEEEAAAH).
After dinner we made up our futons and watched tv for a bit before bath time. I waited as long as I could and so when I went there were very people still in it. I managed to out-wait them all, and once it was empty but for me I broke a major taboo and swam around a little bit ^_^ After that Megan and I did our packing prep for the next day and went to sleep.
Day 2 May 17th
6am found us sitting in the main temple hall for the Buddhist morning service. Perhaps we could have skipped, but it seemed sort of mandatory and that would have been rude. And anyway, to be honest I kind of dig the chanting. Except for the part where we chanted one line over and over and over...for a long time. I heard a guy behind me whisper something about there being over 30 people there, so I figured it was a prayer we were saying one time for each of us. Then the junior monk gave a little speech and I kind of zoned out for it. After the service we walked through the temple, people touching the statues of Buddha for luck, and at the end we were given a slip of paper with that line of prayer printed on it.
We went to breakfast and it was also big and delicious. I was delighted to realize that the banana we'd been served came with a paper bag in which to put it - they were meant to be snacks for the road!
As people left we took one last ride in the massage chairs, and then went on our way.
Walking from 6 to 7 took no time at all, and we ran into some people in a tour group. The sky was clear and blue with happy little clouds, but the forecast said 60% chance of rain so we kept a wary eye on the sky. The walk to 8 was pretty darn long and all the exercise was finally taking its toll. 8 to 9 was super short again, and while we weren't hungry yet we were happy for the lunch break the schedule prescribed. However we got there to find no restaurants anywhere except for a small roadside stand advertising udon and mochi. Inside the temple grounds there was another walking henro with a huge wheeled cart just loaded with equipment. It was kind of crazy. There was also an old man who was sitting by the main gate painting small postcards. He was selling them too, and as they all had little henro characters on them we had to buy one. They were super cheap so I bought 2, and then he gave us each one free. Too sweet. He also warned us about taking care on the road, making sure to protect our money. We stopped at the stand and bought some mochi and chatted with the members of the tour group we'd run into again. Then we headed down the road. After a little bit I suggested we take a break in a small parking lot on the side of the road, figuring we'd be out of the way and could eat. I had just about finished my banana when an old man strolled up and ...well, we had a pretty confusing conversation with him. It honestly sounded like he invited us into his place for a cold drink, and while we had a schedule to stick to (and were moving a bit slower on day 2) I didn't want to be rude and thought it could be a cool little interlude. We asked if it was ok, and he kept pointing to one place and saying "It's my house, my house", so we hurriedly packed everything up, stood, and then he wished us good luck...and walked away.
We headed on down the road utterly baffled.
A short while later it started to rain so we took shelter under a small roadside shrine and put on our raincoats. The walk to 10 was the longest distance of both days, and it truly seemed to go on forever. It didn't help that I'd developed a leg cramp in my calf but we couldn't really stop long enough for it to work itself out. We did have a nice little respite when we came across a small shop that had set up a henro rest area out front. There was free cold tea, candies, neck massage thingies, and even little drawstring bags left there as presents. They had put out a gust book so Megan wrote our thanks to them. The rain continued to play with us, letting up and then starting to drizzle again as soon as we took off our rain coats. i was so happy to see the road sign for temple 10. We turned the corner and the signs pointed up a giant steep hill. We went up the hill and there was a giant staircase. We went up the giant staircase and there was an even longer set. It was like some cruel Sisyphian joke. a lot of people were passing us ont heir way down so we just kept our eyes on the stairs and mumbled "konnichiwa" at each passing set of shoes. When we near the top, though, we heard a male voice ask us in English "where are you from?". It was a foreigner! His name was mark and he's from Montana. He's been living in Tokyo for 12 years and was walking the whole pilgrimage! Actually, he'd already finished it, but because he hadn't bought a stamp book until temple 23 he was now going back to them all by car and getting the stamps. It had started raining pretty hard by then, so after chatting for a bit and wishing each other well we continued on. We made it to the stop, and then Megan the Masochist wanted to go up another set of stairs to see an old building. It turned out to be worth it as it afforded us a great view of the area. And the temple ground were insanely packed. Pretty much everyone else was there as part of a tour group, so the wait to get our books stamped was a long one.
Finally we headed back down, passing yet more tourists going up. One of the people we passed was a lady monk! They do exist but are uncommon, so I was delighted to see her. However my delight was shortlived when she pulled megan over and started yelling at her for not having her walking stick covered. This is still baffling, as so many other people were walking with uncovered sticks, and Megan had only taken the cloth slip-cover off because of the rain (which would have cuased the dye to run and ruin both it and the stick). But the monk was adamant that you always ALWAYS keep the stick covedred!! so Megan got it out and fixed the situation...and the monk went on. And then of course we passed about a million people with uncovered sticks. If we weren't so tired it would have been worth it to follow her back up and be like "What about him? And her? And that guy?"
With all 10 temples finished we were ready to head home. We lamented how it felt kind of anti-climactic to just part ways at the station, so we figured we'd have a last small meal at whatever cafe was close to the station. We were headed to Kamojima station and the model course said it was about a 40 minute walk, and the path to temple 11 would take you past that way. When we had to cross a road by climbing up a steep set of stairs we were confused by the marked path - for the first time yet we found conflicting arrows. One pointed on and one pointed left. And for no reason other than tiredness and stupidity we utterly neglected to check our map to figure out what we should do. So we chose to go on straight, a decision we came to regret.
We ended up taking the looooooongest, most out-of-the-way detour ever. We had to walk along this long, deserted road with only farms on either side, and some terrifyingly narrow sidewalk-less bridges over wide rivers. After crossing the first river we were filled with suspicious dread so we finally got out the map and realized our horrible error. We could possibly have turned back and tried the left path, but the map said that if we kept going this way we'd eventually come to another station earlier on the track. While standing there, confusion on our faces and maps in our hands a man in a van pulled over. He was from Gifu prefecture (very far from here) so he didn't know the area, but he was so nice. He had a thermos full of cold Aquarius, plastic cups, and gave us some snacks too. Then he got his GPS unit out of the front and showed us where to go. We wanted a ride but it felt rude to ask, and either he was in a hurry or figured we were walking the whole thing, cuz he wished us luck and took off. We still had a long way to go, but his kindness helped us along. As we crossed the second river we noticed behind us...the henro with the wheeled cart! No clue as to how he caught up with us, but it was weird watching him chug along. We officially broke from the path when we reached another set of stairs and we watched him disappear down the road as we ventured on. We crossed into a small domestic area and happened upon a couple who was leaving their house. We asked them for directions to the station and they explained we had to go up and then down a giant hill and we'd find it. We thanked them and headed on...but moments later they pulled up along side us and offered us a ride.
We had been pretty proud of ourselves for walking it all so far, but since 10 had been our end point we felt no shame about jumping in their car. I said goodbye to my awesome walking stick and left it leaning on a wall and we were off. We went up and down the giant hill they had mentioned (and honestly it was so steep I would have cried to have to climb up it with my leg cramp) and then we were at the station, just like that. And a good thing too as we had pretty much filled up their car with our stink lines. We walked into the station just as a train arrived, and it turned out to be mine. We said a quick goodbye, I jumped on, and that was it. I had to go to transfer in Tokushima station and while there I bought bento for dinner and when I got home I ate it and had a long bath. Whew.
Sure, walking to 10 isn't so impressive when you consider that there are people in their 60's who do it once a year, but we still felt pretty proud for having followed through on our personal challenge. I'm very glad I did it, and grateful to Megan for the company and all the people who helped us along the way. The countryside was beautiful and it was an unforgettable time.
So, after nearly 4 years of telling myself and everyone around me "I'm totally going to do it", I finally did - last weekend Megan and I walked from Temples 1 to 10 of the 88 in Shikoku.
Misuzu had told me that she had done it in 2 days with my predecessor's predecessor Becky - apparently you can do it in 2 days, and they stayed at temple 5. Well, that sounded like a challenge to me, and Megan was game too, so we picked a weekend that we both knew we had free and Saved The Date.
Megan prepped by getting guide books, maps, etc. We both bought awesome bucket hats (to protect against the sun), and the special vests that henro wear. She bought a walking stick, but I resolved to find one on the way. I had a bunch of the name slips left over from previous trips, so we packed those along with our stamp books. The forecast called for rain both days, so we also threw in rain gear with our changes of clothes. We both had fully charged up cameras, of course.
What followed was a pretty darn awesome weekend.
Day 1 - May 16th
To ensure an early start on Saturday, Megan had come out and slept over the night before. We left on a 6:45am train head out Tokushima way, and were full of excitement. We had a fantastic guide book that actually scheduled out the timing for the 2 Day Course we wanted to do, so we felt pretty confident. At the station we changed into our henro gear and Megan unveiled her walking staff. Then we strode confidentally out to the road...and realized we had no idea where we were going.
I mean, no clue. Megan has a better sense of direction than me (anyone does, really), and a good sense of maps, but even still we were kinda frozen at the first turn. But then a lady got off the next train and said "Going to Temple 1? Follow me!" and then took off briskly. We shrugged and tagged along, and reached the temple surprisingly quickly. We took pictures with the lady (who, it turns out, works at a cafe nearby) and she wished us luck. We went into the temple grounds, payed our respects and dropped the name slips in the box, and went to the stamp office. The guy at the desk was kinda weird, as he basically gave us a lecture about how the pilgrimage isn't what it once was, that young people these days treat it like a stamp rally. We couldn't tell if it was directed at us, or if he was just lamenting the general state of affairs these days. Anyway, another woman there had us sign their guestbook - everyone who is actually starting their journey (not not just making a one-off visit) signs the book with their departure date, and when they finish they come back and sign it again. We told her we weren't intending to do it all, at least not now, and she was like "Well, come back when you do".
As we were leaving we were briefly confused again as to how to continue, and another pilgrim stopped and pointed out the way to us. We ended up walking with him and chatting for a bit. His name is Teruo and he lives in Tokyo, and has done the pilgrimage 6 times! He then did us a favour, the importance of which mere words cannot describe: he pointed out the marked path. Now, there is a recommended trail, but people can go however they like. We had the maps and assumed we could do it, but twice had been kind of stymied by turns. But he showed us how someone(s) had actually gone around and labelled the path with stickers and signs! And it turned out that truly every part of the path was marked in this way. And yes, we would have noticed some of the more blatant signs on our own, but being told by a practiced henro exactly what marks to look for, and that they could be implicitly trusted, was a lifesaver. While walking we just marvelled at how lost and late we would have been if we'd had to follow the maps instead of just trusting the path. Especially because at times the path actually deviated from the roads and became a literal dirt path behind someone's house. It lead through the woods and some bamboo groves. But the stickers kept us on the path (at one point someone had actually labelled a tree). We made it to 2 and then 3 without incident.
I had held off on buying a proper walking staff, as I didn't think I'd want/be able to take it back to Canada, so while we walked through the bamboo forests I worked on chosing a fallen stick. Every one I chose was flawed in some way, so Megan started testing them by whacking them with her own. Finally she found one that was the perfect height, width, had a hand-hold shape already, and was very strong. It was the perfect impromptu walking stick and it served me well.
The distance between temples varies, as some walks were only 15 minutes, and other were over an hour. One thing we noticed was that the time estimated by the model course was too much - we were consistantly ahead of schedule without much effort, which was a relief. At 3 we took a break and ran into Teruo again. He asked if he could take a picture with us, and was just giddy. He was adorable and we exchanged information. We fully intend to send him some udon or something, for saving us. His last bit of help was a warning that a LOT of people get lost between temples 3 and 4, so be extra careful of the path. Oh, while Megan and I were snacking on some jerky, I saw one of my elementary students! What a weird moment for both of us. The walk to 4 was longish, but despite its tricky twists and turns we made it. Then the walk to 5 from there was pretty short.
The model course had said to take lunch between 3 and 4, but we had never passed a place (aside from a jankety little udon shop full of students on a class trip), so we decided to soldier on to 5 and hope for something on the way. There was nothing, so at 5 we asked the stamp ladies if they could tell us of a place, and they whipped out an English map of the area and directed us to a little restaurant. And it. Was. Awesome! We got super cheap but giant and delicious tempura sets and felt a million times better after having eaten. This was especially important as the walk from 5 to 6 was the longest yet. We could have stayed at 5 like Misuzu, but during the planning phase Megan had made the excellent point that the more walking we finished on the first day made for an easier time on the 2nd. This turned out to be genius prescience.
We arrived at 6 tired but immensely proud of ourselves. The temple is very pretty, and the staff is very nice. When we signed in to our lodgings they appologized for having misheard my name over the phone and booking us as Tapura-san. Meh, I like it. Anyway, we were shown to our (pretty big) tatami room and there was tea and snacks, and a tv waiting for us. There were also massage chairs in the smoking area, so you can bet we used them immediately.
Dinner time arrived and we went to our assigned table. We were ready to dig in, but first the head monk gave a little speech welcoming us all, saying how just the day before there had been over 100 people staying, so the mere 30 we had that day meant leisurely bath time for us all. Then he directed us in a Buddhist prayer for our food and we dug in. An embarassing thing happened then, as I had told Megan that I was craving a beer, so when the waitresses were taking orders I put up my hand...and was served a GIANT bottle. I mean, it was Party Sized, definitetly not for one person. The ladies sharing our table had also gotten one to split. Megan doesn't drink beer, and I tried to convince myself I could finish it, but had to accept that doing so would have meant falling alseep under the table. Ashamedly I asked the waitress to take it back, but then the ladies actually poured me a glass of theirs! We chatted with them and they were cool - one of them is a crazy fan of the CSI series (yay!), but especially of Miami (boo...I mean *sunglasses* YEEEAAAH).
After dinner we made up our futons and watched tv for a bit before bath time. I waited as long as I could and so when I went there were very people still in it. I managed to out-wait them all, and once it was empty but for me I broke a major taboo and swam around a little bit ^_^ After that Megan and I did our packing prep for the next day and went to sleep.
Day 2 May 17th
6am found us sitting in the main temple hall for the Buddhist morning service. Perhaps we could have skipped, but it seemed sort of mandatory and that would have been rude. And anyway, to be honest I kind of dig the chanting. Except for the part where we chanted one line over and over and over...for a long time. I heard a guy behind me whisper something about there being over 30 people there, so I figured it was a prayer we were saying one time for each of us. Then the junior monk gave a little speech and I kind of zoned out for it. After the service we walked through the temple, people touching the statues of Buddha for luck, and at the end we were given a slip of paper with that line of prayer printed on it.
We went to breakfast and it was also big and delicious. I was delighted to realize that the banana we'd been served came with a paper bag in which to put it - they were meant to be snacks for the road!
As people left we took one last ride in the massage chairs, and then went on our way.
Walking from 6 to 7 took no time at all, and we ran into some people in a tour group. The sky was clear and blue with happy little clouds, but the forecast said 60% chance of rain so we kept a wary eye on the sky. The walk to 8 was pretty darn long and all the exercise was finally taking its toll. 8 to 9 was super short again, and while we weren't hungry yet we were happy for the lunch break the schedule prescribed. However we got there to find no restaurants anywhere except for a small roadside stand advertising udon and mochi. Inside the temple grounds there was another walking henro with a huge wheeled cart just loaded with equipment. It was kind of crazy. There was also an old man who was sitting by the main gate painting small postcards. He was selling them too, and as they all had little henro characters on them we had to buy one. They were super cheap so I bought 2, and then he gave us each one free. Too sweet. He also warned us about taking care on the road, making sure to protect our money. We stopped at the stand and bought some mochi and chatted with the members of the tour group we'd run into again. Then we headed down the road. After a little bit I suggested we take a break in a small parking lot on the side of the road, figuring we'd be out of the way and could eat. I had just about finished my banana when an old man strolled up and ...well, we had a pretty confusing conversation with him. It honestly sounded like he invited us into his place for a cold drink, and while we had a schedule to stick to (and were moving a bit slower on day 2) I didn't want to be rude and thought it could be a cool little interlude. We asked if it was ok, and he kept pointing to one place and saying "It's my house, my house", so we hurriedly packed everything up, stood, and then he wished us good luck...and walked away.
We headed on down the road utterly baffled.
A short while later it started to rain so we took shelter under a small roadside shrine and put on our raincoats. The walk to 10 was the longest distance of both days, and it truly seemed to go on forever. It didn't help that I'd developed a leg cramp in my calf but we couldn't really stop long enough for it to work itself out. We did have a nice little respite when we came across a small shop that had set up a henro rest area out front. There was free cold tea, candies, neck massage thingies, and even little drawstring bags left there as presents. They had put out a gust book so Megan wrote our thanks to them. The rain continued to play with us, letting up and then starting to drizzle again as soon as we took off our rain coats. i was so happy to see the road sign for temple 10. We turned the corner and the signs pointed up a giant steep hill. We went up the hill and there was a giant staircase. We went up the giant staircase and there was an even longer set. It was like some cruel Sisyphian joke. a lot of people were passing us ont heir way down so we just kept our eyes on the stairs and mumbled "konnichiwa" at each passing set of shoes. When we near the top, though, we heard a male voice ask us in English "where are you from?". It was a foreigner! His name was mark and he's from Montana. He's been living in Tokyo for 12 years and was walking the whole pilgrimage! Actually, he'd already finished it, but because he hadn't bought a stamp book until temple 23 he was now going back to them all by car and getting the stamps. It had started raining pretty hard by then, so after chatting for a bit and wishing each other well we continued on. We made it to the stop, and then Megan the Masochist wanted to go up another set of stairs to see an old building. It turned out to be worth it as it afforded us a great view of the area. And the temple ground were insanely packed. Pretty much everyone else was there as part of a tour group, so the wait to get our books stamped was a long one.
Finally we headed back down, passing yet more tourists going up. One of the people we passed was a lady monk! They do exist but are uncommon, so I was delighted to see her. However my delight was shortlived when she pulled megan over and started yelling at her for not having her walking stick covered. This is still baffling, as so many other people were walking with uncovered sticks, and Megan had only taken the cloth slip-cover off because of the rain (which would have cuased the dye to run and ruin both it and the stick). But the monk was adamant that you always ALWAYS keep the stick covedred!! so Megan got it out and fixed the situation...and the monk went on. And then of course we passed about a million people with uncovered sticks. If we weren't so tired it would have been worth it to follow her back up and be like "What about him? And her? And that guy?"
With all 10 temples finished we were ready to head home. We lamented how it felt kind of anti-climactic to just part ways at the station, so we figured we'd have a last small meal at whatever cafe was close to the station. We were headed to Kamojima station and the model course said it was about a 40 minute walk, and the path to temple 11 would take you past that way. When we had to cross a road by climbing up a steep set of stairs we were confused by the marked path - for the first time yet we found conflicting arrows. One pointed on and one pointed left. And for no reason other than tiredness and stupidity we utterly neglected to check our map to figure out what we should do. So we chose to go on straight, a decision we came to regret.
We ended up taking the looooooongest, most out-of-the-way detour ever. We had to walk along this long, deserted road with only farms on either side, and some terrifyingly narrow sidewalk-less bridges over wide rivers. After crossing the first river we were filled with suspicious dread so we finally got out the map and realized our horrible error. We could possibly have turned back and tried the left path, but the map said that if we kept going this way we'd eventually come to another station earlier on the track. While standing there, confusion on our faces and maps in our hands a man in a van pulled over. He was from Gifu prefecture (very far from here) so he didn't know the area, but he was so nice. He had a thermos full of cold Aquarius, plastic cups, and gave us some snacks too. Then he got his GPS unit out of the front and showed us where to go. We wanted a ride but it felt rude to ask, and either he was in a hurry or figured we were walking the whole thing, cuz he wished us luck and took off. We still had a long way to go, but his kindness helped us along. As we crossed the second river we noticed behind us...the henro with the wheeled cart! No clue as to how he caught up with us, but it was weird watching him chug along. We officially broke from the path when we reached another set of stairs and we watched him disappear down the road as we ventured on. We crossed into a small domestic area and happened upon a couple who was leaving their house. We asked them for directions to the station and they explained we had to go up and then down a giant hill and we'd find it. We thanked them and headed on...but moments later they pulled up along side us and offered us a ride.
We had been pretty proud of ourselves for walking it all so far, but since 10 had been our end point we felt no shame about jumping in their car. I said goodbye to my awesome walking stick and left it leaning on a wall and we were off. We went up and down the giant hill they had mentioned (and honestly it was so steep I would have cried to have to climb up it with my leg cramp) and then we were at the station, just like that. And a good thing too as we had pretty much filled up their car with our stink lines. We walked into the station just as a train arrived, and it turned out to be mine. We said a quick goodbye, I jumped on, and that was it. I had to go to transfer in Tokushima station and while there I bought bento for dinner and when I got home I ate it and had a long bath. Whew.
Sure, walking to 10 isn't so impressive when you consider that there are people in their 60's who do it once a year, but we still felt pretty proud for having followed through on our personal challenge. I'm very glad I did it, and grateful to Megan for the company and all the people who helped us along the way. The countryside was beautiful and it was an unforgettable time.