day 38, 11:15am, humid, so humid

it's so hot and humid. add in the walking and i am so hot and sweaty.

i playing a game. i call it "left, right, left, blow".
in the time it takes to walk four steps a big drop of sweat has collected on the end of my nose. i blow it off and let it collect again, and i blow it off.
i know not much of a game. for added fun i see how far i can blow the drop of sweat. i also try to aim for various targets on the trail.

it's hot. :)

day 38, 8:31am, rain!

all day yesterday people were telling me that there would be a big downpour in the evening and they were right!
oh boy, did it rain! :)
i planned to cut the day short and stay at the tsuyado at temple 81 but, yet again, although my notes said there was one, the staff assured me they didn't have a place for henro.
i took a chance and headed for a hut just before temple 82. it turned out to be perfect. it's big, pretty well protected and it has toilets and water.
still, the water made it's way in and most everything is wet. my bivi bag sure paid for itself. it was a bit damp but i stayed warm and cozy.

so, now i'm trying to get things dried out. it's a bit of a slow morning. :)

today i'm heading into takamatsu city. hopefully, i can find a coin laundry.

later,

day 37, 11:31pm, the unknown

no post last night. the shelter i had hoped for didn't turn out to be a shelter at all. i spent a few hours looking for for a place to sleep.
it's not easy in the city. i found a place that was ok but a bit exposed to foot and bike traffic.
i now know that i'm more afraid of the unknown in the city than i am on the spookiest mountain.
i'm much less confident that i am the scariest animal in the city.
i was careful to secure my things, and i am glad i have my walking stick.
i had one small scare when i opened my eyes to find a man creeping up on me. he stopped when i put my hand on my stick. i think he was just curious but i slept less soundly after that.
i don't have much fear about sleeping out in the city in japan, but if i were in canada or most other countries i wouldn't have the same confidence.

i've got another mountain today. i'll probably be sleeping on it tonight. i think it will be a lot less spooky this time.

later,

day 36, 1:46pm, sanuki udon

i've just had sanuki udon(noodles) for lunch. sanuki was the name of the feudal province which is now kagawa prefecture. the introduction of sanuki udon, which is firmer and chewier than regular udon, has be credited to kukai, "kobo daishi", who brought the recipe home with him following his studies in china.
it's good, especially cold.
there are lots of udon shops in kagawa, and shikoku as a whole. i found a small mom and pop place that had the perfect atmosphere for trying a local specialty.
well enough sitting, i'm off!

day 35, 8:14pm, temple stamps

this is the temple stamp "nokyosho" from temple 74. there is one for temple which you collect in a stampbook "nokyocho". each stamp costs 300yen which adds up pretty quickly. a completed nokyocho becomes a prized posession and people are often cremated with it when they die.

day 35, 6:22pm, open mind

today was good. i'm clean and i'm relaxed. there haven't been many days when i've gotten all of my chores done before 7pm.
the walk was good. i took a couple ibuprophen (sp?) in the morning to help with the ankle.

i was making pretty good time until temple 74. while i was going through my temple routine (candles, incense, dropping in my name card), a man sat down on the bench next to my gear. he looked pretty suspicious and i've been warned that stampbooks (nokyocho) are sometimes stolen. they are worth about $300 completed (plus the all of the effort to get the stamps).
i kept a close eye on him and when i went to pick up my gear he introduced himself and offered to take me out to lunch. i've been trying hard to keep my schedule flexible and keep an open mind when it came to offers likethis, so i accepted.
he said he'd take me to his friends udon restaurant which was only 10min away. it turned out to be 30min away in the opposite direction, but i kept an open mind. i decided to just let things happen.
the udon was good (not sanuki udon) and the conversation was interesting.
he is a retired tuna fishing boat radio operator (that's where he got his english). he studies shikoku's history and ecomoics in his free time. he is part of an organization which wants to create a single centralized shikoku government (currently 4 prefectures) independent of the japanese government; without the use of guns. :)

he gave me a pretty good tour. he even walked to temple 75 with me. i'm glad i accepted his lunch offer. four weeks ago, i probably would have declined.

temple 75 was cool. it's the largest on the island; birthplace of kukai "kobo daishi" (the shingon sect's founder). it looked very much like a temple complex in kyoto.
under the daishi hall there is a 100m passage way which is not lighted. it is a popular attraction (it also cost 500yen)and i just had to try it. it was total darkness and very much a trust exercise as you followed the wall with your left hand and recite a mantra. it was pretty spooky. it is supposed to be a time to search deep inside yourself. i savoured all 10min and 500yen of it before a group of bus henro came blazing up behind me like lambs to the slaughter. confidence in numbers i guess.

i got set up with a place to stay near temple 75. i'm cleaned up and my ankle is doing ok. i could use a few more "easy" days.

no snakes, distance 19km +detour

night,

day 35, 6:02am, the henro scourge

i'm up extra early today. seriously, who walks their dogs at 4:30am? apparently, a lot of people.
one older gentleman walking his dog decided to tell me off about sleeping in the sports park. i didn't catch what he said. he didn't seem to care that i understood. he sounded pretty angry.
i guess i'd be a bit upset too if there was a constant stream of transients going through my neighborhood, regardless of the reason.
although from what i read it's mostly the young, the homeless and the foriegners who do all of the camping out. it's called "nojuku henro". i was under the impression that going "nojuku" was highly respected, but i've learned now it's mostly the bus henro who are impressed. i think most everyone else would prefer it if i stayed at hotels. it's better for the economy.

i was told 300,000 people do the pilgrimage every year. i think that messes up my previous numbers about henro. it's a lot of money. there are a lot of businesses who rely on the pilgrimage. i also think the reason there are so many vending machines along the route is that a lot of people who live on the trail get one put in front of their house.

i wasn't feeling too hot after getting yelled at by the old guy, but about 10 minutes later another man passed by. he stopped to chat. he and his wife did the pilgrimage by bus a few years ago. he gave me 200yen as osettai, but more importantly he thought it was great i was doing the walk "nojuku". maybe he saw some value in maintaining the image, the romanctisism, of the "nojuku henro".

i'm just waiting for temple 70 to open. i'm in the 70's! there isn't much opportunity for long hikes anymore. my walks are now governed by the 7am-5pm schedules of the temples.
that's ok though, i can use the rest. :)
later,

day 34, 9:50pm, old mule

i had thought that the last two weeks of the trip would be easy. i would be fit and lean and a super-walker. and i think i am lean and fit and becoming a super-walker. but i've also walked 1000km and my body is starting to feel as worn as the shoes i am wearing.
the next time i do this i will schedule in a few 0km days, although the next time i do this it might be by motorcycle. :)
i don't want to sound too down, i'm actually in pretty good spirits. i guess i'm starting to look forward to an end. :)
today was good. it was a bit of a slow start. the first and last two hours of everyday i hobble around like an old man. today my ankle was a bit tender, but i got it warmed up and it wasn't bad. i picked up some sports tape and that helped a lot.
tonight i'm staying in a baseball dugout at a sports park near temple 70. the weather is nice so it will do.
i spent most of the evening at... mcdonald's. it had air conditioning, and electrical outlets and chocolate sundaes. it was nice. i stayed there for about 2.5 hours.
i need to get cleaned up. i hope i can find a place with washrooms tomorrow night.

time for bed. night,

day 34, 8:17pm, contest results

first of all, i'd like to thank everybody who sent in an answer for the "guess colin's weight" contest. i didn't expect so many entries.

second, there was a little confusion about the contest answer. it was to guess my weightloss as of day 26, at dogo onsen and not my weight at the end of the trip. on top of that there were some overly ambitious answers. (i'm not on a death march. there are convinence stores and vending machines almost every kilometer.)
so, there will be a consulation prize for the person whose answer comes closest to my final weight (to be measured the day i finish the trip).

results
my weight before leaving for shikoku: 113.0kg

my weight at dogo onsen (day 26): 104.7kg, a loss of 8.3kg!

two people tied for the prize, uncle bjarni from manitoba, canada (again) and ai from shizuoka, japan.
since, bjarni has already won a prize, the prize will go to ai (i'll throw in something extra for you, uncle bjarni). cogratulations ai!

there were many more much larger guesses, and you'll get a second chance at a prize late next week. and please no e-mails asking me to eat more or less. :)

later,

day 33, 10:11pm, spooky

shoot, i did it again. i've spent 30 minutes typing a message and now i've just deleted it. my cellphone battery is getting low as well.

so here is another abridged letter,

weather - nice, mountain air cool. climb - easy, getting fit.
sleeping at hut next to t66 (900m). nice view. getting cold, foggy, quiet, spooky.

not scared, ghosts not real, i'm prob. the biggest animal on mountain.
just listened to animal get killed in forest, terrible noise. cycle of life but made things super spooky.

feeling good, rolled ankle today on temple steps but ok.

contest is closed, announcement tomorrow.
night, :)

day 32, 9:30pm, contest still open

a few people had some trouble getting their e-mail through, so if you'd still like to enter the "colin's weigh contest" you've still got some time!

good luck!

day 32, 9:06pm, interesting night

i spent last night with 5 old homeless henro in a small snack bar that has been turned into a sort of henro hostel.

it was friendly and i believe some of the old guys are quite well-known in shikoku as henro.

the place was a little dodgy though. i was dry, that's the important thing.

tonight i'm alone at an outdoor shelter. i didn't quite make it to temple 65. tomorrow i've got a bunch of hills to climb. apparently, temple 66 is the highest temple on the pilgrimage and the most difficult 'nansho'.
we'll see how that goes.

today's weather was good, i hope it holds out till tomorrow.
no snakes these days.
the north side of the island is significantly drier than the south. i've seen a number of geckos, but i'm not going to be starting a gecko count. :)

night.