六日目：徳島県のししくいに着きました。

また遍路の四国の88箇所巡りを歩きます！
Day 4 on the trail, I think? It's hard to keep track of them... but Day 1&2 were Rugby days. Sunday night I finally found and arrived at the area where I stopped last year. Ended up staying in a Taxi garage (for free!) as a special guest. Next morning (Day 3) I started out! Made 17番 and 18番 that day. Maybe 19番 too? The next day I made 3 (so, yes): 20番、21番 and I hit the front steps of 22番 just as it was closing. The lady closed the gate but I walked anyway - small advantage of being a 外国人 who everyone assumes they can't talk to. I was wiped.

Had missed lunch, and unwittingly had eaten an entire bag of what turned out to be very bad dried apricots. Body was totally deprived of nutrients, and the town I was in was so small it had no restaurants, no conbinis... but I did manage to get enough directions to hobble a few more streets to a little grocery just before it closed, load up, and then eventually find the free-house for the henros that I also ended up with directions for. The free house rocked. It even had a TV. And as the wind picked up that night, the warmth of being inside was much appreciated.

Next day I felt much better. :) Long walk to 23番. Partway there I found my Ojisan gang and hung with them a little. We arrived at 23番 together; it was up on hillside surrounded by blooming Sakura trees. Beautiful. And the castle across the town on the opposing hill (by the sea) had bright pink Sakura seemingly climbing up the forest to it. Cool. That night after eating at a Viking - I'll send a prize to the first person who figures out what that is - I got a tip about a free henro house on the edge of town. Directions were dodgy, though - as I only thought I understood about half of them. Something about a bus, but when I clarified them, It was clear I didn't have to ride a bus anywhere. So eventually I found it.

Some locals had renovated an old, run down, silver bullet bus into a henro shack. Complete with floors, futons, and lots of blankets. Even had a kotatsu table. It was hilarious.

So I stayed there. No toilet, but, I woke up in the morning to find I'd been visited in the night by the owners of the Viking who'd left me an entire tray of various servings of the day's leftovers... much more than I could eat, but, awesome. Room Service in a bus on the edge of town, all unasked for and unexpected. Happy feelings.

My ojisan are three other male henros, all much older than I. "Ojisan" being the japanese word for "granpa" but commonly used to refer to anyone more than one generation older than you and male. We keep running into each other... even today, after my totally grueling trek, I wander into the gift shop of the little hotel I'm at and lo and behold... there is one of them. Staying at the same place. Henros get connected to each other in strange ways. The speed we walk has little to do with it. :)

Anyway.

Between 23番 and 24番 is estimated to be the longest stretch between temples. More than 60km. I got lost once (in the woods on a mountain... darn logging trail!!) and in the process of finding a post box off the highway to mail a postcard I stumbled off signs that clearly said "Henro trail"... preceded by some unknown kanji I couldn't possible read.

So I followed the trail. It took me right along the seacoast; I saw animals all over, walked through rustic countryside and up and down mountains, through forests and small villages and mura, past minatos - sometimes the views were downright breathtaking. It amused me how much the wide open ocean kept reminding me of Lake Superior and the North Shore.

In any case, near the end of the day, after walking about 10 hours straight with my 15kg pack, I finally found out the meaning of that kanji: 旧. It means, roughly, "ancient". So I was using the ancient, old, 昔の henro trail, the one they walked before cars. Great for the view, but it added close to 4 hours to my walking time (12 hours by the time I was done!) and at least 10 km of rough terrain.

My ojisan friends are chuckling a bit, I know it. "Finally slowed the young whippersnapper down!" I can easily imagine them remarking.　But they asked But they asked me to come along with them tomorrow, so I`m willing to bet other than reading more kanji outloud to me, they're hoping to make sure my detours are a little more intentional today.

But then again. In similar words to those of ol Bobby whats-is-name: Today I took the road less travelled. And though my legs and feet can surely feel it, my heart and soul can too; it surely made all the difference in the end.

Speaking of which, I saw a fox today. And near the end when I was less and less able to walk, I was almost barrelled over by this VERY genkii, big, bumbling puppy and a smiling old man who could barely keep him on the sidewalk. I just ruffled his head a few times and he was very happy.

Anyway. I need to sleep. Later.