Hotel Hanaya Breakfast Restaurant Wall Art
Hotel Hanaya – Breakfast Restaurant Wall Art
Hotel Hanaya Breakfast Restaurant Wall Art
Mom at breakfast
All aboard the Kumano Kodo Pain Train!
Bus from Tanabe to Takajiri
Kumano Kodo Cultural Center
Takajkri – Oji
First Kumano Kodo Oji Shrine Stamp
Takajiri-Oji
Kumano Kodo Start
Kumano Kodo Start
Kumano Kodo Start
Brooms
Mom powers up the trail
Oji
House detail
Persimmon Fruit
Oji detail
Oji detail
Oji detail
Oji detail
Rice Farm Waterwheel
Mom hiking through Cedar forest
Mom hiking through Takahara with terraced rice paddy
Rice farmer in Takahara
Oji
Rotting stump detail with 3 mini spiderwebs
Oji offerings
Bento Box Lunch
Trail Buddies
Spiders the diameter of a USA 50 cent coin ply their trade with webs across the width of the trail
Well today was quite a day. All went well but hiking was slow because of elevation gain/loss and a lot of the trail was hard to navigate with lots of roots.
I had previously tried to get accommodations earlier in the trail but the best I could get was Nonaka which made it a 10 mile day. If it was 10 miles on the Camino it would have been no problem but this is the Kumano Kodo…Camino-Kumano what’s the difference…steep.
Around 5PM it started getting dark and we still had 3 miles left to go. We had been averaging 1 mile an hour. We came across a bushwhack trail that went down to a road construction area. I made the decision to get us off the trail so we could road hike the rest of the way which was still going to be another 2 hour road hike.
We walked for about 15 minutes when a car came around the corner and it was the owner of Guest House Sora looking for their guests that hadn’t arrived yet. We ended up catching a ride with him to his guest house and then the owner of Guest House MUI (our accommodations) came and picked us up.
We had a gourmet dinner, beer, and home made plum wine. Everything ended well but I tell ya this trail is challenging and when the lights go out around 5:30PM hiking on the trail really isn’t an option anymore.
Adventure on Day 1 of the Kumano Kodo!
Screenshot of phone map app we were following through the dark forest roads of the Kii Peninsula
Our Saviors Yasayuki and Naomie of Guest House Sora
Mom enjoying a glass of home made plum wine at Guest House MUI
(MUI = Nature)
Gourmet dinner at Guest House MUI
Guest House MUI Gitas