Day 14 : 20 April 2009
Our way marks took us off the main road to meander through the quieter streets of the fishing ports.
We soon started uphill to Temple 27 Konomineji (God Summit Temple) where there is a spring coming out of the mountain said to have healing powers. We both drank from it in the hope of healing our blisters. The stamp office of the Temple gave us as osettai a set of old black and white post cards.
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There was a 3.5 kilometre walk up and back. We decided to hide our packs in the forest, locked together around a tree and hidden away while we visited the Temple. We laughed at our caution when we saw a bicycle henro had left his bike with all his gear, locked by the roadside, but with the key still in it.
It started to rain (our raincoats safely locked away in our packs at the bottom of the hill).
Once we retrieved our packs, we stopped at a roadside stall for takoyaki (octopus balls). Fascinated, we watched as batter was poured into small half circle moulds. A small piece of octopus is added, then with a needle thin stick they are constantly turned until they are perfectly round and golden. Delicious. The cook came out with tea as we were eating.
We camped in a park by the sea in Aki City. Because of the strong wind, we had to cook our dinner under the overhang of the toilets.
(33.5012 N 133.8912 E)