Day 20: Yokonami Peninsula

After a good night’s sleep at yesterday’s excellent hotel I woke early, had breakfast, and got moving shortly after 7 am. The hotel manager warned me that there were “only two” vending machines on the route I would be taking. I reassured him I would be fine.

Yokonami Peninsula Skyline
Yokonami Peninsula Skyline
Yokonami Peninsula Skyline

I followed the winding Yokonami Skyline road along the peninsula for 15km, enjoying the breathtaking views of the coast from about 150m above it. There wasn’t much traffic save for a couple of school buses.

Benzaiten
Susaki
Susaki henro hut

I reached the intersection with the main road at Sakauchi around 10.30 am and continued west, passing another of the fancy henro huts (17 – Susaki). I hope I get a chance to sleep in one of these.

Susaki industrial plant

Reaching Susaki City far earlier than expected at noon I passed an enormous industrial facility with pipelines which went on for more than a kilometre. Was it a power station or something else?

I had considered stopping at the Kawauso no Sato Susaki michi-no-eki (road station) but, since I was so early and still had enough energy, pressed onwards following a road parallel to the Kochi Expressway.

Awa

At this point, the trail takes you through a number of long road tunnels which is probably my least favourite thing about the whole pilgrimage since it’s nerve-wracking and dangerous. Luckily there are a couple of detours you can take to avoid the longest of them.

Henro sign

Thankfully I soon reached the Yakezaka-tōge Pass which is forest the whole way. There were actually a lot of spots along this section where landslides had partially destroyed the path but nothing impassable.

Yakezaka-toge pass

At this point, I had covered 35km and I noticed that my left big toe had gone numb. Stopping to take a look everything seemed fine so I hobbled on.

Just outside Naka-tosa Town I stopped at a Lawson combini for some dinner (there didn’t seem to be anywhere else) and realised as I spoke to the store clerk that they were the only person I’d spoken to today except for the hotel manager. I’m in quite a remote spot now and there don’t seem to be many walking henro.

Weirdly the Lawson had a sake shop attached to it with a table where I ate my food and, as I was finishing, another henro I’d met a couple of days earlier walked in. He’s been doing the pilgrimage by bus/train so I wasn’t sure why he wasn’t further ahead already but it was nice to see a familiar face.

Naka-tosa

Just as my iPhones pedometer reached 40km I found a nice hut under which to camp a short distance into the Soemimizu trail. In fact, there were two huts about 10 minutes apart but in the first, I found a note written in English saying the second was bigger so that’s where I went (thanks to whoever wrote it).

Kochi Expressway

I had my camp set up by 6 pm with enough light left to get myself organised. Tomorrow I’ll reach Iwamoto-ji (岩本寺 – 37) and then continue towards Cape Ashizuri.

Information

Distance walked: 40 km / 51,000 steps
Temples visited: None
Overnight lodgings: Near Sui-fuyo Hut (そえみみず・酔芙蓉) – Tent

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David avatar

7 responses

  1. Chen avatar
    Chen

    Now the walking trip is turning into something like a RPG game – think of the English note.

  2. Hunter avatar
    Hunter

    Lovely photos and info again. Thanks very much.

  3. Sarah avatar
    Sarah

    Looks really beautiful!

  4. Staffa avatar
    Staffa

    Love that there was the English note about the bigger hut! And you should post a photo of you now!

  5. Lavisa avatar
    Lavisa

    The plant looks like cement production. Is there a lime/limestone/marl area?

    1. Thanks Lavisa – that must be it, there are plenty of stone quarries in the area.

  6. Athena avatar
    Athena

    After seeing your photos of the skyline, I’d love to do that the next time I do it. Outside T36 was where I sprained my ankle pretty badly and kept walking untreated, so seeing the photos of crossing Mt. Chasu definitely triggered memories. It doesn’t dampen my affection for Tosa, and it’s nice to see a different side of it thanks to the choices you’ve taken!

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