Kotohira to Kyoto
May 26, 2023
Our ride ended quite a bit short of Kyoto stopping instead in the City of Kotohira. There is a well known temple here part of the Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage, a circular journey to visit the 88 temples associated with Buddhist monk Kūkai. According to Wikipedia, “The pilgrimage is traditionally completed on foot, but modern pilgrims use cars, taxis, buses, bicycles, or motorcycles, and often augment their travels with public transportation. The standard walking course is approximately 1,200 kilometres (750 mi) long and can take anywhere from 30 to 60 days to complete.” There is very little else in Kotohira but plenty of tour busses loaded with mainly Japanese travelers, some wearing white and carrying walking sticks, so I imagine visiting this temple is an important step on the pilgrimage. However, not being a pilgrim and having already seen a few temples, I decided to pass on this one.
We are taking a motor coach to Kyoto to avoid what our tour leader said would be another week of bicycling without as much scenery and a lot more highway traffic. While I am a EFI (Every Fantastic* Inch) type of rider, I had no desire to to blindly follow that motto. I was happy to get on the bus for the uneventful four hour ride.
Tomorrow I am doing a guided walking tour of the city which should be better than just walking around without a plan or a clue. I did take some quality time today to try to find some alternative to my backpacking rain gear which has performed with less than moderate satisfaction. I found a set for around 4,000 Yen ( about $40 Canadian) at a bike shop just a few meters from the hotel but wanting a second opinion, I walked over 3 kilometers round trip to find a North Face store that Google suggested. Bad choice. The “store” was just a department in a high end, multi floor department store that sold all you favourite designer fashions from Tiffany to Louis Vuitton and everything else you may have heard about but never could afford. Far from the North Face originally sewn together up the hill from my Lake Clear home in Foymount, Ontario, the limited selection at this “store” was way overpriced and the inventory less than what you would expect to find at a dollar store closeout bin. At least I got to stretch my legs and get some sunshine.
*There an assortment “F” words that people use for this expression. I leave it to you, the gentle reader to select what you feel best suits the spirit of the motto.
