Today was a designated rest day and all we wanted to do was to visit Kochi Castle and maybe the Botanical Gardens.

After brewing up some tea and coffee and completing our morning ablutions, we picked up some breakfast at a Circle K konbini and headed into Kochi to visit the castle. The castle is really magnificent. It is not particularly old, dating from the seventeenth century, and like many Japanese castles has been rebuilt but according to the original designs. The view from the top of the keep affords great 360 degree views of Kochi city.

Heart

0

Comment

0

Link

Log in to comment or reply

After that we found a great ramen noodle den, really just a hole in the wall, and had a great lunch of pork-based ramen noodles. Full as a tick for 640 JPY.

Heart

0

Comment

0

Link

Log in to comment or reply

We gave up on the botanical gardens and headed back to the campsite that was now relatively full – last night there were only two other tents but now there were nine. Of these, at least two were foreigners, both doing the Shikoku pilgrimage. One of these was a couple and the other a French Canadian, quite portly and new to walking and camping. I think he was going through a life changing experience because he was clearly chuffed with himself in being able to get all th walking done and was so proud at all the weight he had lost.

This afternoon we spent some time discussing where to go next and came to the conclusion that we won’t have enough time to go all around the southern coast of Shikkoku, so make our way along the route 33 which will eventually lead us to Matsuyama. The road is going to have quite a few climbs as it goes through the mountains in the middle of the island so we may take a few days to get there.

We’ve both been quite tired today so the rest day was needed.