Slices of Life from a Cake Hunter

Day 1. We woke up to the sound of torrential rain, so that was encouraging. The bus was due to leave early from Kii-Tanabe & drop us off at the starting point of the Kumano. We’d decided to get our bags carried ahead as we have far too much stuff to carry – that’s my excuse anyway, and thank god we did!

Off the bus at the starting point of Takijirl-oji and it was still raining, and I don’t mean a light sprinkle – I mean chucking it down. I’ve walked a few Caminos in my time and I know how it goes: relentless, miserable and exhausting. Today was like that, whilst also climbing a very steep ascent on slippery rocks, tree roots and lots and lots of mud. It was a mud bath, a mud shower, a mud tsunami. Mud won the day. Bloody mud, who asked it to come?

Poor Eva was feeling a bit crook when we started and when she saw the rain, the mud and the ascent, went even paler than a pale thing at a pale party. However, good on her, she decided to take one muddy step at a time and persevere, and persevere was really the order of the day.

Brief Kumano dump: The Kumano Kodo pilgrimage route was formed around the year 816. At that time, the people of Kumano, in the Kii Peninsula of Japan, started to build a network of trails that connected their shrines, temples, and other sacred sites. This trail system was called ‘Kumano’, meaning ‘a path to Kumano’ and eventually, the Kumano pilgrimage route became known as the Kumano Kodo, which means ‘the way to Kumano’. It’s like the way to San Jose but the tune is less catchy.

Like the Camino de Santiago (with which the Kumano Kodo is twinned), there isn’t one route, there are many different routes and trails. The route we chose to travel is the most well known and most popular, the Nakahechi route. It’s the equivalent of walking the Camino Frances in Spain – the most popular of all camino routes there.

Up we staggered, up and up, rain falling on our heads, mud splashing up our legs. We couldn’t really speak due to being mugged by the rain/mud/elevation combo – what a nasty little gang they were. I don’t mind rain on its own; I also don’t mind mud on its own, and a steep elevation I can easily deal with but when you get all 3 together it’s like being clobbered by a big clobbery thing that keeps relentlessly having a clobber.

Eva was flagging at the top of the first ascent. She’d been over-clobbed and was feeling it badly. Even so, and a few minutes discussion she defied the clob, and decided to carry on … one step at a time, even if it was a really muddy step that you couldn’t pull your boot out of.

We’d packed enough snacks to open our very own 7/11 and so stopped every so often to sample some of the more unusual delights that we’d foraged: dried kiwi fruits, matcha almond cookies, wasabi nuts, matcha Pocky Sticks, edamame crackers, roasted mini-bean biscuits (delish!), chocolate/matcha/raspberry lollies … I have to say, I’ve been pretty impressed by the Japanese snack collection choices. As opposed to the convenience stores in Australia and the UK, here it’s high quality, cheap and delicious, can’t complain about that! And even better, each little snack-stop reaffirmed our spirits and gave us a little more energy to continue.

The rain stopped and started, but really didn’t stop much. The mud was there constantly, the elevation kept coming and going, Without our poles and good hiking boots, we would have been buggered. It was really dangerous having to navigate every single step, every single rock, every single twist and turn. Eva was doing remarkably well despite a heavier clob than the rest of us – her resilience was really shining through despite her flu-like symptoms poor luv.

All of our clothes, inside and out, were wet due to the rain but also because we were sweating so much due to the warm, almost-tropical weather. Some of the scenery was pretty damn decent though, despite how we were feeling. At various points, we stopped and saw mountains with mist smoking up like gently waving ghosts.

Getting near the end

Finally, we descended a steep track, and there at the bottom was a little cafe. Eva, incredibly, had also overtaken us all and was first there! She really put the ‘R’ into the word Resilience. A totally impressive effort from the indomitable Madame E!

Our accommodation for the night was called Happiness Chikatsuyu and I don’t think any of us were happier than when we arrived. Our bags were there; we had restorative hot showers, washed and dried our clothes, ate quickly and then all of us just crashed into our futons for a long, tired sleep. Happiness indeed.