Slices of Life from a Cake Hunter

Day 4. It was a lovely rest day in Yunomine, even though (to be honest) we’d only been going 2-days and the whole Kumano is only 4-days overall. Seemed a bit of a luxury really, but hey, who’s complaining? Just to give a bit of context: most Caminos in Europe are around the 4-5 week mark so 4-days is pretty light, even if the terrain is sometimes tough.

The morning air was clear and fresh when we left J-Hoppers, and we headed start off towards Hongu again, as that’s the direction of the path.

With a slow, gradual ascent and then a reasonable hike on the level, it all looked pretty good to me.

What then happened was that we underestimated the elevation – if you closely at the route, what we saw was a gradual slope upwards but hadn’t quite clicked that that gradual slope was one about 400-450 meters up. So gradual, yes. Easy, bloody well no! It was quite the push in the end, although due to the loveliness of the day and clearness of the morning air it was all pretty damn stunning.

I was sweating like there was no tomorrow, or the day after, or the following week as well. Even May is negotiable. Still, ‘it’s good exercise’, I kept telling myself as I puffed and panted, heaving myself on again. I was panting so much I felt like changing my name to Panty Panter, although that’s too much like a Drag Queen. Still, there might be a couple of shows a week in it if I play my panties right.

Along the Kumano, there are quite a few shrines most with coins left as an offering, some with broken crockery and others with small bottles of sake. There are signs recording significant stories of travellers, or events, and quite a few in places where old tea houses used to stand. None are left of course. The tea houses were where pilgrims stopped for rest and refreshments along the Kumano route, some offering overnight accommodation.

The golden age of the Kumano teahouses was during the Edo period (1603–1867), but after the Meiji Restoration of 1868, religious and social change across Japan caused a dramatic decrease in the number of pilgrims arriving at Kumano, and all but the most conveniently located teahouses eventually closed their doors. Some have been rebuilt as rest facilities for tourists, but all that is left of most sites are half-buried foundations. It was a bit sad really as most travellers would have paid a fortune for a cuppa. Instead, through Japan, there are many, many, many vending machines that sit alongside roadways, shops, in doorways selling energy drinks, coffee, tea, beer, sake and soft drinks and juices – some, or a combo of the lot. One of the amazing things is some dispense hot coffee! However, there are only a couple of points on the Kumano where you can find these, so the tea houses are still missed.

When I got to the days summit, the view was breathtaking – it was, quite simply, exhilarating to be up the top of the mountains, drinking it all in. There was/is nothing quite like it & I was on a real high.

The rest of the day continued with cotton-cloudy skies, little skits of birdsong, trails that ambled amiably, curving mountainsides, straight soldering lines of trees and little peopled shrines popping up unexpectedly.

On the way down. I saw some red mushrooms (hadn’t seen one single mushroom up until now) and a caterpillar hanging down from an enormous tree. As said before, the lack of what I’d consider ‘normal’ flora and fauna was very notable, so it was somewhat surprising and encouraging to even see a little.

I’d found Eva and Brad at a tea house and we carried on to the end of the days hike, greeted by a huge cherry blossom tree and an ice cold river where we shrugged off our hiking boots and put our tired, worn, cloistered little feet into the water. Bliss! After that, we caught up with Eliza (who was having a mini-moment thinking we were lost), were waiting for our bus to the accommodation when some local ladies came over to chat, and an impromptu party started, and then a Japanese TV crew turned up – it was all rather surreal.

Foot bath in the river – sublime!

The accommodation we’d booked was a while away and although we’d got to the river about 3pm and they said they could pick us up anywhere between 3-5pm, they didn’t turn up until 5, by which time our impromptu street party was over with all of us nearly ending up on the wrong side of merry. Probably not the best look in a quiet neighbourhood! However, the onsen we were staying at soon sobered us up as it was like some kind of ‘lost-in-time’ Swedish skiing resort stuck in the 1970s.