Day 5 – Ryokan after Temple 12
Only one temple today….just the hardest of the whole hike. We left at 7 am and did not arrive until 4 pm. It was three mountains with terrible downhill sections. All were marked “Ohenro falldown”. No kinding there. I saw Sensei early and walked with him almost the entire day. Sensei is amazing at 80 years old but the uphills were clearly causing him problems. I shared my snacks with him and he gave me a riceball for lunch. When we finally made the Ryokan, everyone was truly happy to spend the money for a bed, shower, and dinner. Unfortunately, our friends from Canada E & S ran into injury issues. S fell down and badly sprained her ankle. One tough lady that went up and down a mountain with a 8 kg pack. Sadly, they had not planned to stay here; hence, no dinner for them or beer. Insult to injury. I think S needs to ice the ankle for a few days and she refuses. Her husband says that she put her foot down and he needs to respect her decision. That would be 40 plus years of marriage. Such a nice couple. We were just planning our next couple days. Our group of the Frenchman, Italian, and American will probably part ways in the next day or two. Everyone has a different speed…and level of injury. Laundry is done. Time for bed. Good night all.