Kii-Katsuura to Ise

Having completed the Nakahechi route, the original plan for today was to walk around 22km to Shingu, stay the night, and then tomorrow, catch a fast train up to the Iseji trailhead in Ise, visit shrine, hop back on a local train to backtrack a bit, then walk 26km. While feasible, we thought that sounded a bit much in practice, particularly as we need to orient ourselves to the new route, so decided to pivot. We packed the Shingu accommodation in, booked a place in Ise, and spent the day on slower trains (5hr total) getting the big transit and the shrine out of the way, and resting my poor tailbone. Very much the right decision. A woman on the train came and pressed two tiny satsuma into our palms and smiled.Read more