Kata to Kumano pt.1

Right I'd frolicked in the sea, now it was time to find something to carry for lunch later. We'd looked it up earlier and there was a little grocery store in this excellent town - she sorted us not only with chicken, potato salad, rice balls and some nail clippers (for dessert) but also rushed off to the back to get us a frozen bottle of water to use as an ice pack. What a gem.

Having skipped two giving the staff on the Kisei line a proof of life check from Kata to Atashika, three mountain passes remained for the day. As we walked out of town to start the first…omfg....emerging from a trail.....OTHER HIKERS. Hissing at each other to stand up straight and look clever, we waved hello to [name not remembered] and Norma.

We paired off to natter on the side of the road, James and Norma and me and [line!?] - and it was such a throwback to have a good old pilgrim conversation. They're the first others we've seen since staring in Ise, and vice versa since they started in Shingu walking the other direction, so between the four of us I think that's it on Iseji. They've been navigating using trail markers and Norma's intuition, so I was pleased to show him the map website we'd found off a QR code on a stick (kodo.pref.mie.lg.jp) which I think will measurably improve the coming days for them.

He's America (California) she's Mexican (didn't say where) and they've been "having adventures for 18 years" which on Norma's part involved some kind of raptor work and we learned a lot about the kites. They were modelling every sun smart garment available in today's market and we liked them a lot. James and Norma must have been discussing dual pilgrimage because at this point the two conversation blobs amalgamated as Norma whipped out a present for me - a dual patch she had designed. She decided James needed one too, to motivate him to complete it. They've walked the French, Norte, and Primitivo routes in Spain and dream of one day opening a donation based albergue on the Norte called Descanso del Soul (a pun, naturally).

Parting, they told us the passes today are delightful and half in people's backyards, and they were right.Leggi altro