After we left Manabu at Ryuko ji, we walked to Butsumoko ji (no.42), which was a nice walk. It is a good feeling to get somewhere under your own power and we hadn't been able to that for a couple of days. I did enjoy it, I have to be honest.But by the time we got there it was getting late. We were lucky to run into a young guy called Daisuke, he offered to give us a lift over the mountain pass, part of the way to the next temple. He told us that he had spent a year in Australia and that everyone had been so kind there and helped him so much that he wanted to give a little of that back. I was more than happy to help him. He dropped us off and gave us some oranges to share. Lovely guy.

We went to a self service udon restaurant for dinner, bought chocolate for dessert and camped by a river.We were still a little behind schedule, but things weren't looking as bleak as they had the previous day.

April 18th dawned bright and sunny, we really were being lucky with the weather. We walked the last 3 kms to Meiseki ji (no.43) and started the day right' with prayers. I always prayed at the first temple of the day and left my name card. Every henro carries name cards, you write your personal details on them, including your age, I never did. And your wish, I always wished for peace. I couldn't think of anything else to wish for and it seemed a bit selfish to wish for anything for myself. In my prayers I prayed for nice things for other people.From Meiseki ji we got a lift to Daiho ji (no.44),the halfway point from Fukuoka san and his brother.Fukuoka san was officially retired but still worked on a consultant basis for a ship building company. His work had seen him travel all over the world and he was very happy to keep up a steady stream of conversation.From Daiho ji we got a lift to Iwaya ji (no.45) and Joruri ji (no.46) with a lovely lday called Ayako from Nara. She was kind and could not do enough for us and her English was great. When she left us at Joruri ji, she gave us her contact details and insisted that when we returned to Japan that we come and stay with her in Nara.
From Joruri ji the pilgrimage took us into the old castle town of Matsuyama and a whole cluster of temples, relatively close together. We walked from Joruri ji to Yasak ji (no.47), Sairin ji (no.48), Jodo ji (no.49), Hanta ji (no.50) and Ishite ji (no.51), about 15 kms in all. Unfortunately we arrived at Ishite ji after dark and so would have to return. We walked another couple of kms to our home for the night, the Matsuyama youth hostel. I think that both Betsy and I wanted to cry when we saw that it was at the top of a hill. Not a high hill, but a hill nevertheless. It was not a sight to gladden the heart. We got into the temple and were happy and surprised to be told that they gave henro a discount and we could eat breakfast there. We had been surviving on Soy Joy power bars and rice balls for breakfast prior to this.
We took a shower and hit the town, although I say town. In that part there wasn't much to see and we had arrived a bit late. We decided that the next day would be a rest day, we would hit an internet cafe, do some laundry and pay a visit to the castle. It would be an easy day!!