{Shikoku Hachijūhachikasho Meguri}

--WALKING--
--HOW FAR TO WALK EACH DAY--

As for total distance, you see a lot of different numbers on the internet. I say the trip is 1,400 km, and got that by adding up the km i walked each day using the distances in the Shikoku Henro: Hitori Aruki Dōgyō Ninin guidebook (see my daily log). But, i walked to the all of the bangai temples as well as the main 88 temples. If you don't visit the bangai temples, the total for your walk will be less than 1,400km, my guess is between 1,100 and 1,200 km.

How long it will take you to walk the entire distance will depend on how far you are willing and able to walk each day. Everyone walks at a different pace, and every one has a different schedule, so telling people how far they should walk each day isn't an easy issue to address.

When i walked the pilgrimage in 1999, i averaged about 25 km/day, with occasional days below 20 km and about once a week going more than 30 km. Actually, my daily distances were widely scattered between 20 km and 30 km. The last 5 km, or so, of every day was almost always dictated by where that nights lodging was. Sometimes i would stop at 19 km because it was that or walk over 30 km. Sometimes it was the opposite and i would walk over 30 km because that is where the next available lodging was. But, as i say, i think that an average of about 25 km/day was what i did.

I took just short of 8 weeks to walk around the island (but again, i visited all of the bangai temples). There are people who walk the pilgrimage in as little as 5 weeks. Very few take longer. It seems to me that most people who only visit the main 88 temples take about 7 weeks. While i took no days off to rest, some do. I never felt that i needed it. A steady 25 km/day was a good relaxing pace and i never felt overwhelmed. Personally, i think that walking the trail in less than 7 weeks is going too fast. I know some of you who read that will disagree, and maybe strongly, but when you walk it that fast, you are missing a lot of what i consider the most interesting part of this trip — the chance to just stop and enjoy the scenery or to visit with people along the side of the road.

• The first 2 days will be easy as the first 11 temples are all lined up along the Yoshino River heading west from Naruto City.

• Day 3 is your first real test and the day some will wonder what they got themselves into. The climb from Temple 11 to Temple 12 is very hard work and you go up, then down, then back up over three mountain passes. At the end of the day you will be exhausted and have sore legs, feet, and shoulders. Some will have blisters. What's more, very few people are lucky enough to get lodging at Temple 12 so once you do get there, you still have to walk part way back down to get to your lodging. More than one person has told me they were in tears at the end of the day.

• After that you have several very easy days, until you visit Temples 21 & 22, which again require climbs up and down several mountains. What makes the visit to Temples 21 and 22 even more difficult is that after the climb to Temple 12, many people will have blisters on their feet and this slows you down considerably, not to mention having to walk through the pain.

• Believe me when i say that by the end of the first several weeks of this trip you are going to know exactly where the limits of your tolerance to pain lie. Can you make yourself get up, yet again, and start waking, again, even though you know your feet will scream at you as soon as you start walking? Again. Can you walk through the pain? Can you ignore it, knowing that it will go away?

• From Temple 22 down to Cape Muroto and Temple 24 it's an easy, carefree walk. You may be limping but you're certainly getting stronger by the day — both physically and mentally — and you can feel it. Most, if not all, will find hours of intenst happiness and pleasure. You made it, you've passed the first test. You are a henro.

• Your next test is Temple 27 but even though it is work, by now you are in good enough shape that it is really no big deal. It's not easy, but you won't see anything to complain about.

• From Temple 27 (and the end of week 2) on, the trip will settle into a rhythm. By this time your leg and back muscles have hardened and walking is fun again. You'll still have occasional hard days (there are other mountain temples), but very few painful ones, and the rest of the walk isn't all that difficult.

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