Preparing to prepare
How do you prepare for something you've never really had to prepare for before? How do you prepare for a 1200 km hike? A hike in a completely foreign area, with completely different customs and conditions?
Like most things in life that first seem insurmountable, it starts with research. Lots and lots of research. And what once seemed very unlikely, all of a sudden becomes possible. Fortunately, there's a wealth of information available online, and many Henro have shared their experiences about the Shikoku pilgrimage, either through blogs like this one or on YouTube vlogs. On the resources page, I've compiled an overview of all the sources I've come across and have used to create a personal plan.
In my search for information, I quickly came across dedicated sites that answer most of the questions you might have. Great sites such as Henro.org let you create a plan and even has an intuitive map with all the temples, lodgings, rest areas and other points of interest. Another great source is the Henro Helper app which has a similar type of map, but also shows how busy certain routes are. For reserving homestays along the route there is also the henrohouse.jp project, through this website Henro can reserve rooms (private or shared) for a small fee.
O. Dunskus 2024 guides
In the end I have mostly aligned my itinerary with the information described in the two books written by Oliver Dunskus. One gives detailed information on the complete route and all of the 88 tempels, while the other chops said route up in manageable chunks. As it stands now I will be on the trail for a total of 55 days, not counting rest days in between. This should give me plenty of time to also enjoy the whole endeavor. The longest leg of the journey will be 31 km, while most legs will be between 15 to 25 km, which should be doable… right?
And that brings me to another topic of preparation. Because while all the above planning and researching is very much a paper exercise, what about the actual physical exercise? How I went (and stil am going) about this, I will leave for another post…