Although the rainy weather of last night dissipated in the morning so that Shikoku was visible across the water, to avoid the possibility of getting trapped on Shodoshima in the event that the fast-moving typhoon #15 came rushing in, I bailed early. Landing in Takamatsu, the weather was actually worse, with a fairly constant drizzle falling – it makes sense, since I actually moved closer to the typhoon! With no plans for today in Takamatsu, a quick stop at the ekimae tourist information office revealed a map of a shrine complex with a pile of stairs! I hate stairs! Let’s go! I had actually heard of the Kompira-gu shrine previously, but didn’t know many of the details. A leisurely local train ride on the Kotoden from a station built up against the outer wall of the Takamatsu castle ruins took me to Kotohira-machi for 610-yen.
It was drizzling off and on through the wandering path through the town to the base of the stairs leading up to the shrine precincts. The altitude and the arriving storm brought the temperatures down to a nice level, but it was very humid. This was a nice day trip from Takamatsu. The climb was not terrible, and there were lots of places to get a reasonable lunch in Kotohira-machi, although pretty much all of it was Sanuki-udon. There are onsen in town and a JR station, so this town would also make a nice overnight stop on a Shikoku train adventure.
Back in Takamatsu, I collected my X-Ray that I had stashed at the train station coin lockers, and backtracked a couple of stations to the middle of town to find tonight’s hotel. It’s pretty conveniently located just off a shoten-gai, and it has wired network access! Yay! I think it’s dinner time and maybe stock up on bottled drinks in case the typhoon veers North to smack us…
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