Nachi Taisha, Kumano Kodo, Japan

Buddhist monks inhabit and practise in the most beautiful places.

In 2017 I hiked the Kumano Kodo, an ancient pilgrimage on the Kii Peninsula in Japan with a great mate of mine. It's not a long journey, just a few days depending which route you take, since there's actually a network of different linking paths. We spent 5 days, with a day off in the middle at the little onsen village of Yunomine, to relax, to eat and to enjoy the hot geothermal baths of the area. It's not an easy walk, with lots of steep ups and downs, sometimes on a wide, but very old, uneven stone pavement. This trail has been walked for over a 1000 years, and it's fallen into significant disrepair in some parts.

Nachi Taisha is the trailhead and final destination of the pilgrimage. It has a couple of temples, a magnificent shrine… and this beautiful waterfall, a totally appropriate way to finish the walk!

Like the Camino de Santiago, The Kumano Kodo is the only other pilgrimage to have World Heritage listing. I was super proud to receive a certificate in recognition that I had completed both!