We decided to take a walk up a holy mountain, Ishizuchi-san, the highest mountain in western Japan (1982 metres), whilst we were in Shikoku. A cable car takes you up part of the way, then a stepped path leads up past shrines to the summit.
There are three places where you can leave the path and scramble up cliffs using fixed chains to hold on to, which of course we did! We eventually arrived at a place we thought was the top, but then the mist cleared and we realised it was a further teetering walk along a final ridge, with a steep drop either side - nice!
As well as seeing quite a few pilgrims dressed in white with straw hats and staffs, we also saw three snakes, two being the most poisonous snake in Japan and the other was a "crazy snake worm" - the body of a big worm but the movements of a snake. Altogether a really interesting day out:)
