Up and out nice and early to gently overcast skies, I stocked up on a variety of rice triangles for my ride over the bridges of the Shimanami Kaido.
The cycle route is well marked in blue on the roads and several tourists had rented bikes to take on the 70km ride. There were also scores of Japanese hobby-cyclists out on slick road bikes.
The experience was great – launching up a steep curving ramp for a kilometre each time you needed to cross a bridge, and the views from the bridges were spectacular. There was still a haze and cloudiness but you could see all across the inland sea and the pretty coves and jetties of all the islands. The giant suspension bridges themselves are also very impressive, each being somewhere between 500m and 2km long! The final bridge was so long, and the weather so cloudy, that I couldn’t see the other side, but still had fantastic views of the turquoise inland sea and the various green and rocky islands within it stretching out to the horizon left and right.
The islands were fun to bike on too, meandering round the costal roads and fishing towns with minimal traffic, salty air and a cool breeze. There was definitely a change of pace – I imagine that the islands would be a great place to live (although difficult to commute anywhere from!)
I partially raced some of the Japanese cyclists in a Mariokart style. They were Toad, accelerating away from traffic lights and stoppages super fast and I was Donkey Kong, taking an age to get up to speed, but at top pace closing in quick before another stoppage or traffic light would bring us level again. After being used to straight roads and greenery for scenery the bridges and islands were a refreshing change and felt like a novelty, and I cruised relatively quickly through the 70km to Shikoku Island.
Shikoku is the smallest of the four main Japanese islands and famous for its rugged scenery and relative tranquility, with less people and cities than the other islands. Shikoku is also renowned for the 88 temple Pilgrimage, broadly a Buddhist equivalent of El Camino de Santiago in Spain.
Pilgrims circumnavigate Shikoku (by foot traditionally) to visit the 88 temples on the island associated with the renowned Japanese monk Kobo Daishi. They are known as Henro and walk in a white uniform with staff and triangular hat, and are imbued by the sport of Kobo Daishi to complete the journey. They are commonly seen on the roads and highly respected – the pilgrimage usually takes around 60 days by foot.
Cruising the final 40km to Matsuyama around the coastline, I arrived at a comfortable 4pm, pleased with my day’s ride but feeling fairly anxious to formulate a plan for the forthcoming week or so. I’m finding it helpful to have a five/six day plan in place to give myself targets and direction and also to book accommodation where necessary.
The owners of the guesthouse I stayed at were super helpful in discussing possible options in Shikoku, and were really enthusiastic, making me feel as if any route I could choose to take would be brilliant. I settled on a plan that would take me through the mountains to explore the south coast, then back up via the Iya valley to the inland sea again to visit Naoshima, the island of modern art I had been umming and ahhing over.
My knee did not seen to be improving too much and I had run out of ibuprofen so I headed quickly to the local pharmacy to restock (armed with a Japanese instruction note from the ever-helpful guesthouse owners) and promptly had my pants pulled down, paying approximately eight pounds for twelve tablets. Given that ibuprofen is available in supermarkets for around 40p I was totally shocked but didn’t have too much choice and paid up!
I then took a long soak in the Dogo onsen, one of the oldest onsen in Japan, and famed for the healing properties of its waters, which sounded like just the ticket after my long ride. I tried a savoury rice cracker as is the fashion, post onsen, which was really nice, but probably not something I would choose to eat in England.
Back at the hostel I chatted with other travellers, and a few westerners making the pilgrimage before watching the sunset from the roof and finalising my short term plans. I then trotted to the end of the street to a recommended restaurant where I suffered a severe rush of blood to the head and ordered three meals – sea bream and rice, udon soup noodles and tempura – and cleaned it all up. Lovely!
An English Tour of Japan 