November 8, 2024
Day 44: Omishima to Kami-kamagarijima
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After a speed run of the Shimanami Kaido, today was more or less the opposite: low mileage and very easygoing. I had no idea that the path we're following now has its own name: the Tobishima Kaido.
Here's the obligatory morning campsite photo. Yes, that's a picnic table!
The only timetable we had to deal with was that of the ferry schedule. The last morning run is at 9:50. If you miss it, the next one doesn't come until something like 2:30pm.
As with other ferry operators in Japan, this one runs a tight ship. I expect there to be more safety checks and general dawdling by the crew before they allow us on. But nope, just as I'm about to get comfortable, they wave us on, and off we go.
All the islands in this chain are pretty small. There are two very small islands that basically act as stepping stones, with three bridges connecting two larger islands. The bridges are quite low, I assume since the passages between the islands aren't wide or deep enough for ships.
We found a nice map that more or less shows the route we're taking. It doesn't show the two islands we'll visit after a brief return to the coast tomorrow.
These bridges took us to the island of Osaki-Shimozima, which is home to an old town called Mitarai. We ate lunch in a cozy little place right on the outskirts.
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I started to notice strange contraptions wherever orange orchards appeared on hillsides. I recognized them immediately as fruit transport monorails. How did I identify them so quickly? That remains a partial mystery. I remember a movie we watched that had a chase scene involving these vehicles. You're only supposed to put boxes of fruit on them, but the guys in the movie were riding them. Anyway, these real-life transporters all looked very dilapidated. The one below a little less so.
There was a fellow we met in Mitarai who asked Mei about low-traffic places to ride. Being tourists, we had no idea. He ended up choosing the same route as us, and we eventually caught up with him. He chose well, as there were hardly any cars on this side of the island.
The next island we hopped to was Toyoshima, which has a sizeable town on its eastern shore. We stocked up at the store there. It wasn't much bigger than a konbini, but it had everything we needed.
The last bridge of the day leads to Kami-Kamagari. It's tall enough to allow ships underneath, which means we had to work pretty hard to climb up to it. And on the other side? A tunnel! There are ways around the tunnel, but we were ready to finish up the ride and laze around a camp site for a while, so we jumped at the chance to ride through the hill rather than around it.
The turnoff to our chosen campground was an impossibly steep and overgrown driveway, but sure enough, it's what Komoot told us to take. I looked closer, and found a more reasonable road about a hundred meters back. It was still steep enough to require us to push our bikes. We figured that the climb would have a good payoff in the form of a nice view of the water, and we were correct. This campground comes about as close to glamping as possible without it actually being glamping. It has nice bathrooms, a clean and spacious shower, free use of camp chairs and fire pits, and the nicest owner you could possibly imagine. And there are only seven sites! Quite an exclusive resort.
For the first and probably last time on this trip, we built a lovely fire to keep us warm while we watched the sun set. I'm normally not a huge fan of campfires due to the smoke, but the wood burned fairly cleanly. What I'd forgotten about is that the fire fosters a sense of community, where everyone gathers around and feels comfortable sharing stories or just sitting in silence together. It was a great way to wrap up this five-day camping streak.
Today's ride: 44 km (27 miles)
Total: 2,514 km (1,561 miles)
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