November 10, 2024
Day 46: Hiroshima to Iwakuni
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This may not go down as the most memorable day of touring. It wasn't physically challenging, it wasn't particularly exciting, it isn't the beginning or the end or even the halfway point. It was a day we said goodbye to Mei, who managed to get himself, his bike, and all his gear onto the #7 streetcar with no trouble whatsoever.
It was also a day we said goodbye to all our camping gear. We're heading into the mountains again, but this time there seem to be few camping opportunities. It might so happen that there's a fine impromptu camping spot around every corner, in which case we might regret our choice, but I kind if doubt it. Besides, I've booked hotels or guesthouses for the next three nights, so we've got an itinerary to stick to. It feels a little constraining, but at the same time it's great to know we can spin all day and simply lay our weary heads to rest (thanks, Kansas) at the end of it.
It won't sink in that we're now credit card tourists until tomorrow, when we depart with only two bags to our names. We sent the other four to a post office in Fukuoka near where I've booked our last two nights in Japan. We talked and talked about doing this for the past couple of days, and just when I thought we would give up and continue to haul everything with us, we discovered that the post office across the street from our hotel in Iwakuni is open on Sundays until 6pm. We frantically grabbed the bags and headed over. The postal worker was incredibly helpful, but it was still very stressful. We felt like we were racing the clock. Indeed, by the time we'd crossed all our T's and dotted all our I's, it was 5:57. It cost us the equivalent of about $25. I think it's money well-spent. Perhaps we lose the caché of being part of the fully-loaded set, but we'll probably gain a couple kilometers per hour from it. It'll be interesting to see. We haven't credit card toured since our early days renting bikes and panniers on Lopez Island, staying in cottages and bed and breakfasts. I'm just now remembering how exciting and new that all felt. Maybe we'll experience some of that same exhilaration tomorrow.
We had a late start today, both in order to see Mei off and to stretch things out on this short riding day. Even then, we made an unplanned side trip to ensure we didn't reach Iwakuni too early.
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The Ota River fans out into as many as 5 branches as it reaches the sea in Hiroshima. This provides ample opportunity for riverside trail riding. It's how we came in, and it's how we left.
We were prepared for a lot of urban and industrial scenery today. We also expected high traffic, including lots of trucks, but it wasn't bad at all. I'm sure that it being Sunday had a lot to do with it.
The side trip I mentioned earlier is one of the big tourist "checklist" attractions: Itsukushima Jinja. Even if you don't know what it is or where it is, you've most likely seen the red torii gate in the water in a photo somewhere. It's as iconic as Mt. Fuji. We wanted to skip it because it really doesn't seem to be that big of a deal, and we assumed it would be crowded with tourists and more stinky deer.
All these things were true, yet we still enjoyed it. It was much mellower than Nara Park. We brought our bikes across on the ferry, which I'm not sure we would do if we had it all to do over again. We justified it by riding away from the center of attention to the much plainer shrine on the other side of the ferry docks.
The clouds rolled in during this time. The threat of rain was proving to be all too likely. Do we continue to flounder about on the island, or do we make haste towards Iwakuni? Neither. We hadn't eaten yet, so that had to be remedied first. Given the weather, a bowl of hot ramen was starting to sound good, so I found a place far enough from the madding crowds to ensure a cheap and quick meal.
Back on the road, Komoot worked very hard to keep our time on the national road to a minimum. I think it worked too hard today. Like I said, traffic wasn't bad, but the road was a little boring, so we appreciated the little detours. That is, until it routed us up a steep hill, kept us rolling for a while, then took us down an even steeper hill. Was it a good warmup for tomorrow's mountain stage, or just a waste of our energy? I'm not sure.
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Iwakuni feels a lot like Aormori. Aormori was a long ways back. Maybe it's the covered malls and the rainy evening. More likely, it's the fact that they're both smallish cities that seem to have been forgotten by whatever advances have been made over the past couple decades. I'm starting to dig the vibe. It reminds me of some of the places we visited in Italy: somewhat shabby, but still retaining a lot of character and dignity.
After the stress of the post office rush, we took a long break back at the hotel until we regained our appetites. After walking around for a bit, we settled on an Indian place that ended up being pretty good. Quite a few Americans are here, both in town and in the restaurant. There's a Marine Corps air station here.
By tomorrow afternoon, the boisterousness of my young compatriots will be far behind us, as we return to the slow life of the mountains and the countryside. That'll be nice.
Today's ride: 42 km (26 miles)
Total: 2,629 km (1,633 miles)
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