May 26, 2017
Hojo to Michikashima: Off Shikoku and onto the Shimanami Kaido
Although we were up at a quarter to five, there were already a few walkers using the sports park where we camped last night. We had a quite a bit of dew and so we didn’t rush to pack up because we wanted things to dry as much as possible.
The first stop for the day was at a Lawson’s konbini that had a nice area for working. So we bought some croissants and coffee for breakfast and spent an hour working.
A few kilometers down the road, along a side road along the coast, we saw two small tents pitched with bicycles parked next to them. It the Irish guy and his French friend we had met the previous week. It was their last day together because the Irish chap had got a job at a guest house in Imbari and the French guy was carrying on cycling.
A little later we past another cycle tourist. This time it was a Japanese fellow – Panda from Chiba – who was touring Japan “slowly”. The Shimanami Kaido cycle path joins Imabari on Shikoku with Onomichi on Honshu via the most spectacular set of bridges spanning the islands in between. Once we started the climb up to the first of the bridges we started encountering many day cyclists, mostly Japanese and mostly obviously recreational and not serious cyclists. We did pass one cycle tourist – from Thailand – who had cycled from South Korea which he said was “very nice”.
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We stopped off at the Michi no Eki at Yoshiumi Iki Iki where we enjoyed a large bowl of Udon noodles, a small bowl of pickles and a good helping of rice. Great food for cyclists.
Then it was on to a tiny island where we knew a free campsite could be found. The small campsite is next to a beach that overlooks the harbour and town on the next island – Anita O’Connel had told us about it when we met her on the Kyoto to Nara cycle path. Being a Friday, it is quite busy with nine other tents pitched already. Despite being hemmed in between the bridge above and the harbour across the water it still has a calm feel to it.
There has been quite a strong wind blowing this afternoon, the first time on this trip. The weather gods have been very kind to us so far.
Today's ride: 56 km (35 miles)
Total: 784 km (487 miles)
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