Day 49 - Shimanami Kaido part 2 and on to Matsuyama しまなみ海道から松山へ

Bicycle touring Japan - Day 49

Today the second half of the Shimanami Kaido ride from Omijima over to Shikoku and then onwards by train to Matsuyama. 

Bicycle: 51  km
Train: 45 km 
Riding time: 3:30 h
Total ascent: 484 m 

Route: Omijima to Imabari by bicycle, on to Matsuyama by train

Weather: Sunny and some clouds, 15 C


Today, the second day on the Shimanami Kaido, crossing the remaining 3 bridges and 2 more islands (not counting a number of smaller islands that as base for the bridge(s). Islands are simply relaxing:

The day started in my ryokan with a Japanese breakfast. I have to admit that even after 49 days touring through Japan, I am not a fan of Japanese breakfast. Grilled fish, vegetables and rice is simply not my feel-good-food for breakfast. 

The first stop of the day was the only sightseeing spot today, except again the islands and bridges themselves. As I was staying in Miyaura on Omijima I visted the shrine right in the center of the village. Well... it's a shrine like many others as well:

Then I started my bicycle tour of the day. I continued on the island circle ride, but at some point (km 4.5) I took a road inland, which was the route I had planned with Garmin in advance. Over a slight hill, but all very manageable. Back on the coast there was some more up and down, but also here, quite manageable. As the islands are so close to each other, at one point I could also sea the last bridge of today's ride. On the picture below you can see it only very faintly to the right of the center of the picture. 

But here the first bridge, from Omishima to Hakata:

As yesterday there was a access way only for cyclists up to the bridge, winding gently up the hill through clementine groves. 

The island of Hakata was quickly crossed, as I didn't do any excursions around the island, and on to the second bridge:

There was a resting area just off the bridge, where I took a rest and booked a flight for tomorrow back from Matsuyama to Tokyo. Not because I really want to go now to Tokyo, but because I need to organize something for the removal to the Netherlands back in Tokyo... The rest here was slightly too long, so that I was starting to feel rather cold. Although the sun was shining and just occasionally a cloud came by, it was still just 15 C, so if you are not moving it gets cold in T-shirt and shorts. So I was happy to find relatively soon a coffee shop where I had a home made beef curry. Very warming!

Today there were noticeably less cyclists around compared to yesterday. Easy explanation, today was Monday!

But I saw more touring cyclists compared to other days. Most of them on heavily loaded bicycles. It is really amazing how many things one does not need to transport around by staying in hotels instead of camping. 

The islands are known for their citric fruits, but have also industry (e.g. shipyards) and stone quarries. 

The last island I crossed in the middle. Originally I had planned to go along one of the coasts as there where less hills, but once arrived, it kind of seemed that the suggested itinerary is straight through the island, so I just trusted this and followed it. It was not too hard. And it brought me to the last and longest bridge of all:

And it has a very special access for us cyclists:

On both ends:

And this finalized the ride over the islands toward Shikoku. I had a look at my further transport options and decided to ride into Imabari. The ride continues to be well indicated, but it is partly on a road with very heavy traffic. I had originally planned in Garmin a different road that seemed (on the map) to have less traffic, but when I was there I decided to follow the blue line indicating the Shimanami Kaido, hoping that also for the last kilometers into Imabari they had chosen a nice way, but this was not the case. It was kind of just the shortest way. But well, I arrived to Imabari station, where I got a local train to Matsuyama. 

In Matsuyama I got back on the bike to ride to my hotel in Dogo onsen. After the cold yesterday evening on Omishima, I was a bit concerned if I could ride without my stockings, but actually in Matsuyama it is not that cold at all. Even now in the evening. I had hoped to get a look of Matsuyama castle on my way, but actually it is on a high hill in the middle of the city, so I only saw it from quite far away in the night. 

After a first relaxing bath in my hotels onsen (including a rotenburo), I went to Dogo onsen, had dinner and then went to the oldest onsen in Japan:

Around the onsen there were many people walking around in their yukata. It was kind of strange, as Dogo onsen is no longer a village onsen, but just a part of Matsuyama, but it seems that in order to properly enjoy an onsen, it is more important to wear a yukata than to be in the nature. 

Although what I had read about this onsen was not specially promising (e.g. no rotenburo), I still went. How could I not visit the oldest onsen in Japan?

Well, it is still very popular. I went after dinner, around 21:00, but even at that time we were around 30 women at least in the onsen. The onsen pool is big enough, but not very large, and actually from inside this onsen looks much newer (and less interesting) than from outside. But still, how can one not want to take a batch in such a building?

Bicycle touring Japan - Ride maps

For details on the bicycle tour today in Shikoku, checkout the below maps:

Day 48 - Shimanamikaido part 1 しまなみ海道

Bicycle touring Japan - Day 48

This blog post describes the first half of Shimanami Kaido, probably the best cycle experience in Japan. 

Bicycle: 58 km
Ferry: 1 km 
Riding time: 3:45 h
Total ascent: 302 m 

Route: Onomichi to Omijima

Weather: Sunny and some clouds much less windy than yesterday, 15 C


Today finally the long awaited Shimanami Kaido, a famous bicycle lane over the Seto inland sea and a range of small islands to Shikoku. 

It is only the second time on my entire tour through Japan that I see many other cyclists. (The other area was around Biwa lake). But today it was really a LOT of cyclists, and very mixed. A few cycle tourists, a few families with small children on their bikes, mostly small groups or single men on racing bikes, but also small groups on rental mamacharis or other rental bicycles. 

The very first stretch of the road is actually by a very small ferry, just a few meters over to Mukaijima. On the ferry nearly only cyclists, ready to ride the Shimanami Kaido. Due to the fact that there were so many cyclists, it was surprisingly difficult to start a conversation. Well, I haven't really tried, but in many other places where I have come through, by the sheer fact of being a cyclist, I attracted interest. In a place where everyone is coming by bicycle, this was obviously no longer interesting. 

From this first ferry on all other islands are connected by by bicycle lanes over bridges, that were built for the expressway from Onomichi to Imabari. And not only that, even the access to these bicycle lanes are built with cyclists in mind: Cycle lanes that gently slope up to the bridge. 

And in between the cycle lane is extraordinarily well indicated. There are sign posts plus the road has a blue line to follow for the shortest island crossing or also for some detours. 

On the first bridge the cycle lane is below the cars:

The first bridge between Mukoujima and Innoshima:

And nice views over the inland sea...

... and the islands:

The islands are actually very hilly, but the cycle road is mainly at the coast and thus avoids most of these hills. But for cyclists wanting to add a climb or two, there must be definitely some opportunities. 

The second bridge between Innoshima and Ikuchi:

On Ikuchi was also the only "proper" sightseeing spot for today... although the main sightseeing was definitely the Seto Inland sea with all its islands. The "proper" sightseeing spot was Kosan-ji. A strange temple built around 80 years ago by a wealthy - by the looks of it - very wealthy Osaka business men for the spirit of his mother. It has absolutely everything and even more than what a Buddhist temple needs. Pagoda, stupa, temple, Kannon, a tunnel with hundreds of stone figures and depictions of Buddhist hell... Well, everything that money (made mainly in the weapon industry) can buy. 

It is very different from many other temples I visited. Here the quiet atmosphere lacks completely. It is more like a the plastic pirate ships on Lake Hakone. Curious and colourful. 

On top of the hill behind the temple is a Carrara marmor sculpture garden. 

I wouldn't say that it is nice, but it definitely shows of wealth very efficiently.

And last but not least, at the bottom of the hill there is even a fake castle.

It is obviously a spot well visited by the cyclists, but there are also bus tours and "normal" tourists coming here, to explore a out of the ordinary temple.

From Ikuchi over the third bridge to Omishima, my final destination for today. 

At the end of this bridge was the Cyclist Sanctuary... a photo spot:

I took an other break there, and then started my half-round of Omishima. While on the other islands, the cycling between the bridges is just on the streets, which however is no problem, as they don't have heavy traffic, on Omishima there is a specially built bicycle lane, even for the island round trip. 

On all the islands there are also a lot of citric plantations. Here some clementines:

And with that I arrived to my ryokan of the night. 

They suggested an onsen closeby, which was quite nice. More like a super-sento, but it had 4 different rotenburos plus 4 pools inside. One of the inside pools was with hot sea water! And one of the rotenburos was for walking in the water. Very relaxing and warming, which is good, as it gets in the evenings very cold now. 

Bicycle touring Japan - Ride maps

For details on the bicycle tour today in Hiroshima and Shikoku, checkout the below maps:

Part 9 (Day 44 - 47 ) - Okayama and around 岡山を周り - Summary

Bicycle touring Japan - Okayama and around - Part 9

In this post I review the cycle touring but also the excursions I did by train, bus and ferry from Okayama in days 44 to 47. 

Bicycle: 59.5 km

Other transport: 363 km

Region: Okayama area, including Kurashiki, Takahashi and Inujima island

Total riding time: 4:30 h

Total ascent: 319 m + half a mountain up to Matsumoto castle

Close to Okayama is the Kibi plain a spot relatively well known for cycling among tourists, plus there are many other touristic places close to Okayama, so a 3 night stay was perfect in this region. I didn't do a lot of cycling, partially because I didn't manage to find an accommodation on Inujima and partially because riding to Bichu-Takahashi would have taken an entire day and I also wanted to visit the Korakuen in Okayama on the same day, so the decision for the train was easy. However specially the Kibi plain is great for cycling with a cycle path that is different from many others in Japan, by using small country roads / paths that existed anyway linking them up to one 20 some kilometer long trail that does wind through the landscape and drop by a number of important shrines and temples in the area all proof of the long history of Kibi plain. In general this part of my trip through Japan was quite varied. 

Here an approximate map of the ride as Google shows it, the actual rides are, as always in the day-to-day descriptions:

The actual routes I took are in the Strava or Garmin feed of each day:

Day 44 - Osaka to Okayama

Day 45 - Kibi Plain and Kurashiki

Day 46 - Okayama's Korakuen and Matsuyama castle in Bichu-Takahashi

Day 47 - Inujima and on to Onomichi

And here an overview of the costs.

In general this part of my trip through Japan was quite varied, with some nice bicycle riding, an old city (Kurashiki), an old castle (Matsuyama), a modern art island (Inujima), a traditional Japanese garden (Korakuen) and the typical temples and shrines. Within only 3 days a lot of different (!) experiences. So that was nice after the more uniform experience in Shiga and Nara prefecture, which I also utterly enjoyed. 

In my original plan, I had planned the ride through Kibi Plain and Kurashiki, i.e. Day 45. I had completely neglected Bichu-Takahashi somehow assuming that riding there would be too hard/far/high (well, I did go there by train, but I think bicycle would have been possible if I had had the entire day, but as I wanted to see Korakuen in the morning, I had only half a day, so opted for the train). I had also planned to ride out to Hoden port, from where one takes the ferry to Inujima. But being a 25 km ride, doing this in a day and back PLUS having sufficient time to explore Inujima island would have been a too long, exhausting day. My original idea was to stay one night on the island. However the three accommodation possibilities on the island, were either occupied or not in operation. Looking back, I could have probably tried to find an accommodation in Hoden or close by and just come back with the last ferry from the island, sleep on the mainland and then back by bicycle to Okayama the next day. But a bus ride was perfectly fine as well. 

I did not have extremely high expectations for this region, so was positively impressed by the variation of nice touristic spots. Probably the one place that surprised me most was Kurashiki. I have seen on this trip (and before) other "old towns" in Japan, and often it is hardly one street, full of souvenir shops and tourists, like for example in Takayama. In Kurashiki it was much more than just one street, it is really like a small portion of the city that is well preserved. The channel in the middle also adds to the attractiveness. And last but not least this old town is remarkably different from others, such as Imaicho or Sawara in having a distinctive Meiji/Taisho era flair. There are tourists around, but nothing compared to Takayama.

The next part I really enjoyed, and that wasn't on my original plan at all, was Matsuyama castle in Bichu-Takahashi. It is one of the 12 remaining original castles in Japan, but also among those it is unique in its position high above the city on a mountain of about 400 m, overlooking the narrow valley and the other hills around. Being remote does also mean much less tourists. And it was probably the first spot in Japan where I had good koyo! Not excellent, but good enough. Hasedera in Nara was an other spot, but there is felt still slightly to early. 

Then the day on Inujima was also unique in being a modern art project, I don't want to call it museum, as the only museum building really has only 1 piece of art which I totally not enjoyed. Probably the nicest piece of art was the "flower house". I am sure it has a less poetical name invented by the artist, but in connection with the surrounding small village houses and the adjacent "lense house" it was very nice. And anyway, small islands in the Seto Inland Sea are simply nice and extremly relaxing by themselves. 

I have been talking a lot about the none-bicycle related excursions I have done, but actually the one and only ride I did, through Kibi plain, was also very nice. It has its fair share of temples and shrines. Probably nothing that can impress you after having visited Nara, but the cycle lane through that landscape is particularly nice, as it does NOT follow one river, but goes to each of the temples / shrines and uses small rural ways that gently wind through the generally flat landscape, surrounded by some hills. The cycle road is also extremely well signposted, so once you have found its starting point, you cannot get lost anymore. In that it is very similar to the Shimanami Kaido. Even the blue arrows painted on the road are similar to the big brother over the Seto Inland Sea. 

After the one day of rain since I restarted my ride on Day 38 in Maibara, that I used for work related issues in Osaka, again weather was perfectly fine for Okayama. But it is getting slightly colder and on Inujima the wind was strong and cold. But I guess that's only fair for early November. 

At this point of my cycle touring experience, my gear is all still appropriate, which is really good if you think that I started 2 months ago, in early September in Hokkaido and have changed practically nothing in my gear since then. Nothing has broken so far nor did I loose anything. So all fine!

Day 47 - Inujima art project 犬島「家プロジェクト」

Bicycle touring Japan - Day 47

In this blog post I describe my visit to Inujima art project, a very small island in the Seto Inland sea.

Bicycle: 20 m
Train: 90 km
Bus: 50 km
Ferry: 5 km

Route: Okayama to Inujima and back and then on to Onomichi. All by public transportation.

Weather: Sunny, some clouds and quite windy, 15 C


Today an other day without riding, but a lot of sightseeing. On weekends there is special direct bus from Okayama to Hoden port from where there is a very small ferry to sail to Inujima. Inujima is a very small island, only 4 km circumference and about 50 very elderly inhabitants, but it is part of the Seto Inland Islands art project, together with the slightly bigger islands of Naoshima and Teshima. I had been to Naoshima and Teshima in the past and enjoyed them thoroughly, so today I made my way to Inujima. Originally I had planned to go by bicycle and stay a night. It's about 25 km riding from Okayama, so the idea was to ride out there e.g. in the afternoon, take a ferry over, sleep on the island, visit it the next day and then come back and ride back to Okayama. However there are only 3 accommodation possibilities on the small island. One was already fully booked, one not operating and one never answered to the phone. So I decided to make it instead a day trip, but then by bus, as 50 km riding PLUS a day on the island visiting the art projects seemed a bit too hard. 

Islands, specially small ones, are for me immediately relaxing. And the ones in the Seto inland sea somehow remind me of small islands in the Mediterranean Sea. 

Inujima in addition to being a small, enjoyable island, also has a museum and a number of art houses with installations. The art museum is in an old abandoned copper refinery, which only was operative for 10 years. The bricks it is constructed off are made of copper slag. Also many other islands in the inland sea where quite industrial some 100 years ago.

Out of the abandoned refiner, an architect carved a new museum, specific to only one work of art.

I have to admit that I enjoyed only one work of art in here, and I am not even sure if that was "art" or "architecture". The entrance to this museum is below ground, i.e. the above picture is from the roof of the museum. One comes in to a very dark, straight passage way that sounds of wind. At the end of the passage way is a mirror and one needs to turn left. The mirror however is at 45 degrees and one sees all the time a very distant lighted exit. But one needs to turn. If you look back, in the same mirror, you will see an image of the sun. And then again, an other mirror at 45 degrees, and you need to turn. Again the same, distant light in front, the sun behind. Until the very end of this labyrinthic experience. Then finally you are in front of yet an other mirror, but this time facing up and showing the sky above the museum, but if you look into it, it still looks like in front of you. Very intriguing. And all this with the wind sounding.

Then the passage ends in a room with some art, dedicated to Yukio Mishima. I did neither like that art nor do I like this person... So that was quite a low point after this great entry into the museum space.

Outside of the museum the view over the inland sea somehow reminded me of ancient Greek ruins:

Or maybe medieval castle ruins?

Across the island there are a number of "art houses". Small buildings with some contemporary art. I liked this one with the different lenses, as part of a street, through which you can see the house behind it, but upside down, in thousand variations:

Right next to it, yet an other transparent building, made by the same artist with destructured, artificial flowers. It is an entirely round structure, where you can stand in the center and see through the art (flowers) the village.

Walking further on there was also this curious project. It is not part of the "official" art of Inujima, but it is still curious. On opening days (but not today) one can even go inside the dog (犬　"inu" in Japanese) and look through his eye.

Walking on an other official art piece, this time symbolizing the sun rays. (although seeing it from far, I thought initially that it would be hammock... but touching was prohibited...

It was still nice to see it swing in the quite strong wind. Today I had brought only a cardigan and not my warmer jacket, as sun was forecast. And the sun did shine... but it was also quite windy, so it became sometimes rather cold. Thus I was happy to find the one and apparently only restaurant right next to yet an other art house project and had spaghetti with spinach pesto, as surprisingly on this small island, this place was specialized in 2 pasta dishes.

Then back to the ferry, back to Okayama, back to my bicycle and luggage which I had left in my hotel and on with the next train to Onomichi.

In Onomichi the ride over the Shimanami Kaido starts, a famous cycling experience in Japan. And this is immediately noticeable. When I arrived at the station, I was not alone in dragging a bicycle out of the train (but the quickest in getting it back to roll). My hotel does surprisingly not have a bicycle parking lot, but instead invites its guests to sleep with the bicycle:

So here we are... enjoying a nice night view over the harbor that is already on the first island of tomorrow.

Day 46 - Okayama and Takahashi 岡山と備中高梁

Bicycle touring Japan - Day 46

In this blog post I review my visit to Korakuen garden in Okayama and to Matsuyama castle in Takahashi, surrounded by the first really nice koyo of this trip

Bicycle: 8.5 km
Train: 100 km
Taxi: 6 km
Riding time: 40 min
Total ascent: 39  m + half the hill of Matsuyama castle

Route: Okayama Korakuen and then by train to Bichu-Takahashi and back

Weather: Sunny, not a single cloud, 17 C


I didn't spend a lot of time today on the bicycle (nor will I tomorrow), but I saw my first real koyo:

I started late and really only had on my program today to see the Korakuen garden in Okayama and then to relax in the city. But the weather was so nice and I discovered that there is an other of the 12 remaining original castles not too far, so I made my way there... but by train & taxi.

The day started in Korakuen, a typical Japanese pleasure garden. 

There was already some koyo ...

... and even the koi dressed for the occasion:

In the garden there were at least 3 couples taking wedding pictures...

... and one guy from Google Street view taking pictures... So probably in a few months time I will still be in Korakuen.

After the visit to the park, I went to my new hotel in Okayama. I had only reserved 2 nights in the one on the hill, and as it was quite inconvenient (nothing around for dinner), I decided to stay the last night down in town, which will also be much closer to the bus station from where I will go to Inojima tomorrow.

In Okayama town, there are some bicycle lanes, some are a bright blue line on the street, others are properly built cycle lanes, well separated from cars and pedestrians and yet others are the typical Japanese co-habitation of cyclists and pedestrians on the walkway. Having cycle lanes however doesn't mean that they are being used by cyclists only. Cars do park on them, pedestrians invade them, and yes, cyclists also drive on the walkway, when there is a cycle lane right next to it. That's Japanese cycling! Surprising for a country where there would seem to be a rule for everything, but not for cycling. (Well, there are rules... but cycling rules are widely ignored).
There is also a bicycle sharing program. I have seen a number of stations, but no one using these bikes.

I left my bag and bike at the hotel and went to the nearby station to take the express train to Bichu-Takahashi. From there on with a taxi half way up this high hill (over 400 m) to the highest castle in Japan, and one of only 12 surviving old castles in the entire country. This number of 12 old castles is always being stressed in each of them, and they also all have pictures of the other 11 hanging in one exhibition room. This castle today, Matsuyama, was definitely one of the nicest of these 12. High up on a hill, overlooking the other hills around and the river below and with koyo that is near to its peak.

That small, white point on top of the mountain is the castle, as seen from the station

This roof kind of reminded me of the Great Wall of China. I can't really explain it why, but it is the combination of the mountains in the distance and the dragon-like shape on the roof.

A very nice castle, and as it is quite hard to access (car + shuttle bus + 15 min walk or taxi + 15 min walk, the walk being steep uphill), there were not a lot of tourists, no foreigners, and also not that many Japanese on this wonderful autumn day. So I could enjoy the castle quietly in the sinking sun. 

Bicycle touring Japan - Ride maps

For details on the bicycle tour today in Okayama, checkout the below maps: