GW2025 D8 along the coast of Shodoshima

Route: Ikeda to Fukuda along the coast 
Bicycle: 65 km
Ferry: 41 km
Total ascent: 759 m
Average speed: 14.5 km/h
Riding time: 4:30 h
Weather: cloudy and humid, quite windy, 24C but felt warmer

On my last day (for this trip... but definitely a place to return) on Shodoshima, I went west along the coast, taking in more art and nice views of the landscape as I was riding. 

The main road itself isnt really full of traffic as it is a relatively small, albeit not tiny island. However half way up the hills is often a farm road with no traffic at all and great views out onto the sea over the slopes. Here with the olive groves Shodoshima is famous for. 

So famous that one of the art works is an enormous Elvis - olive in a grove. 

The entrance to the port (not Fukuda, a different port) even had this Greek entrance gate. Complete with a Greek inscription. 

In that same port was also a designer toilet ...

... imitating a small shrine just behind it. 

The best art of the day was in this old town house transformed now into a permanent exhibition of a famous photographer. This isn't really part of the triennial, but the owner did jump on the art ship. And for me it was probably one of the best art works I saw in this triennial together with the bamboo dome I had seen a few days earlier also on Shodoshima. 

This artist painted an object, here an entire room and then takes a picture of it from a very specific angle. So the interesting part was to see how this piece of art WOULD transform if not looked at from exactly the right vantage point. 

Even better was a gold circle painted in an other room... you can check it out in the film on my strava profile. 

Other art was ... well... decorative at best. 

From there less art, more landscape. On very quiet roads along the coast.

I made it in good time to Fukuda port, enough to have a quick look at the art exhibition in the local (abandoned) school. And enough time to pack up my bike. Because due to high waves (per the ticket seller 7 m!) the bicycle wasn't allowed in the car ferry section... but was allowed as a bag in the passenger section if properly packaged. Luckily I had enough time and my rinko bag. 

I strongly doubt that there was any wave higher even 3 m... and for sure no wave higher than 7 m... but rules are rules. And yes, it WAS windy. 

In Himeji port I put the bike together again and had found a super sento not too far from the port, and headed straight there. It was a totally typical supersento in an ugly industrial area. But what made this onsen special (and not in a good sense) was the smell from the surrounding industries. There must have been some chemical plant, and essentially everything smelled very chemical. When riding later to my hotel which was maybe about 5 km from there, I noticed that the entire city at least closer to the port, seemed to smell of that very same chemical exhaust. So the super sento isn't to blame for it... but it did reduce the enjoyment of the relaxation. 

GW2025 D7 Rain on Shodoshima

Route: Ikeda to Tonosho and back
Walking: 3,5 km
Bus: 15 km
Total ascent: 84 m
Walking time: 1 h
Weather: rainy and very windy, but warmer thab expected , 29C

After the brilliant day yesterday, today was a rainy and windy day. I had reserved a ticket for the museum on Teshima a few days ago, but I actually canceled it today out of fear that the ferry might stop running. The weather forecast and reality, had winds of up to strength 8. Now I don’t really know what the unit of this wind measurement is, but I do remember that strength 10 I experienced a few months ago on Boso Peninsula was scary strong. So taking a boat to another island and needing to return back to Sadoshima didn’t seem like the safest choice. Instead, I walked down to the small village around the port of Ikeda and took a bus from there to Tonosho, the next village over. Around the port there are a few exhibits from the art triennial. Nothing really to write home about. 

At the tourist information center I got a recommendation for a local speciality restaurant: Soumen. Very thin noodles. Frankly, I don’t know what is so special about these. They tasted OK but also nothing that I would consider extremely special. But it is the recognizing local speciality.

When I had finished lunch, it had started to rain a little bit harder and the wind was getting stronger so I decided to take the next possible bus back to my home village. And was in big luck that the next bus was leaving just within a few minutes from me arriving at the bus terminal. The bus only left me down in the village because the other route that goes up here, where my hotel is outside the village overlooking the bay, only runs every now and then. But luckily, the rain was kind of OK and the wind wasn’t too much of a problem either.

I spent the afternoon first in the lobby, trying to read a local manga that seems to be famous on this island. I just read the first chapter, and it was quite simply about some school friends. Not really sure how you can write many volumes about them. 

Later on, I moved to the communal bath, relax there a little bit then to my room watch some Netflix and now I have just come back from dinner, which luckily I managed to reserve yesterday.

Tomorrow will be my last day on the island and the weather will be fine again. I’m planning on a bit more art and a ride along the coast to a port from where I can take a ship back to Honshu.

GW2025 D6 The beauty of Shodoshima

Route: around (not all of it) Shodoshima

Bicycle: 69 km (marking finally 3000 km this year) 
Ferry: 25 km
Total ascent: 1190 m
Average speed: 13 km/h
Riding time: 5:10 h
Weather: sunny and again great temperature, 20C

Today I left the big island of Shikoku and went to the second largest, Shodoshima. The island is famous for its olive trees. Also here are parts of the art triennial. But no art museum. My initial plan was very ambitious to see art and ride to the top of the island. I realized when I was at the first art valley, that my plan was not achievable. So I replanned. Actually I replanned later an other 2 times adding more kilometers, more elevation, more views and more art. 

This first valley I went to is famous for its rice paddies. I cycled up through them until I reached the well that feeds these paddies to enjoy the view over the entire valley.

Down in the valley there are a few more art installations. Including this bamboo dome built by a Taiwanese artist which integrates perfectly into the landscape and is extremely relaxing to sit inside. Hear the noises of the forest and fields around you while being in this semi closed space completely constructed with bamboo.

From there were indications downstream to another artwork reachable by a pleasant walk at the border of the forest. This artwork was in an old mill where machines were playing old wooden utensils, including old soumen (the famous noodles of this region) boxes.

After recovering my bicycle, I continued further downstream And came by this kabuki theatre in the middle of fields.

In the next village, there was some more art exhibits, including this rather disturbing house half filled with water and with creatures that could rival any ghost train. One can even write through it on a small boat, within the house. As the boat master was on lunch break when I arrived. I also went to lunch in a close by and now closed school. But the Charon never arrived , so I just had a look and then continued on my way. 

My replanned route took me now over to the other side of the island where this egg is standing. To get there I needed to get over a small pass on the top of which there was this wonderful bus waiting room was probably the nicest view of any bus stop I’ve seen in a long time.

The place where the egg stands doubles also has a view point for the sunset.

I continued down to the coast and he replied my ride again to take in more of the coast and a small road running along that coast with a little traffic.

As I hadn’t managed to reserve dinner for today, I bought some dinner at a convenience store a few kilometers before my hotel. Stuffed the dinner into my pockets and my T-shirt and then proceeded to the check-in. But the day was so nice that I wanted to continue riding and there’s another peninsula with more art closeby so I replanned again my ride.

I was too late for the artworks indoors, but the outdoors could be enjoyed. After a lot of up and down I pretty much felt like this statue.

I managed to return to my hotel right in time for the sunset view.

GW2025 D5 a bit of everything

Route 1: small round of Naoshima
Route 2: Takamatsu - temple 82 - 81- back to Takamatsu 
Bicycle: 63 km
Ferry: 32 km
Total ascent: 907 m
Riding time: 4:54 h
Weather: sunny but not hot, 20C

With everything ongoing at work, and with building the house, I didn’t have a lot of time to organize this Golden Week trip. I reserved the hotels a few weeks ago, but that was about it. So I didn’t realize that for the museums in Naoshima, one now needs a reservation. So when I finally checked yesterday evening, I saw that there was no more reservations possible for the entire week. Luckily I didn’t go yesterday in the rain, hoping to be able to see museums. It is likely I wouldn’t have been able to access them. There are a few that during the art triennial are accessible without reservation, but they also run a reservation program at the same time, so probably if you turn up without a reservation you’re just stuck in a long queue waiting. In the rain.

So I went today in perfect weather conditions, however, my bicycle wasn’t in perfect conditions. I noticed in the morning that the rear tire had only a little bit of air left in. Luckily, there was a bike shop right in front of my hotel which left the pump outside on the pavement. So I filled the tube there, cycled to the port, took the ferry over to Naoshima, but by the time I arrived on the island, the tire was very soft again. I got a pump at one of the bicycle rental shops in the harbor, but also had a look at the tire and it was clear that this tire hadn’t a hole, rather it lacked the rubber from too much riding.

So I just did a quick round of Naoshima, to the few pieces of art that are actually accessible on a day where all the museums are closed. These were the same pieces of art I already saw back in 2016 when I was here for the first time. Back then no reservation for any of the museums was needed. I just remember that we were waiting in a small queue in front of one art exhibit, but that was about it. And that was also in the middle of golden week. So clearly this art triennial has taken off in popularity, plus there are many more international visitors to Japan and this area.

Naoshima is probably best known for its “pumpkins” designed by Kusama Yayoi.

Pumpkin 1:

Pumpkin 2: 

And even a “traffic” sign for the pumpkin:

Next time I come to Naoshima I must be better prepared with reservations for some of the museums. Probably it is better to visit the island outside of the triennial.

While on the island, I called a bicycle shop in the harbor of Takamatsu and confirmed that they would be able to replace the tire. After my quick round of the island, I took back an early ship to Takamatsu got the bicycle repaired while I was having lunch at the station.

This left me with the entire afternoon free for another ride. On Shikoku there’s a pilgrimage to 88 temples that are spread around the entire island.When I came to Takamatsu yesterday, I saw that there were two on a mountain just outside of the city, so I planned a ride there.These were temples, 82 and 81.

There was even another pumpkin.

I had actually been to both of these temples nine years ago on my very first trip to Shikoku. Back then we were traveling by car. Actually, I remember letting my ex-husband out at the bottom of a path up to temple number 81, so that he could hike up, while I was driving up. I would not have imagined to ride up this mountain by bicycle back then.

I was actually surprised how many meters of elevation this mountain/hill was. 

On the way down back to the plains, I was rewarded with the spectacular view over towards Sakaide. 

On the ride back to the city, I tried finding smaller roads. In some places I succeeded, in others, not so much.Japan simply outside of the major megalopolis like Tokyo, Osaka, etc., is a car country. We forget that living in Tokyo.

GW2025 D4 some art in and around Takamatsu in the rain

Route: not really, just Takamatsu and Shikoku mura
Walking: 14 km
Train: 10 km
Total ascent: 242
Walking time: 3:25 h
Weather: rain in the morning, grey in the afternoon, 15 C

It seems that the destiny of Day 4 of Golden Week is rain. I just saw in my Strava feed that last year I was walking from an onsen back to a train station in the rain around Mt Aso. This year I am not in a onsen rich region (for Japanese standards). Here the topic is art. 

I had initially considered to go to Naoshima as per plan, but without the bicycle. However the entire morning it was raining and pretty cold. Luckily I brought my light down jacket. And bought a sturdy umbrella in a conbini close to my hotel. But even so it seemed a miserable idea to go to a small island in that rain. Not everyone agreed. There were plenty of people going by ferry, although likely much less than anticipated for the last day of Golden Week. 

I just looked at some “art” around the port. I say “art” as at least this piece of “art” is so far from being art , that I wonder how it made it on the list.

A few other things were around but all far from leaving any impression. 

For lunch I had the famous Udon of Takamatsu, all my Japanese colleagues mentioned that I must eat Udon here, went briefly back to the hotel (which has a trap called TV set with Netflix connection), before venturing out again and going to the museum village of Shikoku Mura. 

It assembles old houses brought here from many parts of Shikoku. Plus a modern art museum built by Tadao Ando.

When back in the hotel (now I am in a very small train going back to the city) I’ll have a long, warm soak in the onsen (with rotenburo!) and then do some “homework” for my house building. In the Tadao Ando museum there was an art installation that asked for visitors to contribute a shape that is currently close to them. I built my house. 

GW2025 D3 Setouchi Art Triennial around the Seto-Ohashi bridge

Route: Okayama - Seto Ohashi - Takamatsu
Bicycle: 66 km
Train: 53 km
Total ascent: 565 m
Average speed: 13,4 km/h
Riding time: 4:54 h
Weather: sunny a few clouds but not THAT warm, 18C

Today was another perfect day, that didn’t go to plan. I got up relatively early and took a train from Okayama over to Shikoku. It passes over a long bridge going through the Setonaikai dotted with islands. I got off at the first stop on Shikoku, assembled the bicycle, and then set out to the art exhibits around the bridge.

The first piece of art I saw was this small hill, which wasn’t a tomb, like the slightly bigger hill I saw a few days ago in Kibi plain.

From there, I followed the signs for some other pieces of art around it, none of which really impressed me.

In the small village of Seicho, they were three abandoned schools. The kindergarten, elementary school and junior high school.well now closed and used as temporary exhibition sites for this art festival. However, the artists didn’t seem to have a lot of ideas, so most of the exhibits in all three schools were kind of just stuff that was already in those school buildings abandoned, put together and reclaimed as art.

There was really only one piece of art that I thought was interesting. It was a still life photographed over several weeks in a style similar to Caravaggio. It started with a very abundant display of fruit and vegetables, very colorful and apparently full of life in front of a dark background. Initially, you didn’t notice anything, but looking at it for some time, one could appreciate the change from this fresh, full of vitality, display of fruits and vegetables, to the decay.on the wall behind, there was still a clock from the school, which every minute was the change of the hand gave a loud noise. So you could hear the passing of time, while seeing it reflected in the unstoppable decay of rotting fruits, and vegetables.

With all this art time flew by. At one of the schools, there was even a service for some lunchboxes, and freshly fried fish, so I had lunch there, and it was clearly too late to ride to Kotohira shrine and make it up there.It’s already the second time I’m here in this area of Shikoku and do not manage to get to this famous shrine. So a good reason to come back sometime in the future.

Instead, I saw that there was one piece of art that still belongs to this area, which was between the area around the bridge and Takamatsu. So I replant the ride to get to also this piece of art. Which essentially was a small village park with a bench and a place to light a bonfire.

It was however, early enough to make it to Takamatsu and still have more than sufficient time to see again the superb Ritsurin garden.this is definitely the best Japanese garden that I have seen. Although it didn’t make it on the official list of the three best gardens. What I really like about it how it incorporates the nature around it into the garden. It offers so many different view points that you could easily spend an entire day in this garden discovering new views.

Part 10 (Day 48 & 49) - Riding the Shimanami Kaido over the Seto Inland Sea しまなみ海道 - Summary

Bicycle touring Japan - Riding the Shimanami Kaido - Part 10

In this post I review my experience in riding the Shimanami Kaido, one of the best cycling courses in Japan, over 6 bridges connecting Honshu with Shikoku over the Seto Inland Sea, using small islands as bridge bases. 

Bicycle: 109  km

Other transport: 136 km

Region: Shimanami Kaido from Onomichi all the way to Imabari

Total riding time: 7:15 h

Total ascent: 786 m 

Finally the famous Shimanami Kaido ride! This is definitely a unique cycling road in Japan. Probably in other countries (e.g. central Europe) similarly well indicated cycling roads do exist, but in Japan this is quite unique. And not only that it is well indicated and riding through a nice landscape, the Seto Inland Sea, but the planners of this ride have considered cyclists when building the express way bridges linking Honshu to Shikoku. Each of the 6 bridges (i.e. exluding the first 7th brigde) have a special cycle lane, which is even separated from an other special small motorcycle lane. Also the access to these bridges were built with the cyclist in mind. Perfect ramps up (and down), with an ascent of about 3% but also always in between short stretches of less ascent to catch your breath. Specially the entry to the last bridge was spectacular, with a looping ramp high over the sea. 

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 48 - Onomichi to Omijima

Day 49 - Omijima to Imabari

And here an overview of the costs. 

I would say that this ride was very similar to what I had originally planned. However to ride this, actually no planning of the route is required. There are good signs everywhere and a blue line on the asphalt leads you through the course. I started on a Sunday with good weather and it was definitely a very popular ride with hundreds of cyclists. And all kind of cyclists enjoying this ride. Families, sport cyclists, middle aged ladies on mamacharis, foreigners, young Japanese couples, bigger groups and solo travelers, including a few other cycle tourists. But on Sunday mostly day trippers. On Monday this changed, much less cyclists, still more than in any other place in Japan on a normal week day. 

The main attraction of the Shimanami Kaido is the ride itself with its bridges and the view over the sea and the many small islands. The islands themselves are surprisingly hilly, but not so much the cycle road, as it is mainly on the coast where relatively flat streets have been built. But if you are into cycling up hill, there are definitely opportunities on these islands as well. In Ehime prefecture I had the impression that the cycle road became even better with special cycle roads even on the islands, not only on & towards the bridges. Specially the first half of Omijima had a nice cycle lane. 

Now at mid November it was time for the clementine harvest and it was very nice to see all these trees with the bright orange fruits. Somewhat these islands reminded me of the Mediterranean sea. And islands are simply the ideal place to relax. Apart from the islands themselves, the only somewhat touristically interesting spot is the Kosanji temple. It is not a classical temple, but more like a "best-off" interpretation of Buddhist temples. It could also be in Japan theme park somewhere in the US. It even had a Japanese castle. And the strange marble garden on top of the hill mainly convened the idea of money to spend. But after having seen a lot of normal, i.e. traditional, Japanese temples something different is also an attraction. 

Obviously to the overall enjoyment of the ride contributed the perfect weather. Sunny plus a few clouds. During the day it was still okay to ride in T-shirt, skirt and sandals. In the evening on Omijima however it got very cold! But the onsen was closeby and heated me up reliably. Timing for this ride was also perfect, as on the next day after finalizing the trip in Matsuyama it started to rain. 

Regarding gear, although it is already mid November, my relatively light dresses are still okay. 

What was annoying that with Garmin it is not possible to plan the entire Shimanami Kaido as one route. Garmin always thinks that bicycles are not allowed on the express way, which is true, and thus does not offer the possibility to use the bridges. It is very disappointing that such a well made and well known cycle lane is completely unknown to the Garmin planning algorithm.

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: