Many people have bucket lists – things you want to do during your short time on this planet. For me, some things get added to the bucket list as I am doing them. They weren’t originally on my bucket list because I didn’t know how awesome those things were going to be until I was in the midst of them. The Shimanami Kaido is one of those. It is an exhilarating bikeride through a stunningly beautiful landscape. We were grinning ear-to-ear the whole way, as did everyone else we saw along the route. When planning the trip I had no idea that it was going to be this good.
The Shimanami Kaido is a cycling pathway that follows a series of bridges from Onomichi, on the island of Honshu, to Imabari, on the island of Shikoku, crossing the Seti inland sea. Back in the 1990s, during Japan’s boom years, the Japanese government decided to connect Shikoku to the main island of Honshu with seven bridges that hop from one island to the next. Money was no object. The result is a civil engineering marvel: one of the bridges was the world’s biggest suspension bridge at the time of completion in 1999, and there is a multi- span suspension bridge that is 4.1 km long, the biggest in the world. At the time of design, they decided to equip each bridge with a bike lane. Thus, the Shimanami Kaido cycling course was born.
The Shimanami Kaido is about 70 km in length, not counting detours. Avid cyclists on road bikes can easily cover this distance in a day. As recreational cyclists, we decided to do the route in two days, giving us plenty of time to enjoy the scenery.
Onomichi
We started our trip in Onomichi, a port town facing the Seti inland sea. Onomichi has some pretty temples which connect via a popular “temple walk”. We spent an afternoon having a look around.
Still-life at a temple. Spot the preying mantis – I only saw it when I processed the photo, not when I took it.
Diana follows the “temple walk”. We had obtained a map of the walk at the tourist information center inside the train station.
Onomichi’s temples were beautiful and peaceful.
Mukaishima Island
The next morning we packed our big bags and shipped them off to a hotel we had booked for a few days later on. With our small bags we walked to the bicycle rental shop, picked up our bikes, and made our way to the passenger ferry to Mukaishima Island. While there is a bridge from Honshu to Mukaishima, the ferry is much shorter and easier. While waiting for the ferry we chatted with a gentleman from Singapore and his son. In the next picture they are just ahead of Diana.
On the ferry.
The ferry took us across the narrow waterway to Mukaishima. The first bit on Mukaishima was through a busy port town, but soon we were cycling on a quiet country road by the water’s edge. Little fishing villages dotted the shoreline. It was a beautiful sunny day with not a breath of wind, and we really enjoyed our surroundings.
We followed the blue arrows on the road that indicated the way.
We cycled to a viewpoint and rest area. A couple from Toronto took our picture.
The scenery was beautiful. Some locals were taking advantage of the nice weather by doing some fishing.
From the viewpoint we had a look at the first bridge to be conquered: the Innoshima Bridge.
The cycling trail went underneath the bridge, from where we had a good look at the bridge with the sun at our back. From here, a winding cycling trail climbed up to the bridge deck level.
Innoshima Bridge is a suspension bridge with a span of 1270 m. On this bridge, cyclists cross underneath the main bridge deck. As such the views were limited, but the ride across was still exhilarating.
Innoshima Island
We coasted back down to sea level and took a break at a sandy beach.
From here we turned inland and crested a steep hill. The road then led back to the shoreline.
Once again the cycling route passed underneath the bridge before a winding trail took us up though orange groves to the bridge deck level, 50 m above the sea. Just before the bridge deck there was a viewpoint with an interpretive sign.
Ikuchi Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge with a span of 790 m.
Continue to part two of our Japanese cycling adventure.
Logistics
The Shimanami Kaido begins in Onomichi. Note that the Onomichi Shinkansen (bullet train) station is a long ways from the center of town. It may be better to connect in Fukuyama by jumping on a regular Sanyo line train, which will take you to the center of Onomichi.
At the Onomichi train station there is a friendly tourist info. Ask for a map of the temple walk.
In Onomichi we stayed at the Onomichi Daiichi hotel. It’s an old-fashioned no-frills business hotel. It is well located and the bike rental terminal is literally just across the street. Some of the staff are rude. It’s okay for one night. There are other accommodation options in Onomichi.
We shipped our bags ahead with Takkyubin (Ta-q-bin, Yamato Transport). Takkyubin ships backpacks and suitcases anywhere in Japan, and will hold your bags until a set date. This allowed us to cycle with just our small backpacks with minimal overnight gear (change of clothes, toiletries, etc.) Our hotel didn’t offer Takkyubin pickup, so we dropped off our bags at the Takkyubin depot in the covered shopping arcade in the center of town. The cost is around 2000 Yen (20 CAD) per bag.
The Shimanami Kaido can be cycled from north to south or from south to north. Most people cycle north to south, as we did. The advantage of this is that the bridges become more spectacular as you go along. The argument for going south to north is that it’s easier to catch onward connections in Onomichi at the end of the trip.
We reserved our bikes online via this site. Our bikes were high-milers with significant wear, but they were well maintained and held up just fine. The rental place is near the train station – from the train station walk towards the waterfront and turn right.
The bicycle rental shop supplied us with a detailed map. The map shows a number of variations of the Shimanami Kaido. We cycled the “recommended route” which is the easiest and shortest, but there are also “intermediate” and “advanced” routes which take in more scenery. The “recommended route” is 70 km long. If I were to do the Shimanami Kaido again I’d plan some additional loops and do the route in 3-4 days.
It is possible to do a 1-day itinerary by cycling halfway across and then taking a bus or ferry back to Onomichi at the end of the day. But if you’ve traveled this far to come cycling you might as well do the whole thing. This is a bucket-list thing to do, after all.
In theory you are supposed to pay bridge tolls, which add up to about 500 Yen (5 CAD) for the whole trip. Most people we saw cycled right past the coin collection boxes. In any case, it’s wise to keep some coins handy. You’ll want to have coins handy anyways to get cold drinks from vending machines, which are literally everywhere. The ferry at the start of the trip costs 110 Yen (1 CAD).
We cycled the route in mid November and encountered mild and pleasant weather. This area gets very hot and humid in the summertime.