Cycling the Shimanami Kaido
We’d just moved to Japan – and everybody we spoke to recommended cycling the Shimanami Kaido. It quickly became adventure priority number one.
Desperate to get this ride done before the insufferable heat & humidity of Japanese summer kicked in, we picked a weekend in early July – before the public holiday & mandated holiday season began. As a result, we only had 2 days (Saturday & Sunday) to do an ‘out & back’ tour.
There are many different ways you could include this ride in a longer tour – for the rider with more time on their hands, I’d absolutely recommend spending more time on Shikoku island & riding back via Seto Ohashi Bridge to Okayama – or Awaji Island to Kobe. The latter would’ve been my ideal.
The Shimanami Kaido is a 70km cycle route, connecting Honshu Island with Shikoku Island via 6 smaller islands & 7 major bridges. The route uses dedicated cycle paths & offers spectacular coastal views as it passes through fishing villages & ports of the Setonaikai National Park.
How to get there
The route starts in Onomichi, in Hiroshima Prefecture and finishes in Imabari, Ehime prefecture on Shikoku island.
Onomichi does have a JR rail line connecting it to both Fukuyama to the East & Mihara to the south – both of which are larger cities and can be accessed via shinkansen.
Being new to Japan & not fully cohesive with the Japan rail system, we took the shinkansen to Fukuyama & rode to Onomichi.
Day 1:
Living & working in Japan meant we were constrained to weekend adventures as we found our feet in this new country. It just so happened that we picked a weekend with a heatwave & some of the hottest weather I’d ever experienced to go cycling the Shimanami Kaido.
From the insufferable heat & humidity of Nagoya, already sweating at 6am, we boarded the shinkansen and headed south. In Europe, if you want to do things in summer, its best you do it early – whereas in Japan, the same logic doesn’t hold true. You’ve either got high humidity & lower temperature, or lower humidity & higher temperature – either way, there’s never a time where it doesn’t feel hotter than the sun.
We got off the train at Fukuyama & began the battle out of Fukuyama. Riding through Japanese cities is a game of roulette – and not a very fun one on. Not when there is a set of traffic lights every 500m.
We headed south, towards Tomonoura in order to pick up the coast – hoping this might give us some breeze to combat the heat. and whilst there was a breeze, it was hot air. It was like using a hairdryer for air-conditioning.
Every 30 minutes we were into a convenience store, topping up Pocari Sweat & suncream. I even picked up some UV protectors – there’s only so much factor 50 can do to protect a fair-haired northern Englishman
One final city battle through Onomichi & we were finally at the start of the Shimanami Kaido. Admittedly, we were both pretty exhausted by this point, but the views were worth it. Seeing those pristine sandy beaches & smelling the coastal air felt that bit sweeter, coming from an industrial city with 10million inhabitants.
As we followed the way marked blue cycle paths, my GPD became redundant. You could be mistaken for thinking the route would be flat, with it being by the coast. Nope. Each bridge meant you had to ascend circa 100m.
Rolling into Imabari, we were spent. Salt stains on my bib shorts were some of the worst I’ve ever had. My GPS said max temperature of 47c.
Thankfully the humidity wasn’t nearly as bad on Shikoku. We wandered down to a nearby pizza place to replenish the Carbohydrate stores – which was run by an English speaker. Living in Nagoya can feel very isolated from Europe
Fukuyama – Imabari, 125km, 1000m, 5h30m ride time.
Day 2:
There was no way we were leaving it till 10am to start the ride back. We aimed for wheels down by 6am. Despite the airconditioned hotel, neither of us had recovered well. It was a much needed cool start to the day.
We took a slightly different route back – instead of climbing over Oshima Island, we went around. Seeing local fisherman out, casting off the shore was cool!
There were a small number of vendors dotted along the route – maybe we just weren’t familiar with how these street vendors operate in Japan – but it was incredibly difficult to figure out if they were open, whether it was self-serve, or whether it would be a quick turnaround. As a result, we stuck to convenience stores for resupply.
We rolled into Fukuyama, with Famichiki & 0% Asahi secured, perched under a bus shelter outside the train station to take a moment of celebration after cycling the shimanami kaido.
Imabari – Fukuyama, 107km, 650m, 4h ride time.
