Japan - day 2 - cycring

Note to self: it is not possible to cycle 7 hours in 7 hours. Apparently it takes about 9.

After a deep night's sleep, I woke at 6.30am for a 7am breakfast. I figured that it would be wise to get a decent night's sleep and a hearty breakfast on my first day, rather than head off at the crack of dawn. Probably not so wise.

Today's route started with the 70 km Shimanami Kaido cycling route, from Imabari to Onomichi. What a magnificent route! Three quarters of it was cycle paths, and not the shitty ones we get at home - no, these were smooth as a velodrome and completely blocked off from the beepers. That's cars, to you non-cyclists. The very first part was over the bridge, until you reached the first island, then the route, which was marked the whole way, winded round the island before hitting the next bridge. And so it was repeated for every island reached. At the end of the route, on the last island, you had to get a ferry, apparently the shortest in the world and I believe that! It took about 2 mins.

The Shimanami Kaido at sunrise, from Sunrise Itoyama Hotel.

The only people I spoke to on route was a fit Japanese-looking guy wearing Rapha cycling gear (unfortunately heading in the wrong direction) and an Australian-sounding couple who reckoned the toll booths were just for "donations". I think not. The weather was perfect, sunny but through thin cloud, around 10-13 degrees in the morning. At times there was a bit of wind (no, not mine; Mother Nature's) but it didn't ruin the tour. I stopped off a couple of times, once for a simple temple on top of a hill involving too many stone steps, and once for lunch at Kasenji Temple, which was absolutely stunning. All the photos of that are on my Nikon, so this will give to a taster: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3480.html It looked better than the photos on that page though, because the blossom were rife. Oh, how I love the blossom!

Do you know what else I love?

• Japanese drivers - so patient and polite
• Vending machines at the side of the road. I'm never more than a kilometre of two away from my newly discovered grape Fanta.
• Elderly Japanese people. They know how to rock a rock a trolley, and I've never seen anyone ride a bicycle with shopping bags on the handlebars that slowly but with that kind of control.
• The young lad who had pulled his face mask pulled down for a crafty fag. Seriously?!
• The way the Japanese can't say 'L's, so cycling becomes 'cycring'. It's fab!
• This sign:

Porcupine?

Got my first glimpse of people enjoying hanami:

The second part of my journey, the remaining 70km, was simply a race against time. With my late start and my impromptu temple visit (it was so worth it), I didn't have all that much time left to get to the campsite outside Soja, where I had planned to stay the night. The route was mainly through built up areas, even some large towns, but the drivers remained patient (except when I headed down a dual carriage way I shouldn't have been on when I got beeped. Rightly so!). It certainly wasn't the most scenic route, but it was pretty much flat the whole way. I arrived in Soja at 6.30pm, just as the sun was setting. There was still another 5km to the campsite, so I decided to find (thanks Google Maps and mobile wifi) a hotel. Hotel Ikedaya was an absolute steal, and with en suite shower (unusual to find apparently) at just under 6000 yen (that's about £35)!! Whoever said Japan was expensive needs to be hit round the head with an incense stick!

Now I'm sitting in an awesome little restaurant eating amazing Japanese cuisine and listening to One Direction. Can life get any better?! I'm even having a beer..! And another thing I love about Japan is the waitress at this restaurant - so sweet! I'm just about to have a lice ball; night all!

 

 

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