If you saw my post “On the way” Okayama then you’ll know just how much I love a good bridge. One of the things I was most looking forward to on my entire trip through Japan was cycling the Shimanami Kaido; a route that goes over 7 islands and 8 bridges, that takes you from Imabari on Shikoku to Onomichi back on Honshu (Japan’s main island). It’s about 75km (46 miles) and I tackled it over two days.

Bear in mind, I’m no expert cyclist – or barely even an intermediate one – but I was deadset on doing it. Fortunately, my pal Taka from Tokyo flew out to join me and we tackled it together. It was definitely one of the most physically challenging things I’ve ever done and consequently a huge achievement for me. It was awesome. Let’s get into why.

To begin with, I spent a day in the town of Imabari, the jumping off point for the Shimanami Kaido. Famous for towels (yes really) it also had quite an impressive castle which I enjoyed exploring. There were also several great viewpoints over the sea that I took the bus up to see.

The next morning, I shipped my luggage to Onomichi, rented my bike, and set off (Taka’s flight was delayed so he wound up joining me later). One thing I found super impressive was how dedicated cycle lanes had been constructed on the bridges, and that the approaches were built separately with gentle inclines – they spiralled around in gravity defying loops, meaning when you cycled on top of them you really felt like you were flying. The first and largest bridge went above an entire island, so surreal. The scenery was awe inspiring and I couldn’t stop stopping to take photos!

At the end of the first day, I arrived at my hostel for the night, and I met Taka there. We were already saddlesore, and one night’s sleep on a hostel bunk didn’t do a lot to fix that unfortunately. We very gingerly got on our bikes again in the morning and set off on the second leg of the journey.

The second day we did more sightseeing than either of us had done on the first. The islands we were crossing have rich histories and some beautiful architecture to visit, and it gave us a good excuse to rest our sore butts by walking round a bit. Seeing these beautiful places felt extra rewarding because you’d be unlikely to come here as a tourist without cycling here (or driving I guess).

The scenery continued to amaze and the weather held too. The going was thankfully fairly flat aside from the approaches to the bridges. But for every 100m we had to slog up, there was 100m of glorious free wheeling back down on the other side. That was definitely my favourite bit.

We arrived in Onomichi mid afternoon, and celebrated our achievement with a quick bath in a sento (we stank), and a big bowl of ramen.

75km of cycling, done. Amazing views, being in nature, seeing beautiful and historical sights, and admiring the incredible engineering of the 8 bridges; an absolute dream come true. I would gladly return to the area to cycle some other islands, or drive around to see more of the places I didn’t get to. It’s an incredibly beautiful part of the world, and somewhere I had been planning to visit for years. The sense of accomplishment I feel is huge. I love Japan so much!