Day 6 - Shimanami Kaido

I didn't have time while in Osaka (Day 3-5) to write and then we forwarded our luggage straight from Osaka to Hakone so I didn't have my computer to write on the Shimanami Kaido (Day 6-7) and now we're on day 8 at Hakone. Its about 8pm here and I promised myself I'd sit down and write tonight for at least an hour. I'll get back to Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara potentially tomorrow but I just needed to write about the Shimanami Kaido first.

The Shimanami Kaido is a 70 km or 43.5 miles biking path through the Setonaikai National Park which is from what I can tell a series of islands between Onomichi and Imabari (mostly west but a little bit south of Osaka). We took the Shinkansen from Osaka to Onomichi on the morning of the 24th and got up bright and early to make all our connections. Locally we took the Midosuji line from Namba to Shin-Osaka around like 7am I think to catch a Shinkansen at 7:23 (maybe 15 minute train) and then the Shinkansen was a quick one hour down to Fukuyama from which we took the San-Yo line from Fukuyama to Onomichi and walked outside to pouring rain.

For some reason I thought we were heading south and therefore it would be warmer and so I only packed shorts and its only by Sam's foresight that we brought our rain jackets, which it was only by Sam's foresight that we even packed them. I was convinced it would be nothing but blue skies this entire trip. We crossed the street to take a local ferry across to Mukaishima island where we walked a few blocks to pick up our bikes, all in rain. We were able to get the bikes without too much fuss and then biked to the nearest Lawsons (basically 7-11 or Family Mart) to get ponchos. Unfortunately the bag we did take was already pretty wet but we were able to get two sets of long coats and long pants all made up of mostly semi-durable plastic and wear them. Sam was supposed to carry the bag the entire way because he's stronger and a stronger biker than me but the coat wouldn't fit around both him and the bag so I ended up having to take it since I could keep it dry.

We then set out.

A quick note, I should give Sam some major kudos here because I've traveled with almost this exact luggage all over the world alone (its my blue osprey and black carryon size bag which I took with me to Thailand and several other trips in the last 12 years) and having Sam with me makes everything better. He carries all of our bags everywhere, puts them in the overhead bins or compartments, and always recommends we take the stairs. There are few better travel improvements than a companion who carries your bags. Also he's a great guy and I obviously enjoy his company.

Anyway, we set off. The Shimanami Kaido has a blue line that runs the entire route on the roads. It dictates direction and also differentiates the fastest route from the Island Explorer options. We are definitely here on off season, typical peak season is autumn because its cooler then. Its cooler now too, mostly overcast, and on our luck pouring rain. Let me tell you I thought I was going to die. We covered 20-23 miles that first day and I'm telling you on my life, from the bottom of my heart, that that thing is 100% uphill both ways. I have never biked more than 10 miles consecutively before, in peak summer condition on the flat part of the Banks-Vernonia trail with no baggage. Today I was carrying 20 pounds, wearing rain gear that made me look like a mix between a hunchback, a hazmat worker, and the Michelin tire guy. And I couldn't button my top poncho due to the bag underneath of it but it was getting blown around and not covering the bag properly so I had to tuck it under the bag straps in the front effectively making me a parachute. And the wind gods were set on making sure I never made it up a single hill. No matter which direction was facing I can guarantee you the wind was facing the opposite, and somehow down. Never up. Always down. Speaking of hills, Sam told me this route was going to be entirely flat. I think I took him too literally and I honestly probably would've benefitted from a bit of training before setting off on this adventure.

We started around 10am and rode through the day. I think its worth mentioning that while most people think Japan and think Tokyo and maybe super high tech, small spaces, cool architecture, sushi and temples I think most people forget that Japan is actually a tropical island. And not a big one at that. We've mostly stayed along the southern coast of the island and have been almost constantly in view of the sea. The islands we biked through reminded me of Thailand thats how tropical is it is here. They have white/gold sand beaches and beautiful blue water. And its lush, its such a beautiful country its incredible. Also most of the path (or a good chunk of it) is oceanside so you get these views of the other islands and the sea. Its kind of flat. I'm not willing to say anything more than kind of, but it was kind of flat more or less on the islands. The issue is that the bridges are all up with the highway so you have to get from the island sea level up to these insane and beautiful bridges so its a climb over every single bridge. I didn't think I was going to make it if I'm honest with you. Especially when we saw a bunch of people on the first bridge with e-bikes just zipping along. I was both jealous and prideful for doing it without assistance.

The other perk about it being off season is that there really weren't that many people out there. We were more or less entirely alone the entire way which was a wonderful experience. It was just us, our bikes, and the road. There were enough people at rest areas/shops/restaurants (and of course cars) that we were never worried too. But I suspect in peak season you'd be a bit closer in with other people which I think would be a bummer. Also the locals are so used to bikers that they give you such a wide berth which is not something I think happens all the time. They were all super respectful and mindful of us because while there was some bike lane sometimes this was mostly rural and tiny roads so sometimes there wasn't any bike lane at all. Due to the rain there weren't very many pedestrians though so we did spend a fair amount of time on the sidewalks. But I got tired of going over gutter rivulet bumps every cross street so I did stick to the road quite a bit.

We stopped around 1pm at this cool flower garden/greenhouse and then for lunch (we had to disrobe of the rain gear outside to be let in) and stopped again later for gelato. Yes it was pouring rain and cold but the Gelato was incredible and something highly rated to stop at along the route. It was around here that Sam realized that he had a leak in his front tire. At first we stopped at a 7-11 for a fill up thinking it was just a little low but it quickly became apparent that it was a full on leak. We split up in the next town and I went in search of a bike shop and Sam went in search of a pump so he could look with me (at this point his tire was so low he could only walk it as he was pretty sure riding on it even slowly would damage the wheel itself).

I got turned away from a bike rental place telling me it was the wrong company but then stumbled upon a bike shop where they were willing to help me out. It was this nice Japanese lady and I suspect her mother or aunt and we had to communicate by passing her phone back and forth and typing into Google translate and a bit of miming on my part because I had left Sam with my phone for translation because he didn't have Japanese downloaded on Google Translate at that point and I did. The lady and her mother were adamant that we were the same rental company as the guy who had sent me away and I was trying to leave to go find Sam as I was sure he must be worried by this point and he actually rode up and found me! Turns out he somehow convinced the guy who had turned me away to just trade his bike in. The guy gave us a hand written note in Japanese that I suspect explains "your boy had a flat tire so I gave him one of my bikes, call me" and told us to give it when we return the bikes. I kept it for the memories. Anyway we were able to continue on and after chatting a bit more with the ladies at the shop they gave us lemon sodas as souvenirs and gifts.

I will say that I've never once been turned away by a local of any country ever when asking for help. And I've asked for a lot of help all over the world. People are incredibly kind and even countries that get a bad rap like France are always some of the nicest and most helpful people.

In the end I think we ended up making it to our hotel until about 5:30 or so. We stayed in a cool hostel style place called WAKKA (I don't know if its "Walk-ah" or "wuh-KAH") that had a bunch of different styles of rooms from shared bunk rooms to rooms for 2 to rooms for groups of 5-6, and even those fun dome tents more commonly seen in places like where you would view the northern lights. We decided to book the bunk rooms that I've linked below which are pretty common in hostels. I've stayed in plenty of this type of accommodation and I will say I do love sleeping in a box. Something very cozy about it, and I even consider building one for the house. I think the cat would like it too.

For anyone wondering what the heck is wrong with me let me stand a defense. They're not claustrophobic, they're tall enough to sit up in comfortably, wide enough to stretch out, and long enough that most normal height people (probably up to 6'2") could sleep flat comfortably. They have charging ports, their own light, a little shelf, and room for your bag at the end. Plus a curtain for privacy! They have shower rooms, changing rooms, getting ready rooms with hair driers and such, and separate bathrooms (all shared use) for anything you need that isn't sleeping too.

If you click on the Cafe section of the website they also had this pretty nice indoor/outdoor seating area with couches and tables, water and blankets all overlooking the ocean. So while yes, you sleep in a cozy little box, that isn't the only area available to you.

We showered, ate dinner at a restaurant across the street and came back to pass out. I'm incredibly proud of myself for making it through that first day. Sam assures me that biking in the rain, with a bag and rain gear to boot is basically the worst biking conditions there are too, so we really feel like we accomplished something that first day.

https://wakka.site/en/hotel/dormitory/