On to the Shimanami bike trail

October 7, 2024

We awoke well rested in our microscopic room. Our bags were repacked, ready for the bike trip with only the things we’d need for the 3 days on the bikes. Really minimal.

We pushed our bags on their rollers down the city streets toward the train station, and stopped at a little breakfast spot where we had the typical tiny portion foods in the Japanese way. Arriving at the train station, Alice bought the tickets on the Shinkashen ( bullet train) to get to Fukushima.

We headed up to train platforms 13 and 14. Our bullet train was going to leave at 8:06. Without thinking, we got on the 8:02 bullet train with slightly different itinerary, that did not include the city we wanted to get off at. The train steward noticed us right away, that we were not supposed to be in that car. She looked up the best way to undo our predicament and exactly what train we’d need to take to get to our destination. There was no extra charge, only gracious service. Japanese politeness and service.

After a little switch and an extra ride, we arrived in Fukushima and transferred to the local train to Onomichi. Now it was raining steadily and the morning rush hour was apparent. Businessmen and students and very few tourists were on the train.

We arrived at Onomichi where we had reserved bikes. The 1.2 km distance to the bike shop seemed a bit much to push large luggage in a heavy rain, so we got a taxi from the station. When we got out , it was not obvious where the Better Bicycle Company was, But soon we figured out that it was on the second floor of a shared office space. Even though we’d made a couple of mistakes with our reservations online, they were happy to accomodate us and teh desired bikes were available. We needed sturdy ebikes with luggage capacity, My bike was a Fuji model and Alice has J-concept red bike with a smaller frame. The rep demonstatrated everything to us regarding the use and the batteries and we got packed up and ready to roll.

We headed a few yards down the waterfront to a tiny ferry port.

We emerged from the ferry docks ready to start our bike adventure. We stopped at a grocery store to get some modest supplies, uncertain of how plentiful grocery stores and restaurants would be. Soon we were back on the road again, following the blue line that defines the official Shimanami route. Our only challenge is to learn to ride on the left side of the road, and that turning right means yielding to oncoming traffic.

We came to our first bridge! These are very high bridges that require a long, well-engineered and serparate bike approach.

After getting off the bridge and starting to ride along the perimeter of the island, we came to a cafe—no, a full fledged restaurant— and stopped for lunch

I checked the map. We really only had about 12 km to go to get to our accomodation. We had planned it this way to be a short day, given the rain and the uncertainties of getting an early start. It turned out to be perfect. Now we could head on and cross a second bridge to the island of Ikuchi. We were now familiar to the whole process of climbing to the level of the traffic, passing the bridge and back down to the waterfront. The few kilometers passed rapidly, and by 2 pm we pullled in to our accomodation caled “Nest”. the owner showed us everything about the room , the washer and dryer, and the common areas.

After taking a rest, we ventured out into the light rain again, and had some trouble finding a restaurant. Many are closed on Monday, and others do not open until 6pm. The rain was constant again and I really wanted to get inside. We found a family-run Chinese restaurant run by an elder couple who must be 75 to 80 years old. The interior looked like it had not changed in 50 years. We had a wonderful array of dishes as well as Asahi and Kirin beer. We headed home and Alice took the soaked clothes down to the dryer to prepare us for tomorrow. it was a very successful and enjoyable day.