One Shinkansen train and two local trains later we were in Onomichi, we (Heather) had found a cycling route called Setouchi Shimanami Kaido which spanned 6 islands in the Seto inland sea and covered 77 Kilometres and we scheduled two days to complete it …… Easy Peasy

An evening of beer and pizza to prepare our bodies, then up at 6:00am, stored our big rucksacks at the railway station, picked up our rental bikes and away we go. We started off by boarding a short ferry, then we were on the open road - Six islands with six bridges to cross. It was a really nice day and the views were excellent, probably the most picturesque cycle route we had ever pedalled.

As we reached the first bridge, we began to understand why two days was the recommended duration. The bridge spanning the two islands was extremely high and the road climbed up to meet it, our pace slowed dramatically as we made our ascent. Just before we reached the top we were overtaken by a couple riding "Dutch shopping bikes" and they looked familiar. Could it really be our nemesis and his missus from the Korean mountain climb, come to take their revenge……. Surely not.

We became obsessive, it must be them and they cannot be allowed to triumph……We worked hard and caught up a little on the downhill stretches but they always pulled away on the climbs. Eventually, we saw them ahead and they had stopped - This was our chance. Standing up from our saddles, we forced our pace and caught them up……… It turned out to be a "thirtysomething" couple from Salisbury, who were riding electric bikes and in our blind focus we had ridden past our lodgings for the night.

Our stopover hostel was based around a Japanese onsen, which is like a natural hot tub fed from hot springs - Very popular in Japan. It was our first "Onsen" experience and truly relaxing, sitting in hot spring water and looking out onto a beautiful beach on a very sunny day - Heaven.

Heather had been a little concerned because Japanese tradition dictates that one must be naked when taking an Onsen ------ Luckily, we were the only two guests that evening, so blushes were spared. We walked along the beach and surrounding areas until the sunset (Heather needs her sunset) then went for dinner. All the restaurants (there was only one) had closed. We shared five biscuits and a bottle of beer for our dinner (at least we had beer) then went to bed.

Next day, we were up early, straight onto the bikes and set off, following the blue line painted on the road for the whole 77 kilometres of the route - Even we couldn't get lost. It was an even more spectacular ride than the first day but also more tiring - We reached Imabari about 2 pm, exhausted and saddle sore.

After a quick ice cream, we boarded a bus back to Onomichi (about 2 hours) picked up our luggage from the locker in the station, then got on a train to Fukayama. We were very tired, the city was just a single night stopover on the way to Osaka …… the bedroom was the smallest I have ever seen - It had a double bed but aside from a small alcove to fit our bags, it filled the entire room. However, the hostel provided a free welcome beer on arrival and after a shower we had a bowl of hot noodles and an early night.

Fun Fact :- This cycling route is along the world's longest series of suspension bridges.