The weather looked good in the morning when I woke up so I was pretty excited. It would’ve sucked if it was crappy weather because this part of the route was one of the main highlights of the trip. The Shimanamikaido Cycling Road is pretty well known with cyclists. The route connects Shikoku to Honshu island through various bridges and roads that travels through a chain of islands between the two major ones. I haven’t been eating big breakfasts lately, just settling on some fruit and bread so I don’t ride with a full stomach. This morning I ate two bananas and took off.
The route is clearly marked with signs and it was easy to find. They also mark the route with blue lines all the way so it’s very easy to follow. The cycling road didn’t disappoint, it was pretty awesome. After the first bridge, the route goes around a small island and then it proceeds onto another bridge…overall I think there were 5 islands. I took a very leisurely pace all the way through. I tried to enjoy the scenery as much as I can. It seems like most of the economy in the area is rock quarries, ship building, farming, and fishing. Even on a Monday, there were a lot of people cycling…old to young, families and friends. Once your reach Onomichi, the road ends and you have to take a ferry across a canal to the main town. It is a short trip, like 3 minutes maybe…shortest ferry trip I’ve been on. I planned to stay at a youth hostel there but the hostel owner was away and I didn’t feel like waiting. I took off and kept heading towards Okayama. I took a break and ate an early dinner at Sukiya again. It is my new favorite restaurant. It's cheap and filling. I planned on camping but it was mostly towns so I just gave up and found a cheap business hotel to stay at in Fukuyama. It was probably the most ghetto one to date but for 4000 yen I couldn’t complain.