The Shimanami Kaido

The Shimanami Kaido is a 70km dedicated bike route which runs alongside bridges that connects Japan’s main island of Honshu to the island of Shikoku, passing over six small islands in the Seto Inland Sea. We had heard that it was possible to rent bikes at the start of the route in Imabari (Shikoku), and ride one-way to drop them at the end in Onomichi (Honshu) – then take the bus back.

Renting our bikes was easy (even with the language barrier) and surprisingly cheap for only $5/day for each bike and a $10 one-way drop fee per bike. There was even a good selection of bikes which fit Vea and Kai – so we were well equipped for the 70 km ride. The only thing missing with the rental were helmets – but it seems those aren’t very common in Japan. Kari, Norrie and Vea opted for bikes with baskets on the handle-bars (for picnic lunch supplies), and Kai opted for the coolest looking bike he could find – without any basket of course.

Bike rentals in Imabari

Entering the on-ramp to the first bridge

Right away we were so impressed by the infrastructure that went into building this cycle route. The first bridge we arrived at was about the same height and length of the Confederation Bridge in PEI. Amazing that we had our own on/off-ramps and cycle path parallel to the bridge the entire span. We heard that it took 10 years to build these bridges connecting all the islands of the inland Sea.

The scenery while cycling over these bridge spans and through the remote islands was breathtaking. This was exactly the rural experience of Japan that we were looking forward to seeing – and being able to explore on bikes was the best way to travel. Finding a nice secluded picnic stop for lunch was easy.

Cycle route ‘on-ramp’ to one of the bridges

Incredible suspension bridge structures

Beaches on the Seto inland sea islands

Lunch break at mid-way point.

Onomichi or bust!

Kari with her basket full of lunch supplies

One of the longer bridges we cycled across

We weren’t sure how Vea would do with the long distance on her own bike. The last time we did a long day of cycling was on our bike trip in the Magdalen Islands two years ago – and she was on a trailer bike then. She did amazing and loved the whole day – not complaining once during the long on-ramp climbs (while Kari and Norrie were ‘feeling the burn’).

What goes up must come down!

Two lane bike paths across a bridge. Imagine that!

Kai peering over the edge down to the Seto Sea.

Vea taking in the view.

We considered this to be a good test day to see how long distance cycling would go during our travels. Back in Australia we had a crazy idea while renting tandem bicycles in Manly… ‘What if we traded our backpacks for bike panniers for a month while we’re in Europe?’ The idea grew on all of us to the point where we decided to buy two tandem mountain bikes and have them delivered to Norway for us to pickup in September. Our crazy idea has now grown to an actual plan to take a full month and cycle from Norway through Denmark all the way to France. We’ve even got company joining us for the first part of the trip! John and Beth will be meeting us in mid-September to join us for the northern Denmark portion of the route!

Finding the perfect fit for our new tandem bikes in Manly Australia.

We’ve had some fun discussions about ideas for naming our Tandem bikes. We’re thinking it will be Kari and Vea on one bike, with Kai and Norrie on the other. Some possible ‘team’ names we’ve been considering include:

For the girls:
– Flower Power
– Candy Cruisers
– The Go Girls

For the boys:
– Baquette Boys
– Dream Team
– Numb Nuts

We’re not settled on a final name yet – and would love some other ideas, so send along any recommendations by commenting here!

All 4 now.