Friday October 10, 2025
A good day.
View of harbour as we left Hinase
We left Hinase along the same road that we came to the hotel. We were hoping to get some air in the tires at a local bike shop. We were a little early and we were about to leave when the owner came out. She said that she was taking a rest day. Ralf indicated that we were hoping to get some air. She took us to the garage behind the shop and tried to put air from a compressor into my tire. I had less air in my tire than when we started. Ralf had to get the new pump out and use that to put some air back into the tire. We did find a bike shop later in the ride and the fella quite happily added air to our tires. He wished us well on our trip. Ralf asked if they use psi, bar or kPa. His answer was no. I think they just go by feel!
RidewithGPS took us away from Highway 2 and up a steep hill. I had to push the last 50 metres. When we crested and went down the other side we saw all the trucks coming out of a tunnel. RidewithGPS had routed us around the tunnel that had no shoulder and lots of trucks. Thank you RidewithGPS.
The first 30 kms were very nice we went through a village that was well known for its ceramics. I am sure during the height of the tourist season this village would have been inundated with tourists. It was very quiet today.
As we left this village we spotted a cross, one of the first Christian churches we have seen. Christianity was banned in Japan in 1614 by the Tokugawa Shogunate, which issued a nationwide edict to eliminate the religion due to concerns it threatened the government and national stability. The ban lasted for approximately 250 years, until the Meiji Restoration in the mid-19th century and the lifting of the ban around 1873.
We followed the Shinkansen Line for about 10kms. There was a rural road, the Shinkansen train line and then Highway 2. We stopped at one parking area so that Ralf could get a video of the train. We waited about 5 minutes, I said to Ralf you know what will happen, as soon as you put your phone away ……here’s one, Ralf just managed to get a video of it as it zoomed past.
Cycling past rice fields and grape vines
The route took us through the middle of Okayama. Although it is a big city it was easy to navigate through. Unfortunately, after Okayama we were on a busy road all the way to Kurashiki. I think we have spent more time cycling on sidewalks than the actual road.
Ralf suggested that this should be titled Ralf and Jacky – Ralf – Now what, Jacky – Here he goes again.
At one point as we were crossing a bridge, a young fella shouted out his car window and asked where we were going. Ralf shouted back Hiroshima. He waved at us with thumbs up and shouted safe travels.
We made good time to Kurashiki, even though we stopped twice to refuel. Sometimes, you just cannot seem to eat enough. When we arrived at the hotel one hour early, the fella behind the reception desk told Ralf we would have to bag our bikes. We have resigned ourselves to doing that and we packed our bikes in the bags and then waited in the lobby for three o’clock. Ralf asked if we could leave the bikes in the luggage storage. No, that was not allowed. At 20 minutes to three our room was ready, and we could check-in.
The restaurant across the road was a steak house and the other was a Domino’s pizza. Family Mart Convenience food again.
We could not find any accommodation in Onomichi for Saturday night (that was in our price range). The hotel prices always double, if not more, for a Saturday night stay.
Tomorrow we are staying at another Love Motel outside of Fukuyama. Sunday we will cycle the first of the seven bridges of the Shimankaido. Monday we will cycle the remaining six bridges to Imabari.
