I was looking forward to crossing onto the final island of the trip, Kyushu. The ride from the campsite to Shimonoseki, the city where I could cross over, was an uneventful one through farmland and urban sprawl. A low hanging cloud threatened rain, but soon cleared off a d the sun came out.

fist sighting of Kyushu and the bridge that connects it to Honshu

At Shimonoseki the distance between Honshu and Kyushu is at its smallest: only 700 meters!

For bikes and pedestrians who aren’t allowed on the bridge there is a tunnel that connects the two islands.

It wasn’t too l g a ride from Shimonseki to Fukuoka. I took the shorter, less scenic route that brought me through a lot of towns and cities.

Arriving in Fukuoka felt fantastic, I had finished all of Honshu! My host there, David, brought me out to a yatai, a street food stall, something for which the city if famous.

the yatai we ate at

Tonight would be my last night spent on Honshu, and the final full day of riding on the main island. Much of the day was spent on the Route 2, which went from busy three lane highway to single lane mountain road. After lunch the road I was following became I cars-only route, but a smaller track followed the exact same path and wasn’t as traffic heavy at all.

the highway providing shade from the afternoon heat

following the smaller route that ran parallel to the main road

Most of the day was spent inland until just before I arrived at my campsite when I merged back with the coastal road that.

rice paddies before getting back on the coast road

The campsite was a bit hard to find. It was right at the back of a public park. Free as most of the campsites have been since September, but busier I think because it was a Saturday.

My final Honshu sunset

I took an early boat off the island, not before getting a photo of the gates at high tide. This was my second last day on Honshu and it was absolutely beautiful, riding along sandy coast in the sun with a stiff tailwind.

I followed the same coast road almost all day, riding inland only for about 15K to save travelling around a long peninsula. After this the coast became a bit rockier but just as picturesque.

There was an island very close to the shore that I thought would be nice to camp on as the end of the day approached.

the bridge onto Kasadoshima

I found a really nice beach to camp at on the island. Another place I think would be full of people at high season, but I had it too myself mostly.

When I woke up the rain had cleared. Still a bit blustery, but cycling through the last island was still really nice. The very final part of the Shiminami Kaido isn’t connected to the mainland by a bridge but the final island is only about 800m from the shore and a small ferry shuttles back and forth all day to connect the two.

on the ferry back to Honshū

It was about 80 km over land to Hiroshima. About two hours worth of climbing through the mountains, but it wasn’t particularly steep.

At some point during the afternoon I saw a sign for Shiminoseki, not my immediate destination but it is the most southerly city on Honshū. It felt like a good milestone to me, sometimes on tour you just get into a cycling groove and don’t realise how much distance has been covered until confronted with it.

Got into Hiroshima, checked into my hostel and went out to try Hiroshima style Okonimiaki. Didn’t take any photos but I think I prefer hiroshima style to Kansai style, it’s a bit lighter on the batter, has more cabbage and includes noodles. Delicious.

It was raining and pretty windy when I got out of the tent this morning. I think it was the tail end of a typhoon that was passing further north. I considered waiting it out and cycling route the next day, but at 9 it had cleared up some.

The Shiminami Kaido is a cycle route that goes through the inland sea, hopping between islands that dot the water via large ( and pretty high up) suspension bridges.

the start of the route

approaching the first bridge

It was a really enjoyable cycle between the islands. Hopping between each one was great for variety throughout the day. While leaving Oshima Island I saw whirlpools created by the tide going out quickly between the islands.

It was hard to get a good photo…

crossing the bridges between the islands

After lunch it got rainy. I wanted to camp on one if the islands. The second to last island, Innoshima had a nice campground. Once again I was the only one there, but the groundskeeper there let me set up in what I think is used as a lunch area during the high season. It was great, provided shelter from the rain and wind.

I came to Shikoku because I wanted to cycle off it. There is a 70KM cycle course that runs from the city of Imabari, over half a dozen islands on the inland sea via large suspension bridges and then connects back to the mainland of Honshū.

It wasn’t too far from Matsuyama to Imabari where the cycle course ( the Shiminami Kaido) began, only 60km but I wanted to spend the whole day on the crossing. I took a leisurely pace leaving Matsuyama in the morning and headed for a campsite not to far outside Imabari. This way I could spend the whole next day on the cycle route.

The road to Imabari was scenic and, I’ve noticed in the last few days of cycling, not as busy as other scenic routes have been since the holidays have ended.

As I was cycling towards the campground I noticed something I felt was a significant milestone for my time in Japan: it seems like rice harvesting has begun.

Cresting the last climb of the day I caught my first glimpse of the bridge that connects Shikoku to the islands of the inland sea: the start of the Shiminami Kaido.

There were a few people at the campground given it was a Saturday.

camping outside Imabari

This was a pretty short cycle today, only 65KM. I had covered most of the distance the day before. The only real difficulty was the mountain I had to cross to get to Matsuyama, but the road followed the course of a river valley that ran between the mountains so it wasn’t a huge climb.

The mountains that speared me from Matsuyama.

The descent down to the city, visible in the distance.

That evening my host took me up one of the hills for a great view of the city at sunset.

Takamatsu to Niihama was a really nice cycle. It wasn’t too hot, wasnt raining at all. The road was easy to navigate and the scenery was pleasant. Everything you want when touring.

I started off cycling along the Inland Sea coast for most of the morning, purposely taking the longer route than the shorter overland route mostly because I wanted to get a better view of the Seto Ōhashi Bridge a huge suspension bridge that connects Shikoku with the mainland.

I then turned back inland instead of having to cycle through urban conglomeration of Sakaide and Marugame by the sea.

I found a campsite near Niihama. it was completely closed down since the high season ended, but the water taps still worked which was all I really needed so I set up.