Not for the feint-heart today …

It’s a Monday morning and our getaway at 7:45am is joined by many other cyclists … workers dressed in suits, ladies in stilettos, school aged kids with full tie and jacket for the boys and skirt and blouse for the girls – all going about their business for the morning. At every crossing we have so many cyclists and pedestrians to manoeuvre through … no lycra here!! The gardens/parks are plentiful and spring flowers well maintained – signage says there is a Garden Festival in early May.

On the outskirts of town is the spaghetti of highways and byways we think with our heads and not Komoot – we are heading back to Hiroshima – 3km out of the way; we get back on track.

Komoot kindly lead us away from the busy road through housing communities, such a welcome relief to what was in store.

Back on route 2 we share the road with every truck in Japan today. We swap between road and cycle path; at times the cycle path bearly allows us room with our laden bikes. Scary stuff particularly when the cycle path is facing the oncoming traffic … one wrong move and we’re under the cab of a truck.

The climbs were not too bad the trucks were worse. Finally we descended down from the hills and time to appreciate our wonderful surrounds – approaching Mihara great hills either side and then the lovely coastal town – not far for Onomichi.

3km from Onomichi … oops … juggling between road and path – John makes a rash/wrong decision and catches the curb … over he goes … we won’t go into too much detail regarding the expletives – bark off his knee, elbow and hand, one finger appears dislocated but he’s in no pain – he’ll live.

Meanwhile back on the bike we read the fine details about our accommodation … up on a hill by a temple. We can walk our bikes up so far – too steep to ride … lock them by a fence and walk another 500m by steps with our gear. The receptionist was very welcoming offering iced water. Our room overlooks the town and start of the islands of the Shimanami Kaido cycle/pedestrian path – our route for tomorrow. We are kept entertained watching the river traffic from the comfort of our room. We have a lovely Thai meal at the hotel – equally impressive views from our window seats … all is good.