We rode the shimanami kaido – a bike ride across the Seto inland sea. It was pretty good! Our riders were two boys (10, 13) a couple of adults, and one old man (75? something like that). Over 2 days the ride was very doable, even for the youngest/oldest. Though there was one hill that required walking for a couple of the less fit riders. One thing to note is that the ride is mainly on the side of the road. My original expectation was that it was mostly bike path where actually the only bike path bits are around the bridges themselves. Riding on the road was fine, there was often a wide footpath (which I guess counts as a bike path?) for kids, and there was little traffic – though we rode on the weekend.
We started in Onomichi and rode to Imabari, stopping for the night in Setoda on Ikuchi. It can be ridden in the opposite direction but from Onomichi seems better: whilst it has the same elevation change, the route starting in Imabari has more long, straight climbs which would be more dispiriting, and the initial ride from Imabari to the first bridge seems a lot less picturesque than the initial ferry + short ride through the part of Onomichi on Mukaishima island.
In Onomichi I recommend taking the ropeway up to the top of the hill, then walking down via the Literature path and stopping off at the Senkoji Temple on the way. There’s also the “path of cats” but when we did it around sunset there didn’t seem to be much cat action. The view from the top is lovely, it looks like this:
We hired bikes from these guys: https://shimanami-cycle.or.jp/rental/english. The bikes seemed fine, most of us were on mamachari bikes, they looked like this:
They worked fine, none of us experienced mechanical issues, or punctures. The basket was convenient. My main gripe with the bike was that the maximum seat height was too low for me, so I was almost hitting my arms with my knees as I rode. Not an ideal position to exert force on the pedals. The hills weren’t too steep so it was mostly just annoying. Also the tyre pressure was very low which made for a cushy ride but efficiency was significantly compromised. They do have more sporty bikes available. If I was planning to do it in a single day I’d probably prefer a more ergonomic bike with firmer tyre pressure.
We stayed overnight in Setoda. It was lovely. Recommendations: check out the Kousanji temple, it’s a decent size and has some engaging features like the “cave of 1000 Buddhas” which is deeper and longer than you’d expect, and a hilltop covered in imported Italian marble:
We stayed at Yubune which was lovely. I didn’t get a chance to visit their onsen but I think it would have been a nice location for a soak after a day of riding.
We ate that night at Mintoya, which is the restaurant under SOIL Setoda. It was a good meal and worth considering if you’re there.
Highlight for me, specifically: being well protected from the open ocean, the inland sea didn’t have any noticeable swell while I was there. It was far from smooth water though! As the tide moved through, the bathymetry (presumably, haven’t found any useful resources yet) is such that many whirlpools, currents, and other treacherous features are constant. Its constant churning was frightening.
We finished our ride in Imabari where we took a couple of trains back to Tokyo. Very convenient.
In Imabari there’s a nice castle that’s worth a look if you have time/energy:
One thing we didn’t do well on the ride was time our journey between good eating spots. I expected there to be a decent number of options for food but there weren’t. There were a few larger foodstall-type places but we weren’t aware of them and twice we stopped for food at a konbini only to recommence our ride and a kilometre later discover an actual interesting place to stop and eat. So it goes. Shout out to Lawson and 7-eleven.