mcgiraldi

I am not one that cycles much. I can bike but have never done long distances.

I would like to bike Shimanami Kaido. I am considering taking an electric bike.

Will I be meeting traffic with vehicles along the way, or is all biking only.

Also, will have have a difficult time with the electric bike, finding a place to rent and the places to charge bike.

Thank you for your help
Maria

shelemm

I had never heard of this before, so I looked at Google Maps:

https://tinyurl.com/4cmf5386

That's a picture of the route. The yellow is the cycling route and the red looks like the expressway. They share traffic over bridges though it looks like the bike lane is well separated from the car traffic, but other than that it looks like the cycling route is following smaller roads, often (but not always) with a well-separated bike lane. It looks like 70kms total.

If you search for "Shimanami Kaido bike rental" in Google Maps you will get 8 results.

In addition, according to japan-guide.com, "because there are no large inclines, it can be comfortably completed in a day by intermediate cyclists." More info at that page:

https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3478.html

Wilk67

I cycled it about 6 years ago and it was wonderful.
Getting bicycles is simple and pretty cheap. You can return to multiple spots (all the rental shops are in the same system). Its also possible to take the bikes on local buses and ferries. You can do package forwarding for your baggage.

The cycle lanes are along the road sides, but only when crossing some of the bridges are there that many cars (the bridges are usually the only expressway parts, but on the islands the bike routes go along the local roads).

Charging for e-bikes is readily available, but its probably best to get an e-assist bike which you would partially pedal yourself.

It would be worth splitting it into two (or more) days and staying somewhere along the way. Several of the islands have inns, and you can also ferry over to nearby islands where you can also cycle through some more secluded yet beautiful scenery and villages (also with inns).

But you would be best to avoid summer, as well as weekends and/or holidays.

The whole system is very well done, and this is the official website
https://shimanami-cycle.or.jp/cycling/en-02.html
and here
https://shimanami-cycle.or.jp/go-shimanami/

eigasuki

Yes I did it in 2012. I had stayed in Onomichi. In the morning I caught a bus to where there is a bike hire place. The bike I got was an old clunker and I hadn't ridden a bike for years so it took a while to get into the swing of things. I probably tried to do too much as I was unable to devote a whole day to it and at the very least should have stayed at the end of the trail (Onomichi) instead of running off elsewhere But I had really wanted to fit it into my itinerary. If (when?) I did it again I would definitely give more time - possibly overnight somewhere on the trail. This was of course some time ago so I'm sure they have e-bikes available now. I would definitely recommend it but I'd probably also suggest getting in some riding practice beforehand. I don't remember much traffic but Japanese drivers are courteous so I doubt it is an issue.

Here's the excerpt from my blog-

I was all checked out, belongings stashed in a coin locker at the station and was at the bus terminal just before 8.30, having worked out buses to catch and where from. I was at stand 7 just as the bus was pulling away. I banged on the door – very un-Japanese – and was the only passenger but as we proceeded, other passengers joined us. My destination, the Interchange on one of the islands, there to catch the Highway bus from Fukuyama across to Shikoku. I felt a bit vulnerable waiting at a bus stop along the highway but the coach arrived as promised and fifty minutes later I was in Imabari on the Shikoku coast.

In retrospect I should have got off at the last interchange where there is a bike rental station but having gone through to Imabari station, I had to rent a bike there and ride back to the bridge – about a half hour ride.The Shimanami Kaido is a cycle route which takes you across the islands of the Inland Sea which are linked by bridges to connect Honshu and Shikoku. The route is well signposted and marked- blue lines run both sides of the road and there are numerous parts where green cycle symbols are painted on the road. There are many islands, all hilly and forested. Along the way there are various lookouts, shrines , museums etc for those with the time. Some of the coasts are developed and industrial, some are fishing ports and some are beaches or au natural.





In contrast to yesterday, it was sunny and the sea a brilliant blue against the green of the islands and the numerous sakura. Just lovely. I had been lead to believe that the route was fairly flat but in fact it rarely was though the slopes were gentle, they seemed to be mostly uphill. My rental bike was of course a clunker and I never figured out the gears so I walked it up some of the slopes. The approaches to the bridges were particularly hard as you spiraled round and round.



All up I covered nearly 40km of the 76km and crossed three bridges so I figured I did pretty well. It was getting fresh and windy when I surrendered my bike at one of the rental bike depots at 3pm. I was a bit sunburned and a bit weary but I could have kept going longer if I’d had more time. I was lucky enough to get a highway bus almost immediately but had to wait forty minutes at the Interchange for the local bus to take me back to Onomichi.

Reunited with my stuff, I caught a local rattler to Fukuyama and a Kodama shinkansen to Okayama and had minutes to spare to get on the Limited Express Yakamo to Matsue at 6.00.