Day 11: Fukuyama - Honai, 202 km

I really like this picture of Jody because he seems so at ease. Even though we had Internet access most nights, we didn't often have wireless access, which meant Jody didn't have too many chances to play with his darling Android while we were on C2C. This is one of the few times when he could just kick it and surf.

This is the log house where we spent the night of Day 10. Even though the place is located about 30 kilometers from downtown Fukuyama, our host Kenji was kind enough to pick us and our bikes up in his truck. He also drove us back to town on the morning of Day 11, which was great. The only downside to the wonderful hospitality was that this was perhaps our latest start of the entire ride, since we had to go by Kenji's schedule, not ours. Here it is, 7:56 a.m., and we still have a ways to go before we get started riding.

Over an hour later, at 9:01, we were finally back at the train station in Fukuyama where Kenji picked us up the night before. On the drive into town, Kenji actually offered to drive us closer to our Day 11 destination, but we refused the invitation, telling him that it wasn't kosher for us to get any forward progress that didn't involve us riding our bikes. No one was there to issue a red card, but we were more than happy to police ourselves.


















More than 30 minutes later we still hadn't gotten very far. We're now on the front side of the train station, fueling up on calories. As you can see, Jody is drinking an appropriately named coffee: Boss. The weather was so great for a change that we were happy to just chill and soak up some rays before hitting the road. We also knew the end was near, since we were getting ready to leave our second island, Honshu, and head to our third, Shikoku, which meant we were more relaxed than normal.

Forty minutes after we finally got going from Fukyuama, we were forced to exit Route 2 (no bikes allowed) and head back onto smaller roads. That was a stroke of luck, for two reasons. For one, from the point where we exited we were easily able to make our way over to the bridges that led to Shikoku. For two, we again ran into the guy pictured here, Yuki, who we had actually met the day before at a different convenience store somewhere near Okayama. (He and a friend of his were on their way to Kurashiki, which was not quite as far as our destination.) Small world, huh? Anyway, I love this picture, because it appears that I'm giving an overly excited fan my autograph, whereas all I'm really doing is writing down some information for Yuki.

This picture isn't all that special, but it serves as proof that I'm a good teacher. You see, I taught Jody how to ask someone to take his picture and, as you can tell by this photo, when he tried it out it worked! Throughout C2C, Jody was a really great sport about practicing the daily Japanese words and phrases I taught him.

Here's a picture of Jody (taken at 10:56) crossing the first of 7 bridges that took us from Honshu to Shikoku. The entire route, known as the "Shimanami Kaido" goes on for nearly 45 miles and took us about four hours to cover. The ride was slow going for several reasons. For one, the weather was as magnificent as the views, so we rode slowly to soak it all in. For two, we took countless pictures. (As a matter of fact, as we started crossing over the first bridge, Jody commented that we were probably going to take more pictures that day alone than we had in all the previous days of C2C. Well, that was true for him, but not for me.) Also, the windy climbs up to and back down from the many bridges killed a lot of time. Finally, the roads in between the islands mostly run alongside the water, so the route is anything but direct. We both consider the bridge route one of the absolute highlights of C2C and recommend it to all cyclists.













As soon as we made it across the first bridge, it was time to pay our first toll. We weren't sure where to pay, but the toll collector pointed the way.















The first toll was the cheapest of the day at a whopping ¥10 each. Despite the low, low price, we hardly had any small change and were too cheap(?) to pay ¥50, so we deposited a total of about ¥13. Luckily, we were neither arrested nor struck by bad karma, probably since we meant well!

The route we were on is very popular with cyclists, and, since it was a holiday, there were plenty of people around to keep us company. Follow the thick, blue line, Jody!

The beautiful road on the way to Bridge #2.

 Me with Bridge #2 behind me.















 Crossing Bridge #2, at 11:34

Bridge #3 in the books, at 12:11.

Getting closer to Bridge #4.













Thar she blows! (12:38)













Crossing Bridge #5, at 1:14.

Crossing Bridge #6, at 1:31.














Another view of Bridge #6.
















We met this father-and-son duo at a little market that we stopped at for some food. They were on their way to the first city in Shikoku, Imabari.

Crossing the three-part Bridge #7, the last bridge of the day, at 2:52. Shikoku, here we come! (This was the only bridge with a manned toll booth for bikers.)