Shimanami Kaido: Japan's Legendary Cycle Route You've Never Heard of...
Japan has many great cycle routes but none more spectacular than the Shimanami Kaido. Out of breath and sunburned, Alun shares his recent experience of taking on the 70km ride across the Seto Inland sea. We discuss how to access the Shimanami Kaido from Hiroshima, a curious hostel in the famous seaside town of Onomichi, and how you can get your hands on the world's number 1 sleep mask. Jump on, strap in, and follow that blue line all the way to the end.
Support the show and access the Lost & Found section, as Alun shares another onsen experience with a new friend who's not so sure.
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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Intro
04:03 - Cycling the Legendary Shimanami Kaido
06:43 - Taking Your Bike on Trains in Japan
09:51 - The Famous Dessert of Onomichi
13:46 - The Strangest Hostel Check-In Ever
17:45 - Manta Sleep: The Ultimate Sleep Mask for Hostels
24:41 - Renting Bikes & Sending Your Luggage Across Japan
30:44 - Adam's 700km Japanese Bike Adventure
34:31 - Are E-Bikes Cheating on the Shimanami Kaido?
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Welcome to Tripology
Alun:
[0:02] Hello and welcome to this episode of tripology we cover trips anything to do with them tripology yeah that's right it's us it's two best friends i'm alan and i'm here with the ever cluttered Adam.
Adam:
[0:16] Back for another week mate talking of cluttered how are you feeling about my shirt this week.
Alun:
[0:22] It's unusual it's very relaxed and laid back but what i'm distracted by is your cluttered background the shirt above your head halo-esque, and it very much mirrors mine I suppose I've got some bottles over there you've got some bottles over there why are we all bottled up for?
Adam:
[0:41] I think I actually tried to clear all that clutter out of shot and obviously haven't done a good job I am as you can probably tell from my surroundings in Delhi the capital of India and the time difference from the UK is currently about four and a half hours which as you well know is one of the most annoying time differences, you can you can go through when moving countries.
Alun:
[1:03] Yeah and we're also cutting it fine on the record so if the listeners might feel a little bit of a sort of hectic franticness in the way that we deliver this episode it's because we've got ever such a little bit of time to record it and upload it but we have a commitment every week you'll get a little bit of topology and, we'll fulfill it the reason why i've got bottles on, i suppose you'd call it a bedside table adam the reason i've got them is because i have bad eyes contact lens solution and bad sunburn aloe vera.
Adam:
[1:41] Oh, okay. So one is contact lens solution. I've been on you. I've been on you. Have I been on you? I have been on journeys around cities and towns with you to try and source some contact lens fluid. Don't remember you being sunburned in our long illustration ship?
Alun:
[2:02] I'm very careful about sunburn and being a sort of hippie character, I use like nano zinc oxide, you know, the kind of sunblockers that like cover your face in a white cast. Because I don't want no chemicals seeping into my skin. So I'm quite diligent with that sort of thing. But I've got a two stage sunburn right now. I've got one from a bike ride and one from a hike.
Adam:
[2:32] We're going to talk.
Alun:
[2:32] About the hike next week i've just come back from ever such a hike some say the king of hikes in all of japan that's right i've just come down from fujisan.
Adam:
[2:43] But hang on so you went out as someone who does care a lot about their skin who also knows a lot about the damage that overexposure to the sun can do, you went on a hike out in the open for i imagine hours on end in sunny weather whilst being sunburned and not covering up that surprises me you let your guard No.
Alun:
[3:02] Adam, I've not. If anything, my guard's been raised so high that it's come all the way back around to being a little bit loose. Because my first sunburn was isolated only to the hands and the thighs. And that's the kind of sunburn that you get from a bike ride. everything else was protected. I was wearing a cap. I was wearing my non-nano zinc oxide. I was ready to go. And that stuff works, let me tell you. So I thought, you know what? I've got a bit of a hand and a thigh burn. I can still go on a hike. The hike was on a cloudy day. I still wore a hat and I still wore sunscreen. But the fact is, when you're outside for that long in the Japanese summer something's gonna get through be it pesky uv rays, they're more carcinogenic cousin uvb rays there's a lot of rays and they're trying to get to you and you can only fend them off for so long.
Alun:
[4:03] Let's go back in time adam to the bike ride because on last week's episode for all you newbies here who haven't listened to last week's episode we discussed the fact that i, met a guy at a hostel and I persuaded him to come with me on the Shiminami Kaido. A legendary bike ride in the Hiroshima province of Japan, that takes place basically you start in a place called Onomichi and then you cycle dead far mate across all these different islands and many many bridges all the way to Imibari. Now, I did it.
Adam:
[4:44] Yes.
Alun:
I felt like I'd been speaking for a while and that was, I was very much throwing the podcast ball to
Adam:
[4:54] You know, I've had two hours sleep, Alan. That was unexpected. The cycle ride itself, as a cycling fan, as a cyclist, it is maybe the most famous cycle ride in all of Japan. If you're going to do a one day cycle ride, I think the Shimanami Kaido is the one to do. So I'm very glad you got to do it. You were in Hiroshima at the time, that's right, isn't it?
Alun:
[5:16] I started in Hiroshima, yeah. I got a text from a Japanese friend and she said, you've got to do the Shimanami Kaido. I was about to do it on my own, but then I met a sort of, let's call him a man who was figuring out what he was going to do next. And I said, come and do the Shimanami Kaido with me. And it was by that process that we found ourselves both headed to Onamichi.
Adam:
[5:40] We on a bicycle no no on a bus ah so this is this is the point because i have also done the shiminami kaido uh, but i cycled i was already cycling i was on a cycle trip and then i worked it into my route so for anyone listening to this now who wants to do the shiminami kaido you can do it from hiroshima is kind of the point i was making.
Alun:
[6:02] Yeah yeah and i do want to get to the fact that you've done it in more detail because i want to ask the audience uh something later on but i took a bus from hiroshima to onamichi and, oh you can take a train as well you can do a bus or train there's an.
Adam:
[6:19] Express.
Alun:
[6:19] Bus or you can take some trains make local trains just tap on tap off it's just like the london bus system it's not difficult get your head around it guys so we ended up in onamichi bought a load of supplies.
Adam:
[6:33] You know i'm talking energy gels yeah i love it.
Alun:
[6:37] I'm talking now for those of you adam just vamp for a little while.
Adam:
[6:41] I'm gonna try.
Alun:
[6:41] And find us an energy gel.
Adam:
[6:43] So whilst alan's off gone off in the distance into clutter land to find a bottle of something no doubt uh it didn't take long i will just let you know that if you are, cycling around japan and for whatever reason you are end up you end up doing a a stint kind of a, a stage of that on a train with your bike it's really important that you know that you put your bike in a box and then you can carry you have to dismantle it take the wheels off and basically, you know whittle it down to its component parts and then stick all that into a box and then you can travel on a train with it don't do what i did and, know that information but be so tired you give up of an afternoon decide to get the train and then when you're accosted by the ticket man just play the dumb tourist and say you're really sorry you didn't know you'll get off at the next stop.
Alun:
[7:36] Yeah definitely don't bring your bike on the train like a psychopath they don't like that in japan they don't even like you eating or talking on a train and so having a big bicycle which is basically in japan there's a real delineation between indoor shoes and outdoor shoes never wear outdoor shoes inside and never wear indoor shoes outside lest they become outdoor shoes, the bicycle is basically never even one never.
Adam:
[7:59] Wear indoor shoes in the bathroom because in lots of cases you have a separate pair of shoes for just the bathroom itself even.
Alun:
[8:06] Within the.
Adam:
[8:06] Household there are different shoes for different rooms.
Alun:
[8:09] And the bicycle is very much a giant outdoor shoe isn't it in many ways so definitely in all the ways don't bring that out with you so these energy gels they're sold in every convenience store adam you're familiar with them aren't you.
Adam:
[8:23] I am i like them i was angling for a sponsorship on my cycle ride here.
Alun:
[8:28] Yeah, you consumed a lot when you were doing the Shimanami Kaido, I imagine.
Adam:
[8:32] I believe that's grape flavor. And you know me, I love all things grape.
Alun:
[8:36] Energy flavor, this one. Doesn't have a flavor listed. It says on it, a special jelly drink. I mean, imagine the confidence of the packager. He knows straight away what it is. He goes, it's a special jelly drink designed to supply carbohydrates equivalent to. Now, I'll leave the audience for a moment here to guess what this is equivalent to. So bear in mind we're in Japan, but also bear in mind that this is in English. So the designer of this package, although it's a Japanese drink with some Japanese text, the description on the front of the package is in English.
Adam:
[9:13] Yeah.
Alun:
[9:13] So what's your best guess? What it describes itself as being equivalent to in terms of energy.
Adam:
[9:18] It's got to be a ball of rice, isn't it?
Alun:
[9:21] Yeah, exactly. Supply of carbohydrates equivalent to one rice ball.
Adam:
[9:25] Amazing.
Alun:
[9:26] The jelly drink provides you with the energy to stay active every day.
Adam:
[9:31] Yeah they actually taste all right they're fine they're a little bit sweet but.
Alun:
[9:34] Now do you think it means once a day it says the jelly drink provides you with the energy to stay active every day but not this one surely not this jelly drink just in perpetuity i don't know anyway, we stocked up on those That's good though.
Adam:
[9:51] Good.
Alun:
[9:51] We stocked up on those. We got a bunch of things. Onamichi in itself is a very lovely little place to stay for one night. It's sort of on the river. And it's, I'd say, a beautiful little town. It's famous for a couple of things. But one of the things it's famous for, is a special type of dessert.
Adam:
[10:15] Oh, I didn't know this.
Alun:
[10:17] No, you would think of it as a kind of panna cotta, really.
Adam:
[10:21] Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Alun:
[10:23] And it's only available from one store, which was closed by the time we got there. So we searched frantically for a restaurant that had some of the dessert from that shop in their fridge. okay a lot of jelly.
Adam:
[10:41] In uh you know in and around your trip.
Alun:
[10:44] Um or jelly well it's equivalent to one ball of rice so i like i now like all my carbohydrates to be in jelly form it's a new thing but we went into this restaurant and we were like, konichiwa what we want is some of this famous onamichi dessert, they were like yeah we have some in our fridge from that store that you wanted to go to that's closed and we started a trend in the restaurant of all these local onamichi boys who could speak a little bit of this going oh, onamichi never had the dessert oh no way and then everyone started ordering onamichi dessert and we had an onamichi dessert party which was one of my favorite japanese memories so far so it's my recommendation to anyone that comes to japan try and try and get the locals into the thing that their town is known for because they'll respect you for it.
Adam:
[11:34] Yeah especially in a period when uh it's rather elusive this pudding so what does the pudding taste of then what flavor is it great flavor as well.
Alun:
[11:41] It's panna cotta mate it's just a white clear panna cotta in a little glass jar.
Adam:
[11:46] It was good was it.
Alun:
[11:49] I mean it tasted like a small quantity of panna cotta.
Adam:
[11:53] Yeah but you can get flavored panna cottas so.
Alun:
[11:56] What's the regular what's an unflavored panna cotta flavor maybe.
Adam:
[11:59] Vanilla i guess.
Alun:
[12:00] Just yeah your bog standard.
Adam:
what I mean by that. Vague cream flavor i mean it looks it looks like the color It tastes like the colour it is, if you know
Alun:
[12:10] I know, and indeed, it was that. It was unflavoured. It didn't have any, like, raspberry or anything like that. You were encouraged to squeeze some lemon juice into the glass.
Adam:
[12:19] Oh, yeah. That's pretty cool.
Alun:
[12:21] Which I, of course, did and encouraged all the locals to do as well.
Adam:
[12:26] There we go. Oh, so hang on. So if this was on Amich, then that means you, that was your starting point then. Because we went in opposite directions, my man. You might not have known that, but I did it in reverse.
Alun:
[12:37] The shimunami kaido.
Adam:
[12:38] I'm talking about not eating the panna cotta.
Alun:
[12:41] Right okay you went from imabari to onamichi i squeezed the lemon juice in first yeah right the proverbial lemon juice okay.
Adam:
[12:50] That's it so where did you get your bikes from because we've heard that you were on a bus we've heard that you can go on a train but at this point you still haven't mentioned a bicycle.
Alun:
[12:59] So i went to my hostel which was an unusual place because it the hostel took place inside a library is how i would describe it okay, there was sort of an old japanese residence down an alley that you'd enter into, and the whole like the walls were lined with books and the beds were sort of within the books it's quite hard to describe but that's how i'm describing it and i hope that you don't find it hard to hear so, there's sort of imagine a bookshelf but then just a little gap for a bed.
Adam:
[13:33] I think i've seen photos of this place i think it's quite famous on.
Alun:
[13:37] Either pinterest.
Adam:
[13:37] Or instagram uh and they are genuine.
Alun:
[13:40] Books i stayed right in your book yeah yeah and.
Adam:
[13:44] You can pull them out and read them.
Alun:
[13:46] Mangas books the lot of them all in there and the most remarkable thing about this place and you know I have a bit I know I'm a bit surreal sometimes but everything I say is real when I'm, when I'm talking about like the the books the books and the beds all being on one wall I know it sounds like I'm creating a fantasy world but it's actually just true, I'm delivering in a way that seems mystical but it is actually factually what was occurring so when I say this next bit you've got to understand that although it's going to sound like i'm saying a fairy tale it did actually happen go on, we arrived at the hostel and said we'd like to check in, she looked at her watch it was it was five minutes to 4 p.m, check-in was at four she went it's not time to check in yet okay, so we sat down there was a guitar me and my english friend that i'd met that i'd convinced to go on the shimanami kaido with me we started just playing guitar and talking, at 5 p.m on the dot 4 p.m at 4 p.m on the dot a japanese man appears walks across the room to where there is a tiny box.
Alun:
[15:05] With a little counter it's a fully enclosed system a wooden box with a counter, he gets into the box to fit into the box he has to be on his knees.
Alun:
[15:23] So he gets on his knees into the box so that now the counter's up at his chest, and then he peers over and says are you ready to check in.
Adam:
[15:35] Like some sort of Alice in Wonderland.
Alun:
[15:38] It really was, wasn't it? I was really endeared to it. And then, of course, we just gave him our passports. He sort of did some stuff inside the box and then got back out again to show us our rooms. It was almost as if whatever bureaucracy has to happen to check us in has to occur inside the box.
Adam:
[15:58] Everyone's outgrown it through the generations, but they still use the same box.
Alun:
[16:04] So i like that very much mate i like the whole process and then it was time to go to sleep because to do the shimanami kaido you've got to get up, bang on 7 a.m which isn't that late which isn't that early but the the bike shop opens at 8 a.m so we go to sleep, sleep now i don't know about you but my sleep schedule is not conditioned to um, to get up at 7 a.m.
Adam:
[16:33] These days no you lie in actually you're usually asleep roughly what 1 1 a.m 2 a.m something like that you get your head down and then you're back up around 9 or 10 a.m so i can imagine those extra two hours hurt a little bit the next day mate.
Alun:
[16:48] At the moment i'm on a 10 a 2 a.m to 10 a.m sleep schedule because of my personal life which i don't want to go into on this public facing podcast but it is a 2 a.m to 10 a.m schedule and when i tell people that they go oof oof, oh but in actual fact it's not that bad is it because it's still eight hours there is no functional difference in terms of healthiness between 2 a.m to 10 a.m then 11 a.m 11 p.m to 7 a.m.
Adam:
[17:16] No not at all because i think that biologically we're kind of wired to sleep when the sun goes down, right? So unless you're sleeping from 8 or 9 pm, then whether you're sleeping at midnight or 2 am really makes no difference, I'm sure.
Alun:
[17:31] That's how I feel about it. But all that is to say, I needed some help getting to sleep because I was amongst the library books, you know, books have that specific smell and it was early for me to be going to bed, try to go to bed at 11. It was a challenge.
Alun:
[17:45] Keen-eared listeners will remember that I had a similar problem a little while ago when two people started fornicating in my dorm room in korea i couldn't sleep because i could hear, unskilled fumblings in the night next to me it prevented me from sleeping i reached out to a company and they sent me a sleep mask in order to, basically in order so that if the lights were switched on as they were during that haphazard fornication i wouldn't wake up and would therefore stay asleep, staying asleep is the exact opposite of waking up. And that's what I learned. That company have proven themselves to be ever so cool. Because not only was the sleep mask they sent me just one of the greatest sleep masks I've ever had, and I haven't had many, but it was one of the greatest. A lot of people pointed out, would it not be better? Would it not be superior, if, as well as blocking the light, you could have actually avoided the fornicative sounds.
Alun:
[18:54] And the amazing people at Manta Sleep agreed. And that's why they sent me not only a gorgeous mask which blocks out light, but it also blocks out fornicative sounds. Now, let me tell you a little bit about the Manta Sleep, Adam. Because not only does this beautiful device cover the eyes, but it also covers the ears. and in doing so, connects to Bluetooth and I can play, music essentially through these detachable headphones concealed within the mask now i've got really into playing white noise recently while i sleep.
Adam:
[19:33] White noise now i thought it was brown noise for a while.
Alun:
[19:38] Well, I just wanted to dumb it down for the listeners. Pink noise.
Adam:
[19:44] With all the stuff that you come out with, and in order to dumb it down for the listeners, you choose to say white noise instead of pink noise. That's so funny.
Alun:
[19:53] Yeah, pink noise is a frequency of white noise tuned up slightly, and it's scientifically proven to help in sleep. Mate, I've been wearing that man to sleep and pumping Bluetooth pink noise into the old ear holes. it's like being in a sensory deprivation chamber except.
Adam:
[20:12] With a big noise playing inside apart from one of your senses being engaged uh, that's yeah that's brilliant mate that's really cool it's comfy i assume i mean, i i also was very fortunate in this interaction because i also got sent a couple of masks which are down here by my side um, but the sound is comfortable mask it looks very good not that that makes any difference to you because you're the one wearing it and and it's completely blackout isn't it the um.
Alun:
[20:41] It does make a difference to me actually because when i'm lying there amongst those books completely cut off from the world i i would like if people thought there's a guy who's.
Adam:
[20:51] A little bit sexy.
Alun:
[20:52] A little bit foxy wearing that sleek mask is that a manta core.
Adam:
[20:57] Blimey you must be listening i wake up the next morning and there's a thousand.
Alun:
[21:00] Little scraps of paper with numbers hastily written on in the middle of the night for when i wake.
Adam:
[21:05] Very very nice indeed um well let me just take a moment to give a shout out to the other two this is the mantasleep pro this is uh about as premium as a sleep mask gets you can take off you can super comfortable, detach these little, uh eye cups if that's what we want to call them a nice little eyebrow there, super
Alun:
[21:24] So there's no pressure on your eyelashes or your eyes.
Adam:
[21:26] No no you can see there's an indent there it kind of sits around your eye socket and it is completely black out Like I said, they're detachable, it's really comfortable, it's adjustable, it's quality, it even has kind of a... lovely smell a soothing smell and then the one that i've been using more often than not so much so actually that now it's become a comfort blanket of sorts because now i look forward to putting it on when i go to sleep, and it's not like i can't sleep without it um, or maybe it is but i really like.
Alun:
[21:58] I really.
Adam:
[21:58] Like getting into bed and i know the moment i'm going to go to sleep is when i don uh the man to sleep silk so this is in terms of the feel by far the softest uh, and it's just a great piece of kit i mean it's super lightweight if we talk about it from a backpacker perspective uh it's really lightweight folds up i mean like i said everything's detachable this one does look really sexy i mean this almost looks like a piece of lingerie uh.
Alun:
[22:24] No that's what i like about it yeah and a lot of people say that you shouldn't you should put you know that's natural fibers that one that's silk and maybe having natural fibers if you're going to wear something for a long time like say eight hours a night natural fibers might be the way to go because, you know me i wear non nano zinc oxide sunscreen so it makes sense that i would also wear natural fibers i'm saying, listen guys that might have seemed like a very cleverly placed ad but it was also actually what happens and the reality is, manta sleep abs sent us those sleep masks because they like the show and the reality is i like their sleep masks and the reality is they're one of the easiest funnest coolest companies to talk to and reach out and they're like no problem at all so, my wholehearted thing is i actually do think that travelers should all have a sleep mask and i do think that it should be a Manta. Because not only are they, like you say, really easy to pack, but also, mate, how good is it.
Alun:
[23:29] This is a continuation of me plugging a sleep mask company but all, this is my favorite thing about it that moment where you make a decision to stop scrolling on your phone and doing shit technologically while you're going to sleep, and put it down and put the mask on that delineation where you're like now it's time to go to sleep observation, i think is a really actually a really positive thing even if you're not really, light sensitive and you don't think that light is such a problem in waking you up having that thing where you're like right now i'm shutting off from the world mate it helps a lot in hostile settings i.
Adam:
[24:08] Totally agree and i've noticed that even at home there is a moment like you said delineation a moment in time where you stop doing the thing you were doing before and then you put the mask on and i fall asleep much more quickly i'm quite a light sleeper i'm very sensitive to light and i think up until this point i didn't necessarily mind that but being able to do that sort of thing in a hostel in a hostel dorm uh makes a big big difference so yeah thank you to the guys at Manta Sleep and uh well done for just a quality quality product that is uh the best in the market quite frankly.
Alun:
[24:41] Well and on that point I'm going to work with uh Manta to try and get one of you guys one of you listeners one of their masks we've not signed the dotted line for that yet but we've floated the idea and they seem quite cool and receptive to it so, more on um on a sleep bath giveaway soon um, we can cut that if we if we need to i don't know let's see how that goes but i uh slept well mate and then you get up at eight, seven a.m and head straight to, a large building at the station basically where for just 3,000 yen you rent the bike right, And for 2,000 yen, they'll ship your luggage to the other end of the
Shimanami Kaido.
Adam:
[25:29] Oh, interesting. Okay.
Alun:
[25:32] What an amazing service. Because I obviously had my bag because I'd been backpacking in Hiroshima. You don't want to be going. The Shimanami Kaido is like, from that cycle shop, you're looking at about 75 to 78 kilometers. It's a long day in the sun. You don't want a big bag. if anything you just want some water some energy gels a couple of onigiri and you want to be unencumbered so that i thought was great like same day delivery they'll be like 2 000 yen your luggage will meet you at the other end.
Adam:
[26:06] Really really cool 3.
Alun:
[26:07] 000 yen you get a nice clean pristine condition and, bicycle.
Adam:
[26:14] And then what happens with the bike at the other end then it does the person who drops.
Alun:
[26:18] You drop it off they it's the company's jewel right and it's like at the station at the train station in both places and it's like it must be it's like the one that everyone uses right it's the one that does the shimanami kaido, and they yeah just complete efficiency.
Adam:
[26:37] Comprehensive service so you drop your bike off pick your luggage up and it's actually the luggage makes its way to your accommodation is that right or is it just you got to pick your luggage up from the.
Alun:
[26:45] Shop no to the bike shop.
Adam:
[26:47] I mean you.
Alun:
[26:47] Probably can't get it knowing.
Adam:
[26:48] Japan you can probably get it sent direct to your accommodation but that's that's really cool and then there's no was there a deadline that you had to be working towards or.
Alun:
[26:56] You can but i think these guys are so cheap because they're just doing it for everyone every day right they're not like going to individual hotels the reason it's so inexpensive is because they're taking everyone's backs and from the bike shop, all the way to imabari there is a blue line that's labeled, cycle route to imabari so what an amazing journey that all the stress of cycling and navigating and all that sort of stuff is just taken out you just follow that blue line the whole damn way um, it was one of my favorite things i've ever done definitely one of my favorite things in japan i thought it was so beautiful and so cool to be there with my friend cycling around over islands over bridges, the cycle they're amazing aren't they mate you've done it as well the bridges are.
Adam:
[27:48] Spectacular you turn the corner and you can see the next bridge that you're coming some of them are gigantic by the way, but um i think i counted seven or eight islands something along those lines some people even choose to stay on the islands overnight you know if um you're not professional cyclists like we are maybe you take a bit more time, but they're beautiful. The islands are beautiful to explore and there is accommodation, there are shops and restaurants and this kind of stuff. On the larger ones, I think they are inhabited. But otherwise, the cycle path is incredibly easy to follow. from memory there aren't too many difficult climbs i mean it's it's a tourist attraction for a reason i mean it's a fairly comfortable ride what sort of bike were you on yeah.
Alun:
[28:27] I was just gonna say i was on a cross bike you know and the the incline i think they're mostly only about three percent inclines uh and they three degrees.
Adam:
[28:39] No three percent.
Alun:
[28:40] Percent was three percent yeah three percent really is that how they refer to them as, wow three degrees would be very slight wouldn't it you'd struggle to perceive three degrees oh i'm getting tired all of a sudden um okay so yeah oh this road's actually 183 degrees um, so yeah three percent inclines up to the bridges and, the bike ride itself is not hard what's hard about it is is the the length you know it takes a full day of cycling and in it was 35 degrees all day so it's hot dust sunburn i mean you can still see my.
Adam:
[29:17] A little bit.
Alun:
[29:18] Peely and sort of feeling you can't really just tell me. Bridges, Islands, and Sun
Adam:
[29:21] Mate was the cycle path itself busy.
Alun:
[29:25] Wow no no barely saw other people because they're maybe not a few times like you'd see people on the route but it never like felt congested in any way at all.
Adam:
[29:35] Really cool and the scenery i mean i did go back through some old photos just to see if i could dig some out for this episode because Because I know last week we spoke about us talking about this kind of thing, and unfortunately, they're somewhere on my laptop or something, I'm going to have to try and find them. But the scenery is spectacular. I mean, it is beautiful. It's really amazing. And I think a lot of people, when they think of Japan, of course, there's Okinawa down in the south. There's the mountainous regions, the Alps up in Hokkaido is pretty spectacular. Some of the coastline is amazing. something like that where you can see groups of islands around the sito inland sea and then some coastline and you're just cycling through it it's such a wonderful maybe in the same way that hong kong is you see modern kind of human impact on beautiful surroundings the infrastructure these incredible like feats of engineering you, i mean i love bridges at the best of times but when they're in life yeah. connecting, some stunning islands that are surrounded by ocean and the sun's a, few things are better
Alun:
[30:33] It's gorgeous isn't it and it really i've not done much cycling before.
Adam:
[30:37] Like a little.
Alun:
[30:38] Bit but it made me think it's like it's an amazing way to.
Adam:
[30:42] Travel and see stuff.
Alun:
[30:44] Um and oh there's so much to talk about man because firstly i want to, basically i texted adam after i'd done the shimanami kaido all tired and i was like oh mate you must have done this have you done it and you were like i've actually done it times six i actually cycled 100.
Adam:
[31:03] Kilometers for six days, that's how i read it that's how it came across no i didn't mean that at all when you're going oh you don't want your bag on your back while you're cycling i mean i was taking all of my recording equipment and my like i've been traveling for a while at that point and i'd already cycled for a month around taiwan doing the same thing so, i would recommend doing it your way for sure um i just had to kind of make do with you know what what i had.
Alun:
[31:30] Well that's what i was wanting to ask the audience you know do you think, so you did it really a more intense but slower paced way a lot of people take their time and do it over two days at least just the shimonami kaido you went around the whole.
Adam:
[31:48] Island so if you well if anyone has got the time or energy to look at map now basically the sito inland sea um is a section, it's i guess the south east i mean it's in the southwest of honshu but you have like kobe hiroshima, himeji some other big towns and then opposite over the sito inland sea uh you have the island of shikoku which is famous for something i think it's called like the 88.
Alun:
[32:16] Yeah i think it's.
Adam:
[32:17] Famous for something as well.
Adam:
[32:21] Is that a joke about something anyway shikoku yeah it's um that's an island and that's where you would have ended up if you went to imabari because imabari is on Shikoku, right? But what I did is I agreed with Trek, the bike manufacturer, to lend me one of their prototype sort of carbon fiber road bike jobbies and.
Adam:
[32:45] I i guess i kind of led them down a path a little bit saying that i was interested in a bike and i think i don't know what the total price of the bike was but it was thousands i mean it was far more than i was willing to spend on a bike, and they said they usually only rent them to people for a day with a view of the customer buying it right hopefully it's going to be sort of a precursor to a purchase and i said, can i can i take it away for a week and they were like where are you gonna go and i said well i should be around kobe i'll just do a few loops of kobe and they were like okay um, i think i might have mentioned the podcast and stuff and said i'll do some promo i can't remember so so yeah i mean, i i kind of struck up this um relationship with this guy he was really supportive of what i was doing and and i agreed basically to take the bike around for for a week, unbeknownst to them I was going to do a big big tour and work in the Shimanami Kaido so it ended up being about 700 kilometers and, I had to take all my stuff with me I had all my recording equipment as I said my big bag on the back and then the Shimanami Kaido I guess because of the time constraints and this agreement with Trek I ended up doing that in.
Adam:
[33:54] Maybe just longer than about four and a half five hours I think so it would have been I started in Imabari in the morning I remember meeting actually a really lovely French guy who was riding a steel bike around Japan for a couple of months. We kind of hit it off in a hostel the night before. Really really nice guy and he was bikepacking. So I don't know whether this has inspired you to do a bikepacking trip with me, it'd be really cool if...
Alun:
[34:17] Well, I would like to do a bikepacking trip with you. I'd like to do more bike stuff in general. I quite like the fact that we just did the Shimanami Kaido in one day rather than breaking it up because I think that like the physical achievement of it was quite good.
Alun:
bikes.
[34:31] what i want to talk about with you just before we finish is the number of people yeah renting e-
Adam:
[34:38] Yeah right.
Alun:
[34:39] What is your opinion on that adam.
Adam:
[34:42] So i am a cyclist and and almost exclusively a road bike sort of cyclist so i don't just cycle to get from one place to another on a commute i don't just cycle because i enjoy the experience of being on a bike i also cycle because i like it being physical effort, and you know i've said on, on podcast before and this has been you know 10 15 years now my dad and i sometimes go to europe to follow cycle races like the tour de france for example um, so i am a road bike cycling fan for the performance and uh sports aspects of it just as much as the enjoyment having said that, I have been on e-bikes and they are a lot of fun. So if the angle is that you can't, physically cycle on a normal bike that doesn't have an electric motor, and this is what gets you out and allows you to enjoy and experience places, that you otherwise wouldn't on a bicycle, then I think that's very good. Let's say you're elderly or you've got some problem with your knees or whatever, then I totally understand why they exist. young people that could be riding a bike without an electric motor i i mean it depends that you don't want to say.
Alun:
[36:01] Anything negative it's hard mate this is my exact you're echoing my exact opinion because i saw, a couple a married couple a guy and a gal the guy was whizzing off her head yeah and his wife was behind him on an e-bike yeah and she was like oh he's a cyclist but i'm just you know pottering along on the, e-back no problem with that right, like she wanted to support her husband by doing this famous cycle route he's a cyclist he zoomed off she was behind him on the e-back that's great, i saw some like 25 year old guys who wanted to do the shimanami kaido who rented e-bikes to make it easier and i thought, okay do you know i mean some things are hard and that's the point, yeah yeah yeah no i yeah i agree.
Adam:
[36:47] Of course of course i have not having and maybe it's more complicated and there's some information we don't have to hand sure but if you're fit enough maybe just get a normal bike you know like the.
Alun:
[36:58] Good old days with everything it's like because next week we're going to talk about me hiking fuji and it's like well fuji would have sucked if you could take a bus to the top.
Adam:
[37:09] Uh yes yeah.
Alun:
[37:11] So there are some experiences which should be prohibitive yeah the shimonami kaido i think is in that gray area where i think but what about you know an e-bike is some effort so i'm okay with it.
Adam:
[37:22] What about if someone said to you well your trip would have been more difficult and more challenging if you would carry your luggage on your back is that a different thing entirely uh.
Alun:
[37:32] I think my trip would have been less enjoyable if i'd carried my luggage on my back because i wanted i think part of the fun was like being unencumbered and being able to like go fast down the hills and and zip around and feel like i was doing a bit of an, excursion i did continue i did consider carrying the luggage but i kind of made the decision to not have the there wasn't that much weight added it wouldn't have really made a big difference it was just sort of like, I felt more free without it. Exactly, yeah. But it's a valid argument, I suppose. I just think that there's, you make decisions to have the most, the maximally fun experience. And I think some people don't associate hard work with fun.
Adam:
[38:16] Yeah. I also wonder whether e-bikes have become so ubiquitous and normalized now that maybe some people who aren't cyclists don't necessarily make a, you know, a conscious choice. It's just what's available. Oh, there's an e-bike or, or it's a normal bike. Are those people going, well, which one's easier because I don't want to do any hard work maybe maybe there are some maybe other people go.
Alun:
[38:39] If i'd have told you if i had texted you and said i took an e-bike would you have thought i was a bit of a…
Adam:
[38:45] I would have said i know we said we were going to talk about the shimonami kaido on next week's episode but i'm afraid.
Alun:
[38:50] We're going to have to.
Adam:
[38:53] Choose a different topic because i can't in all good faith talk to you about
Adam:
[38:57] cycling at the shimonami kaido when you've chosen to do it on what is effectively a car um no.
Alun:
[39:04] Anyway it was a beautiful trip mate one of my favorite japanese experiences and highly highly recommend it to anyone, i after the shimanami kaido i had a wonderful time in, a local imabari onsen which i would love to talk about in the patreon section which is where we're gonna head now that's right for less than the price of renting a e-bike for a day much less in fact more like the price of this pen you can follow us over on patreon there's a link in the show notes or the description or however you're consuming this episode there's a link close by have a little hunt for it it will take you over to the patreon section where me and adam share all sorts of shit, I'm going to meet you over there. It's going to be a blast. I'm going to talk about getting naked with my friend in an onsen. It's going to be great. I know you've heard me and Adam talk about onsens a lot before. This one was a little bit different. Stay tuned over there. See you in a little bit.
Adam:
[40:01] Thanks very much, guys. Cheers for listening. As always, there will be links in the descriptions, including links to these fantastic sleep masks. So thanks again to Man to Sleep. Thanks again to you, Alan. Thanks again to you for listening. And we'll see you all on the next one. Bye-bye.
Alun:
[40:14] Bye.
