Cycling across islands while enjoying the beautiful sea and the flesh sea breeze
On your bike seat, get ready to encounter amaizing scenery you will never experience in a car seat.
I had planned to eat dessert at another shop, so I left Shokudo Mitsubachi and headed to Tomoura Site. Recently, the draw of Shokudo Mitsubachi as well Tomoura Site has attracted more and more cyclists to the eastern route. Clearly everyone is willing to cycle hard if delicious food is the goal! Once you get to the Tomoura area, the roads become flat and follow along the sea. It's like the hills earlier were all just a dream. I wish the whole route were like this. Going past Tomoura Engei Orchard a few hundred meters along the coast, there's a road where you can turn left. This is the road that continues on to Nie-toge Pass. It's yet another hill, but after about 300 meters, you'll see a charming green house with a red roof in the middle of a lawn. This is the cafe "Tomoura Site." Apparently the owner is from Canada - I heard that he fell in love with the incredible scenery of Tomoura and ended up moving here about twenty years ago. His wife is Japanese. Their daughter was visiting home, so today she was helping in the shop. She's so beautiful! I can't believe she's so mature, and not even twenty yet… But anyways, I digress! I enjoyed amanatsu citrus juice and honey mousse here.
I'm headed toward Miyakubo because the Murakami Kaizoku Museum is there. This museum houses documents and books about Noshima Murakami, a clan of the Murakami Suigun Pirates who dominated the Seto Inland Sea during the Middle Ages. It's a rare type of museum, even in Japan. There's a viewpoint room on the third floor where you can look out over the Seto Inland Sea. You can take a tourist boat to experience the tidal current in the area around Noshima and Michikajima Islands. I wanted to check it out, but I didn't have time today, so I had to skip it. Another day when I have more time I want to take a ride on the boat and experience the tidal currents.
Outside the museum, a stone monument had been built that wasn't there before. Taking a closer look, I saw the name "Ryo Wada" on it. Apparently, this monument was built of special Oshima stone to commemorate Ryo Wada's novel "Murakami Kaizoku no Musume" (Daughter of the Murakami Pirates) winning the Japan Booksellers' Award. The monument features the novel's main character and scenery. This spot was chosen so that visitors to the Murakami Kaizoku Museum could take a commemorative photo with Noshima Island in the background. I haven't read the novel yet, so I think I'll try to read it before I come back to ride the tidal current tour boat. Miyakubo is a great old fishing port with full marks for atmosphere.
From Miyakubo I follow Route 317 and return toward Shitadami. Along the way, on my left side ahead, I discovered a rather mysterious shop called "Miyakubo Shima no Dining." It's a cafe housed in a remodeled mikan storehouse. I stopped and took a look inside immediately. The shop, run by just one woman, has been well renovated and is really nice. This place would be another great choice for lunch. When I came to Oshima Island before, there were a lot of shops offering fancy (and somewhat expensive) seafood dishes catered toward people on holiday, and few places where you could take a break from cycling and casually drop in. So I was really happy to see places like Shokudo Mitsubachi, Tomoura Site, and this Miyakubo Shima no Dining where you can actually do that. I felt totally fine dropping in at the cafe by myself. I ended up having anmitsu, a Japanese dessert featuring kanten (jelly made from algae), sweet red bean paste, and syrup - even though I already ate dessert earlier! The homemade kanten crafted with Oshima Island's red algae melts in your mouth. It's totally different from any jelly I've eaten before! It's also nice because you can top it with granola and brown sugar syrup to adjust the sweetness yourself. Our photographer gave the delicious coffee rave reviews. When I asked about it on our way out, the owner said she uses a unique blend of three types of bean from Omishima Island's "Omishima Coffee Roasters." I could tell the owner is very knowledgeable and cares a lot about coffee.
Oshima Island's Miyakubo-toge Pass is said to be one of the most difficult stretches on the entire Shimanami Kaido. A long, steep hill awaits… The road seems to extend upwards endlessly. Since it's a highway, the scenery doesn't change much, which just makes you feel even more exhausted. On the way up, I saw quite a few people who had dismounted and were pushing their bikes up the hill. There was even someone who had flopped down in the shadow of a tree and was resting there! But once you get past Miyakubo-toge Pass, the only big challenge left is Mt. Kirosan.
I had heard that a shoemaker had opened up a shop near Yoshiumi Fukushi Center, so I dropped by for a little bit. The shop is called Seika Akatsuki, and its owner moved here from Osaka and opened up the atelier where he crafts made-to-order shoes. He measures your feet and makes shoes sized to fit them perfectly. He was kind enough to give me a little tour of his studio. It was like time had stopped in the atelier, which is nestled in a remodeled old house. It was a wonderful space. I was really interested in the leather sewing machine, as well as the other machines and tools that I had never seen before. I wished I could have stayed a little longer, but since the sun was beginning to set, I quickly set out for Mt. Kirosan.
Well, last but certainly not least, I have come to the hillclimb course up Mt. Kirosan. Did I really save this grueling route for last? To tell the truth, I ended up having to stop several times along the way to rest. But somehow I managed to conquer Mt. Kirosan! I was surprised because I mistook a lookout spot along the way for the finish line, when really there was still a ways to go. (But it was only a short distance between the lookout spot and the summit.) An incredible view awaited me at the summit's observatory. I was really moved by the amazing scenery. Apparently, the observatory is a popular place for couples... I felt a little out of place, drenched in sweat and tottering around on shaky legs among all the couples who had come to see the sunset!
At 307.8 meters above sea level, Kirosan Tembo Koen Park is part of the Seto Naikai Kokuritsu Koen, or Seto Inland Sea National Park. You can gaze out over the Kurushima Kaikyo Ohashi Bridge and the Kurushima Kaikyo whirlpools, and on a clear day, you can even see Mt. Ishizuchi, the highest peak in western Japan, stretching up from the Shikoku Mountain Range. I was really glad I got to see this incredible view after all my cycling. It was totally worth coming up here! I definitely recommend taking the challenge and cycling up Mt. Kirosan!
