Day 3 of the Shimanami Kaido: The Beautiful Road to Imabari

Day 3 was the sunniest of our three cycling days. We cruised along to the Hakata-Oshima bridge, bringing us to Oshima: the last island on the journey.

Something that makes the Shimanami Kaido special is the incredible cyclist infrastructure. Attractions and rest stops along the way offer dedicated bicycle parking and services. Drivers expect to encounter cyclists and are very courteous toward them. Useful signage is absolutely everywhere, with English translations. Aside from maybe the Netherlands, I’ve never been to a place that feels so intentionally made for bikes.

On Oshima Island, we took another detour to see the Murakami Kaizoku Museum: a museum about the Murakami family who basically ran these islands and their surrounding waters during the Sengoku period.

“Kaizoku” translates to “pirates” in English, so we thought we were going to a pirate museum. However, the descendants of the Murakami family seem to be making a considerable rebranding effort, and the museum (funded by the family) goes out of its way to convince its patrons that the Kaizoku were not pirates.

I mean, look at these cartoon characters. Who could be afraid of these guys, eh?

After learning all about the not-pirates, we rode across the final, most impressive bridge: the Kurushima-Kaikyo Bridge.

This bridge, which was the world’s longest suspension bridge when it was first completed, is four kilometers long. And of course, it has a dedicated bike lane the whole way along, as well as several lookout points.

Having made it to Imabari by mid-afternoon, we had some extra time to ride over to the nearby observation decks for more views of the bridge and surrounding islands.

What an epic cycling trip. I’ve never done a multiday cycling trip before and I think I might be hooked.

This is what Imabari at sunset looked like from our hotel room.