Onomichi, Japan

Most weekends are difficult finding accommodation, but this weekend proved even more tricky because it was a Japanese public holiday. When we were staying at Hanna Hostel in Hiroshima we met Sylvie and Willem (from Lille, France), they too were frantically searching for accommodation on the internet like us. At one point it just seemed impossible (unless you wanted to pay a small fortune). Lucky for us Willem found a guesthouse on an island called Setoda with a couple of spare tatami rooms free and invited us along for a couple of days cycling the islands south of Onomichi.

Sylvie and Willem organised everything for us...we turned up at Onomichi station in the morning and they had our bikes ready and waiting for us.

It's very popular cycling the network of islands from Onomichi; great cycling paths, well sign posted, convenient bike hire & drop off points, beautiful scenery and jaw dropping bridges connecting all of the islands together. A lot of people make the trip from Onomichi to Imabari, but we took it easy (Day 1: Onomichi to Setoda, Day 2: Setoda to Omishima and back, Day 3: Setoda to Onomichi).

Although I would say the overall scenery wasn't stunning, quite industrial in places, it was definitely picturesque. All of the islands are connected by bridges that you can cycle over; beautiful manmade arcs dot the horizon.

The islands are covered with orange trees, thousands of them and it was fruit picking season too. They had so many oranges that some Japanese women were giving them away to all the cyclists that went past. I'm sure we got extra orange treats because we were foreigners. Jason now wears his handmade orange badge on his bag everyday.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous for the whole three days of cycling. Bright blue skies meant lots of picnicking outside along the way, calling in at convenience stores and supermarkets to get fresh pastries, soups, tempura and sushi. Of course it also called for obligatory beers whilst watching the sunset right by our guesthouse on Sunset Beach too.

Our accommodation, Setoda Guesthouse, was basic but nice and clean. Its appeal was beach front location and onsite onsen that looked out to the beach (its downside was the rather surly daughter that frowned at everything). We had our evening meals at the guesthouse as it was a rather sleepy location; grilled fish, pickles, rice, sushi and dumplings. The place was run like clockwork: at 6.30pm they'd be a knock on your door calling you to dinner, you were not to be a second late...the same happened for breakfast at 7.30am, which is why we chose not to have breakfast there on the second day, we needed as much sleep as we could get after cycling and a 9am checkout time.

Overall it had been a fab few days with great company. Thanks Sylvie and Willem for organising it all! Hope you continue to have fun on your next adventure, keep in touch x