Shikoku Bike Tour - Part 6
Ozu & Yawatahama · Ehime
We’d planned today as a rest day in Ozu. Over the last two days we’d climbed up the UFO Line and descended all the way down into town, so we’d earned a break. We were staying in a really nice hotel in the old castle part of town, the kind of place that has taken a bunch of the old buildings around the area and turned them into rooms. Breakfast was lovely: a cooked fillet of fish, rice, and a whole spread of little dishes of vegetables. We had another night booked here, so there was no rush to pack up.
Of course, my idea of a rest day was to go for a ride. My original goal was to get all the way out onto the Sadamisaki Peninsula and catch the view from the end, which my friend Samir had really recommended. It would have been a long day though. Riding all the way out to the tip and back would have been something like 150 km, so I knew it was a stretch. In the end I didn’t make it all the way out there, but I rode from Ozu out toward Yawatahama and beyond.
On the way there I took a route through a tunnel, which turned out to be pretty long and busy with cars, but once I was through it the riding settled down again. Yawatahama itself is a really nice town, a mid-sized place set on the coast with a baseball field down by the water, the whole place basking in the sun. It’s known for its oranges, and there were fresh ones everywhere. I stopped at a little shop to buy a couple, and when I tried to pay for just one or two the woman running it kept handing me more, which was incredibly kind.
The map wanted me to take another tunnel north of Yawatahama to head out onto the peninsula, but instead I took a route up through the mountains that wound its way into the orange orchards. The whole hillside was terraced with orange trees, and the growers had these little rail-car contraptions, almost like a tiny rollercoaster, running straight up the slopes so they wouldn’t have to carry the fruit down by hand. Each one had a small combustion engine on it, a bit like a lawnmower motor, and the cars were built to hold stacks of orange boxes.
It was a really steep climb, and I passed a lot of workers on the way up. Rather than waving, I found the best way to say hello was to just drop my head down as I rode, a little bow to them from the saddle. At the top there was a little dirt track, and then the road dropped down the other side of the mountain. Really good riding, with beautiful views of the oranges, the coast, and the islands out in the sea.
Coming back down to the coast, I stopped at a roadside spot, grabbed some karaage, and ate it in the sun before getting back on the road.
By then it was getting close to my turnaround time and I knew for certain I wasn’t going to make it out onto the peninsula. I could see all the way out and it looked gorgeous, but it would have been another 60 to 70 km of riding, and after the last two big days I didn’t want to be caught out too far from home in the dark. It seemed like a good time to turn around.
On the way back I came through a nice little town with koi in the water, where I spotted a fisherman fishing for eel. I talked to him briefly and with my non existent Japanese it was more like playing charades than talking, but he showed me some of the eels he’d caught, which was really cool.
From there I worked my way back through the woods and mountains, taking the more scenic route home. It took longer, but it was completely worth it. The climbing was amazing, the forested roads were beautiful, and the late light cut through a mix of deciduous trees and evergreens right around sunset.
Along the way I passed a big concrete structure built into the hillside, glowing under the autumn trees. From up there I got some great views back over Ozu and the surrounding area as the sun went down.
The last stretch dropped back down through the rice paddies toward Ozu. There was a little punchy climb where I really cranked on the bike. I probably didn’t gear down enough before pushing into it, and I ended up snapping the chainring. Not ideal. Luckily I was able to manually shift the chain off the big ring onto the small one and limp the bike back to town.
We’d booked into a different building tonight because almost every hotel in town was sold out, so this was the only room we could find. I think it had been the old lord’s residence, or something along those lines. I’m not totally sure, but it was gorgeous: a giant wooden bathtub, multiple rooms, and a sitting area. I had some sake with one of the oranges I’d picked up on the ride.
For dinner we went to an izakaya in town. The staff were super friendly, and we just pointed at a bunch of different dishes at the bar. It was a great meal: karaage, a spread of skewers, a stir-fry, and more.
We headed back around nine, not too late, but we were both still tired. The stars were out above and it was gorgeous, but we had to be up early. The plan for tomorrow was to take the train to the next town so I could find somewhere to fix my bike and we could take a bit of time off the riding. We wanted to make it all the way down to Shimanto eventually, so we were going to take the train down to Uwajima. Otherwise it would have been a really long day, something like 80 km. The train would save us a bunch of time and let me get the bike fixed at a shop in Uwajima that was supposedly open. We’d see how that went, but it had been a good day on the bike and a good rest day, and tomorrow we’d take the train.
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