I tried finding information on doing this in one day but I could not really find anything that matched my situation so I thought I would share how my last second trip went.
I was staying in Kyoto with my wifes family and I had a free day where I could go anywhere and do anything with my JR pass so I looked up things to do and found out about this amazing ride so I decided to do it the next day. I had to be back the next morning for wedding photos so I could not stay the night and had to return to Kyoto the same day.
If I could have stayed one night would I have? No but I’ve lived in and visited Japan many times and I did not see anything other than that one temple and marble artwork halfway that interested me more than just the ride which by itself is a 10/10If you don’t come to Japan very often or this is your first time then he’ll yeah stay a night and explore all the temples and beaches!
Here is my trip!
Woke up at 5am on a Thursday and left from Nagaokakyo station for Shin-Osaka where I took the Tokaido Shinkansen and accidentally stayed on too long and had to go all the way to Hiroshima and then board another train back to Fukayama which cost me about an hour. I took a local train from there to Onomichi and arrived around 9am. I rented from the bike in front of the station. I chose a cross bike with an EXTREMELY uncomfortable seat and wish I could go back and hit myself before I could do that. This ride physically was not very hard for me to do even being a bit out of shape but MY ASS HURT so bad I needed a ridiculous amount of breaks. It’s worth buying a seat cover for just this and then throwing it away afterwords. I am glad I had the extra gears to help me with the hills. I have ridden those road bikes before and hated them for hills. Mainly it was going up to each bridge that sucked.
I was able to get the bike and board the fairy for a 9:30am start. I took a lot of breaks for my butt pain but the only real attractions I saw (besides the amazing views the entire way) were about halfway. Even after seeing hundreds of temples I would recommend stopping at the temple and cave that I have included in my photos. I loved the cave and the temple was awesome. The marble was okay but the cafe at the top of it has some awesome ice cream.
I had plenty of water and food from conbinis that were on the way.
I completed the ride at about 5:30PM. My watch had me at about a 7 hour ride time which I feel proud of for the last second planning and how out of shape I am. Honestly I could have shaved 1-2 hours off if I had a better seat..
I rode the super express from the JR station to Okayama where I got on a Shinkansen and then took a local train home. I will arrive at around 9:47PM. Long day!
One of my top experiences in Japan. I would highly recommend this to anyone even if you only have one day.
Tips: look up how you should adjust your seat before you start and BUY A DAMN COVER FOR YOUR SEAT!
Photos: https://imgur.com/a/4H6bH5r
1 comment
You can change the bike along the way on any of the stations. We needed to do that because we had an issue with one of them. Got a way better bike under way, and they were extremely helpful.
Glad you liked the trip, we did too, one of our best memories.