Tokushima to Minami

Backroads

We agreed to meet at 8:20 to allow plenty of time to shift our bikes and bags to the Takamatsu station - a mere 200 metres away.  Great co-ordination was required as Julie took the first load of bags, with Andrew and Simon moving the bikes two at a time.  I minded the gear and then rounded up the remaining bags. We all regathered just outside the ticket gates and then moved the bikes over the barriers whilst we went through with our tickets.  All bikes and bags were safely positioned on platform 3 before our train arrived.  A brightly coloured train waited on the next platform with windows at the prefect height for kids.

It was a pleasant 1 hour ride to Tokushima mainly through suburbia with the occasional mountain views. We tried to work out which route we would have taken had we decided to travel via the Iya Valley - and it all looked very hilly.  We had plenty of time to unload our gear whilst the passengers waited to be given clearance to board.  It was only a short distance to the street where we found a corner outside a Via France bakery to put our bikes back together.  It didn’t take too long and after a quick repair to Julie’s brakes, we were ready for our second breakfast of some bakery treats and very ordinary cafe latte.

Julie had brought the wrong fitting for her bike computer, so we detoured to a bike shop to see if we could find an alternative option.  No luck, but we did enjoy some of the sights of Tokushima including the nearby park which housed Tokushima castle.  

There was no time to visit, however, and Simon skilfully navigated us along the marina and through a myriad of back streets to the edge of town. We followed a river for a while and the views became more rural. We passed a graveyard built on a hillside as well as an interesting memorial. 

Simon had chosen backroads where possible and we wound our way along a canal, passing rice fields set on vacant blocks between houses as we followed the Anna Tokushima Cycling route. 

We decided to press on to the half way mark before stopping for lunch and it was close to 2pm before we were looking for a place to eat.  We found two options on Google maps but neither was open so we opted to stop at a Lawsons a few kms down the road and over our first hill of the day.  Japanese convenience stores have lots of food options and we enjoyed selecting a reasonable lunch of nigiris, packaged pears and crunchy chocolate - a well balanced cycling diet.

The last 20 kms of cycling was through lovely rural countryside and scenic backroads.  It was meant to be hilly but three tunnels helped even the terrain.  They were all quite short and we were able to cycle through them with ease as traffic was very light.  There were some lovely houses en route and a rather weird boat shaped building

It was just before 5pm when we arrived in Minami and found the guesthouse.  I had been liaising with Ken and his mother greeted us and sorted our payments then Ken hopped on his bike to lead us to our overnight accommodation which was a lovely old restored fisherman’s cottage close to the beach. He also recommended a place for dinner and advised us to arrive early. 

We showered quickly and set off to the Hiwaysa restaurant which was already full but the waitress offered to call us when a table was free.  That gave us time to walk to the FamilyMart to pick up breakfast provisions.  By the time we returned, the restaurant had emptied out and we were able to find a table.  We chose a combination of sashimi and the local specialty of fried chicken.  It was another lovely meal with lots of delicious flavours