Day 2 – 11 October 2025, Saturday

I woke up at 6:00am this morning, went for a quick soak in the onsen before breakfast in the hotel at 7:00am. The breakfast buffet was wonderful, with a good variety of international food and local specialities. I don’t usually have salad for breakfast but the veggies looked so fresh I just had to eat them. The croissants and breads were delicious too. In all, it was a great stay at Shimanami Prime Hotel Imabari.

For the second day of the Shikoku Challenge, I wore my pink Sakura cycling jersey. I decided to alternate between my two jerseys so I can easily tell from the photos which day it is from the jersey I am wearing. I’ll wear the white official Shikoku Challenge jersey on odd-numbered days and the pink Sakura jersey on even-numbered days. Smart, right?

The itinerary for today is to cycle 99.7km from Imabari to Kan-onji, with an elevation gain of 419m. This would be about 40km longer and 130m more elevation gain than yesterday’s ride. There are also three roadside station checkpoints today. Hence, with a long day of riding ahead, I wanted to start as early as possible. After checking out of the hotel, I started my ride at 8:15am.

The scenery out of Imabari was quite delightful, with many rice fields accompanied by a mountain backdrop. The weather was gloomy as I left Imabari but became sunnier the further I went. The temperature was a cool 23 degrees C, just perfect for cycling.

At 8:55am, I arrived at the first roadside station at Imabari Yu no Ura Onsen. After getting my challenge pass stamped, I bought the route stickers and used the bathroom before heading off again at 9:15am. Just a quick pit stop here because there’s still a long way to go.

Shortly after leaving the roadside station, I unintentionally deviated from the official route because I didn’t check Google Maps on my phone and missed a turn. The official route would have led me further inland. However, I saw that the road I took would eventually link up with the official route, so I decided to stay the course.

With my chosen route, I chanced upon a sign that pointed to a sightseeing spot. On a whim, I followed the sign to see where it would go. It led me away from the main road and to a smaller, winding road surrounded by trees on both sides. The road then turned uphill and I started to regret and question my decision to come here. However, I would learn over the course of the Shikoku Challenge that the higher you climb, the better the views. And if you have a hunch, just follow your hunch because it usually leads to a good outcome.  

After huffing and puffing for a short while, I arrived at a large open-air carpark next to Hiuchinada hot spring resort. Here, I had a great view of the Seto Inland Sea and the mountain range in the distance. Among the peaks in the mountain range was Mount Ishizuchi, the highest mountain in Shikoku and Western Japan, standing at 1,982m tall. The view was amazing and it made the effort to get up here worthwhile.  

I soaked up the views and breathed in the fresh morning air. After taking many photos and videos, I quickly turned back to the same road I came from. This time, it was downhill so it was super shiok. I followed the National Route 196 and it led me through yet more rice fields, which is always lovely.

Like yesterday, my nose was not cooperating and I had to stop often to clear the sniffles, which was annoying. At 9:55am, I took a quick break at Lawson, where I bought a chocolate whipped cream bun and a packet of Dole fresh fruit juice. Even though I had quite a big breakfast earlier, I still felt hungry, perhaps due to my sniffy nose, which made cycling a bit more difficult.

At about 10:30am, I linked up with the official route again and I was back on track, with 70km to go to Kan-onji. After 2 hours 15 minutes, I had completed about 30% of today’s distance. I set a target to reach my hotel by 4:00pm today so I pressed on and tried not to stop too often.

At 11:45am, having covered 45km, I looked for a place to stop for lunch at Niihama city. I cycled past a shop that looked quite nice so I did a U-turn and popped in for a look. It was a Japanese confectionery shop called Hatada. I didn’t know at the time but Hatada has been dedicated to making sweets for more than 90 years, since it was established in 1933. Hatada currently has 43 stores in Shikoku so customers can easily patronise one of their stores when visiting Shikoku.

All their products looked really good so I asked the staff to recommend their bestselling items. She recommended the salted butter dorayaki and sweet potato custard dorayaki so I bought one of each, priced at 200 yen (S$1.74) and 216 yen respectively.

The shop had a long table with seats for customers to dine in. They even provided complimentary green/barley tea and black coffee, amazing! The dorayakis were delicious and I enjoyed them very much. I wish I could have bought more but I didn’t have space to carry them with me.

I resumed cycling after the 20-minute pit stop, heading east. At 12:45pm, I stopped again for another break at Minna no Coffee, near Ninai Beach. Before coming on this trip, I watched a vlog by Japanese YouTube cyclist Kentasan, who also did the round-island ride of Shikoku and visited this café. I came here because of his recommendation.

It was a cosy little café right by the beach. There were some wooden tables and benches outside but they were not shaded so I chose a counter seat inside the small building, which was air-conditioned. It was nice and quiet inside, perfect for unhurried conversations.

The café was run by a couple. The gentleman made the coffee while the lady served the customers. I was actually quite hungry (again) but they didn’t have any cooked food so I ordered a cheese cake, a packet of chocolate cookies and a hot latte, amounting to 1,450 yen (S$12.62).

While waiting for my coffee to be ready, I started chatting with the owners. Even though they spoke limited English, they were very friendly and welcoming. When I told them that I was embarking on the Shikoku Challenge, the male owner said that he had also signed up for the challenge, but hasn’t completed it yet.

He rummaged through a cabinet and dug out his official challenge pass, which only had a couple of stamps from the roadside stations. Participants have three years from the sign-up date to complete the Shikoku Challenge, so he still has time to get the remaining stamps. Not so difficult for him since he lives in Shikoku! The female owner also enthusiastically recommended me famous dishes and restaurants I should try in the other cities. Such a lovely couple and a nice place to chill and have a cuppa. Definitely recommended.

Almost immediately after leaving Minna no Coffee, the road turned inland and it was a steep climb through the hills. Luckily, I had some sustenance just before this because the climb was relentless – about 150m elevation gain over 4km, all the way up continuously. I took many short, 2-minute pauses to catch my breath and recharge my legs for the push to the top.

After the long climb, I was rewarded with a nice downhill section where I could just cruise down the slope, while controlling my brakes carefully. On the way down, the vegetation suddenly opened up around a sharp U-bend. I stopped beside the guardrails to take in the panoramic view of the sea and the land below. For every day of the Shikoku Challenge, I looked forward to a “wow” moment that takes my breath away. This was the “wow” moment for the day.

Yesterday’s route was relatively flat so this was really my first big climb, the first of many to come in the following days. But it taught me that there is usually a reward after putting in hard work. I also learned that what goes up must go down, so after a big climb, the resulting ride downhill will also be worth it. These thoughts motivated me whenever I encountered any climbs for the rest of the Shikoku Challenge.

After the hills, it was back to flat land. The sky looked gloomy again as I cycled towards Shikokuchuo, probably because of the mountain range nearby, as moisture from the sea gets pushed up the mountain to form clouds. The scenery made for a dramatic backdrop.

At 3:20pm, I made a quick stop at Lawson to snack on their famous spicy chicken cutlet and a packet of fresh orange juice. I also bought a pack of Nepia tissue paper, which contained four individual packets. I wanted to restock my supplies of tissue paper because I was afraid of running out at the rate I was using them because of my sniffles. Strangely, the sniffles stopped after today and only returned in the last two days of cycling.

But anyway, I wanted to say that the Nepia tissue paper is so smooth – it feels like silk rather than paper! If you ever visit Japan, be sure to pop in to Lawson to buy the Nepia packet tissue paper. Once you’ve used it, you won’t want to use other brands of tissue paper, I promise you!

I reached the second roadside station at Toyohama at 3:55pm. Toyohama is located in Kagawa Prefecture, just across the boundary from Ehime Prefecture. Over 11 days, I’ll be cycling across all four prefectures of Shikoku, so this is the second prefecture I have visited so far. By the way, Kagawa is the smallest prefecture in Japan, by area.

My initial target was to reach my hotel by 4:00pm today but I still had a distance of about 12km and one more checkpoint to go, so I was already running late. After getting my challenge pass stamped and buying the road station sticker, I quickly resumed riding.

The sun moved closer to the horizon as I approached my destination in Kan-onji. The rhythm of the environment, the traffic also seemed to slow down as the end of the work day neared. As I cycled on the quiet road past farmland, with the rays of the setting sun striking gently against my face, I felt a sense of great happiness. As I looked at the beautiful scenery around me, I felt so thankful and blessed for being able to travel and cycle. These are things I really enjoy, and I don’t take them for granted.

I made it to the third and final roadside station at Kotohiki at 4:45pm, 15 minutes before they closed for the day. Unlike other roadside stations, which are located along the main road with high traffic and accessibility, the Kotohiki one was located in a quiet street, within a small, nondescript building. I thought there was something wrong with the pin on Google Maps but it turned out to be correct. I quickly got my stamp, bought the roadside station sticker and left.

My hotel was located just a short distance away. I arrived at Hotel Sunny Inn at 4:57pm, about one hour later than planned. Nevertheless, I arrived before sunset so all was well. My Strava showed that I cycled 100.53km today, with an elevation gain of 455m, quite close to the official route’s figures. Overall, it was a good day of riding and I was very happy with it. Day 2 of Shikoku Challenge done!

Kan-onji is a very small town and there aren’t many good hotel options. My friend FA stayed at Kan-onji Grand Hotel when he did the Shikoku Challenge last year. However, it was fully booked so I chose Hotel Sunny Inn instead. It’s a 2-star hotel but it looks decent on the outside.

The hotel staff told me that I could not bring my bicycle to the room so I took some time to remove the saddle bag and handlebar bag from my bike and pack the stuff to take to the room with me. This is where a foldable tote bag comes in handy – to throw in the lights, powerbanks, water bottle, GoPro camera etc. I then locked my bicycle under a shelter at the back of the hotel building before proceeding for check-in.

As I took the lift to the 6^th floor (top floor), I understood why I was not allowed to bring my bicycle to the room – the lift was too small. Thankfully, the room was pretty big and it was more than decent. Even though the room was sparsely furnished, it was clean, tidy and comfortable. I was quite happy with it. However, the hotel did not have an onsen so no soaking tonight.

After putting down my stuff, it was time to shower and wash my clothes. I did not wash my cycling jersey yesterday because I literally didn’t sweat as it was a short and relaxing ride. Today, I had no choice but to wash both my cycling jerseys, cycling bib, socks and cap or I’d have nothing to wear for tomorrow’s ride. FA taught me a special method to use a towel to wring dry the wet clothes, and he employed it every night when he did the Shikoku Challenge last year. It was time for me to test the towel wringing method to see if it really works – whether the clothes will indeed dry overnight.

After hand-washing the clothes in the shower, I manually hand wrung them as dry as I could so that they weren’t dripping wet. I then laid my bath towel on the bed, placed the cycling bib on top of it, and rolled the towel like a chee cheong fun, enclosing the damp garment within. Holding both ends of the rolled towel, I twisted it as hard as I could and held it for a few seconds to soak up as much water as possible. After unrolling the towel, I discovered that the cycling bib was rather dry to the touch while the towel was much wetter than before. I repeated the process for the other garments, and hung them up to air dry. So far so good, hope they will all be dry by tomorrow morning!

Satisfied with my effort, I headed out at 6:20pm for dinner. It was already dark outside and the town seemed deserted, with only the occasional car driving by. Strangely, Don’t Look Back In Anger by Oasis was being played at a soft volume from speakers attached to lamp posts at a few traffic junctions. Earlier, I heard Stars by Simply Red. I’m not complaining since I love music but this quiet little suburban town in Shikoku was the least likely place I expected to hear Western pop music being broadcast in public.

After the long ride, I needed a good dinner, especially since I didn’t have a proper lunch today. I searched for izakayas on Google Maps and shortlisted a couple of options based on the reviews. I first checked out Yoshiya, which had a 4.3 rating from 39 reviews. The restaurant was tucked away in a small side road. It looked quite posh from the outside but its screen door was shut so I couldn’t look into the restaurant. Around the corner and along the main road was Bunchan. Despite a lower 3.9 rating, Bunchan had more reviews (247 reviews) and looked more inviting so I went for it.

The moment I stepped in, I knew it was the right choice. It was super old school and no-frills, giving off the vibes of an authentic izakaya that has been around since the 90’s. There was a dining area with low tables on tatami. The walls were adorned with retro posters of Japanese music and television stars. However, no one was sitting there yet because the diners present were all solo or couples so they all sat at the counter. I took a seat at the counter as well.

The food menu was very extensive but it was all written in Japanese so I used Google Translate to help me out. The staff were all quite old and didn’t speak English at all, but they were very warm and friendly. A Japanese patron seated beside me spoke some English and he helped me to clarify my order with the staff. I was hungry so I ordered a bit of everything – omurice (715 yen), yakitori (440 yen), assorted sashimi (1,430 yen) and a medium Kirin beer (638 yen), amounting to 3,223 yen (S$28).

I don’t drink much at home but I like to have a beer when I’m overseas because it just feels nice. The cold beer was damn shiok. It felt like a great reward after a long day of cycling. The food arrived slowly but it was all excellent. The sashimi was very fresh and the yakitori was grilled to perfection, accompanied by sweet and crunchy cabbage. The omurice was also very tasty. I was tempted to order even more food but I think it was the right amount. Any more and it would be diminishing returns. A great dinner to end my day.

After that, I went to Lawson to buy some desserts and fresh fruit juice. I am obsessed with the cream puffs from the konbinis and I can eat them every day. The entire Kan-onji town was really quiet and there wasn’t anything to see so I went back to my hotel room at 8:10pm. I had an early night and slept at 10:30pm. It had been a wonderful day of cycling, looking forward to more!