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The great thing about this route is that it's so new. The full Shimanami cycling route was only completed in 1999, and the bridges were completed not much earlier than that; until that time, these isolated islands were accessible only by ferry. So you're traveling though areas that were bona-fide backwaters until very recently. Here a local woman checks out the local beach - whether she's just enjoying the great weather and scenery or scouting the potential seafood catch, I couldn't say.

Technically, the first bridge is the one between Onomichi and Mukaijima (where the minshuku shown on the preceding page is located). However, the cycling route is supposedly narrow, so it's better (and more fun) to take one of the 110-yen ferry boats across... in which case, the bridge linking Mukaijima with Innoshima will be your first. It's the most unusual one: on all the other bridges, you cycle on the top, along lanes next to the four-wheeled traffic. But on this one, you travel through a long caged passageway directly under the bridge - you can see it in this photo if you look close.

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