On a sunny mid-November day we pedal against the breeze to cross the four-kilometre-long Kurushima Kaikyō suspension bridge. Some 65 m below, a container ship, toy-like in the sunshine, steams north en route to Kure, Hiroshima or further afield.

Soon, we’ll finish our 70 km ride along the Shimanami Kaido cycleway at Imabari, return our bikes to Miho of Shikoku-based Hidden Japan Travel and catch a JR train to Matsuyama. But for now, beneath the bridge’s skyscraping white towers, we reflect on the three days since riding the cableway up Onomichi’s Mt Senkoji. There, just before leaving and bathed in sunset’s golden luminosity, we surveyed the islands ahead with eager anticipation.

Follow the blue line from Onomichi to Imabari

Seasoned cyclists easily complete the Shimanami Kaido in a day. However, that is to miss fuller appreciation of Ōmishima, Mukaishima, Iwagi, Innoshima, Ikuchijima, Hakatajima and Ōshima islands. Sometimes the well-marked route – just follow the blue line – uses sleepy lanes past citrus groves, beaches and temples such as Ikuchijima’s glorious Kosanji with its dazzling white marble installation.

Elsewhere, it climbs and descends superbly-engineered, rice-grain-smooth, access ramps flanking the soaring inter-island bridges. Inevitably, something amazing lies around every corner: another gravity-defying bridge; breathtaking vistas; or fertile agricultural land where friendly farmers generously share fresh-picked satsumas and fiery wasabi.

After each day’s adventure we relax, dine and sleep in authentic minshuku and ryokan. On tiny Iwagi, it’s Minshuku Yoshimasa, run by a local fisherman offering a sublime seafood feast from the day’s catch. The next evening, sunset turns the Seto Inland Sea to swirling rose-tinted mercury as more delicious seafood awaits us at Hakatajima’s waterside Seto Ryokan. There, within waving distance of freighters battling the treacherous Funaoriseto, we again dine local-style at a low kotatsu table set up on our room’s tatami matting.

Myriad impressions of people and places

Too soon, after spiralling off the Kurushima Kaikyō Bridge through trees kissed with autumn gold, we follow the now-familiar blue line into Imabari and journey’s end. As well as souvenir water bottles and countless photos, we take away myriad impressions of people and places – their magnitude and intensity always disproportionate to our short time riding one of the world’s most impressive cycleways.

We vow to return and spend more time exploring this idyllic archipelago nestled between Honshu and Shikoku. Cycling the Shimanami Kaido has that effect on you!