Shikoku Bike Tour - Part 11
Kaiyo → Tokushima · Tokushima
We got up early and the water looked too good to pass up, so before breakfast I snuck out for a quick swim.
Once we got moving, the road hugged the shoreline past that same fisherman on the breakwater, then cut inland along a river, crossing bridge after bridge over water so clear you could see straight through it. The whole valley was planted with citrus, and right behind the orange trees the hillsides had gone properly red with autumn colour.
Once we hit the flats it turned back into fairly ordinary highway riding, which made me even happier we’d taken the smaller roads through the hills first.
We stopped for a late lunch at a small wood-beamed cafe with a Christmas tree set up by the window, and ate a very solid fried cutlet set while warming back up.
The rest of the ride took us past farmers burning off field debris, smoke drifting low over the rows, and eventually along a riverside promenade lined with palm trees as we came into Tokushima proper, ending up at the bus and train plaza outside Tokushima Station, ginkgo trees dropping yellow leaves everywhere.
Our place for the night didn’t have its own onsen, but there was a hotel nearby with a nice one, all outdoor pools, so I headed over to shower and relax before dinner. This part of Tokushima had its own take on regional food that we hadn’t run into yet: torisashi, slices of raw chicken that took a bit of nerve to try but were worth it; fried fish heads that were surprisingly good eating around the cheeks. We washed it all down with a few citrus-flavoured drinks that went down way too easily.
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