CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 365 km round trip from Gōtsuchō - roughly 6 h 40 in the saddle. The stops in between: Hiroshima Peace Memorial, Itsukushima Shinto Shrine, back through Hiroshima Peace Memorial and back through Itsukushima Shinto Shrine. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Okidomari is a small fishing harbour on the Shimane coast, wedged into a cove with steep green hills at its back, and today it looks like nothing much at all. Boats are pulled up, nets are drying, an old man is doing something patient to an engine. In the sixteenth century the same cove was one of the ports through which Iwami silver left for the world. Ore from the mines at Omori was carried down to the coast on foot along a mountain track, the Iwami Ginzan Kaido, and shipped from places like this to the markets of Japan and abroad. Silver from this stretch of coast helped shape trade across East Asia, and it is a startling thought when you are looking at a tiny slipway.
Read the complete Okidomari write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Okidomari is where the day begins. Next is Hiroshima Peace Memorial.
The skeleton of a dome against the sky, the twisted steel frame of what was once an elegant exhibition hall, is one of the most recognisable images of the twentieth century. On 6 August 1945, the atomic bomb exploded almost directly above this building in central Hiroshima. Almost everything around it was destroyed, but part of its walls and dome remained, and after long debate the city chose to preserve the ruin exactly as it was. It was listed by UNESCO in 1996 as the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, also known as the Genbaku Dome.
Read the complete Hiroshima Peace Memorial write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hiroshima Peace Memorial comes up about 107 km into the recorded legs. Next is Itsukushima Shinto Shrine.
The great orange torii gate of Itsukushima, standing in the sea off the island of Miyajima, is one of the most famous images of Japan. At high tide, it seems to float on the water; at low tide, you can walk out across the sand to its feet. The shrine behind it is built on piers over the bay, a series of halls and corridors painted vermilion and white, connected by boardwalks, so that it too seems to float when the tide is in. A shrine has stood here for well over a thousand years, and its present form owes much to Taira no Kiyomori, the powerful warlord who rebuilt it in the twelfth century. The island itself has long been considered sacred, so much so that in the past, births and deaths were not permitted on it. The shrine was listed by UNESCO in 1996, and the torii was restored a few years ago after a long period under scaffolding.
Read the complete Itsukushima Shinto Shrine write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
At least about 132 km into the recorded legs you reach Itsukushima Shinto Shrine.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hiroshima Peace Memorial write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hiroshima Peace Memorial, about halfway. Next is Itsukushima Shinto Shrine.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Itsukushima Shinto Shrine write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Itsukushima Shinto Shrine sits at 171 km, about halfway. Next is back through Hiroshima Peace Memorial.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hiroshima Peace Memorial write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Hiroshima Peace Memorial comes up about 209 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Itsukushima Shinto Shrine.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Itsukushima Shinto Shrine write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 234 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Itsukushima Shinto Shrine.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hiroshima Peace Memorial write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Hiroshima Peace Memorial, late in the day. Next is Okidomari.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Okidomari write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 365 km.
Okidomari → Hiroshima Peace Memorial is 107 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Hiroshima Peace Memorial → Itsukushima Shinto Shrine is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Itsukushima Shinto Shrine → Hiroshima Peace Memorial is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Itsukushima Shinto Shrine → back through Hiroshima Peace Memorial is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hiroshima Peace Memorial → back through Itsukushima Shinto Shrine is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Itsukushima Shinto Shrine → back through Hiroshima Peace Memorial is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hiroshima Peace Memorial → Okidomari is 107 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.