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.
358 km from Ōdachō-ōda to Ōdachō-ōda, about 6 h 44 of riding. It goes by way of Hiroshima Peace Memorial, Itsukushima Shinto Shrine, back through Hiroshima Peace Memorial and back through Itsukushima Shinto Shrine. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
The name Yataki-jo sounds like a puzzle until you realise it just means Yataki castle, and the castle is a ridge in the forested hills behind the old silver town of Omori, in Shimane on the Sea of Japan side. There is no keep, no white walls. What survives is earthworks, terraces cut into the hillside, and the kind of lookout position that makes sense once you stand there and see how many routes it watches. The reason anyone fought over this ground is under it. Iwami Ginzan was among the largest silver mines in the world in the sixteenth century, and the lords of the region, the Ouchi, the Amago and the Mori among them, spent decades taking it from one another.
Read the complete Yataki-jô Site write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Yataki-jô Site 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 104 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 129 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.
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 170 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 206 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 231 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Itsukushima Shinto Shrine. 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, late in the day. Next is Yataki-jô Site.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Yataki-jô Site write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 358 km.
Yataki-jô Site → Hiroshima Peace Memorial is 104 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 → Yataki-jô Site is 104 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.