It rained heavily yesterday, so I couldn't really see the campsite, but when I woke up this morning I thought it was lovely. There didn't seem to be anywhere to stay midway, so I figured I had no choice but to ride all the way to Hiroshima today. So I rode 95 km and I'm exhausted! The mountain road from Shūnan to Hiroshima was really beautiful.

The shrines I visited:

Kashihara Shrine torii gate

My bike's gears had slipped slightly out of alignment, so I stopped at a bike shop. The owner fixed them for free. After talking about cycling with the owner and one of the staff, we took a selfie together.

I also talked to a boy in his fifth year of primary school. He started the conversation with "where are you from?" After I said the UK, he replied, "is that an island up in the Sea of Japan?" He said he wants to go abroad but he's bad at English (keep at it!). He's also recently started learning karate, so we talked a little about martial arts.

I went to Itsukushima Shrine too. It was on the way to Hiroshima, so it was convenient. Once I arrived, tourists suddenly appeared. What I realised in that moment was that up until then I hadn't seen a single foreigner other than myself. I was a bit surprised to suddenly see tourists from all sorts of countries. I took the ferry to Itsukushima and reached the shrine after a ten-minute walk. It was beautiful, but closer to the island than I'd expected. I was eating a sweet bun, so I got chased by deer. After taking a photo for them, I chatted with four women, and two of them said they were from Hiroshima. I'm planning to take a rest day in Hiroshima tomorrow, but I forgot to ask them for recommendations. Damn. I also had momiji and a fried oyster set meal at a place called Momiji no Ki, and it was incredibly good. That's two local specialities down, and next up is Hiroshima-yaki!

Notes: Honestly, my legs hurt. I love the Japanese countryside. I really love sweet buns.