18 October - to Matsuyama - last full day of riding on Shikoku - so soon!!!

after a proper Japanese breakfast, Maggie and me set sail for Matsuyama.  I remember seeing a tunnel somewhere just out of town - maybe it won't be too bad....

today's ride wasn't the most memorable...  another flat tyre after pinging off a rock zooming down a hill - no dramas as it only just slowly went down.

but the coastal views weren't quite the same as we were now looking over towards Hiroshima and the mainland smog - a pale blue low hanging cloud - sorta spoilt the beauty of the day.

started off with nice road to ride, but after the tunnel we started to leave the mandarin farms and the little fishing villages behind and began riding through probably suburbia in a spread out sorta way.

maybe I was just a little down, knowing that all the wonderful rides were coming to an end and soon reality will strike and things like "this time next week I will be home again" kept popping into my head....

ah well, I have had some wonderful adventures and seen such beauty - here's just a little of what I saw on this lazy Sunday afternoon.....

Small old home, squeezed in amongst the hotel strip
- view out of the Harbor Plaza Hotel window

that's a mountain side cleared and planted with rows of
mandarin trees

typical business class hotel room
after I have messed it up!

Last full day of riding, Maggie - you've been such a good girl!

Oh dear, that piece of gravel was just too hard! 2nd flat tyre

see the little gate and shrine on top of this rock?
It has also been encircled by a large - possibly rice straw - rope...
now how did they do that!

getting back to civilisation

but there's still tiny farms squeezed in amongst the houses

and he's doing it the old way - not sure if he cut the rice straw by hand - I did
see women doing that - but he is grabbing an arm full of straw and
buundling it into a stook which he then props up to dry with another 2

I saw so many traditional farming practices on these small lots - I don't know if they are self-sufficient farmers - or whether they have other jobs elsewhere.