The blue line is NOT always on the road.
Let me explain this precisely.
Well, as you approach right before the bridge and you will see an uphill road, but this is not for the use of bicycles.
If you are visiting the Shimanami Kaido from other countries and you do not know much Japanese, do you take this road?
When you join a path for the exclusive use of cycles, mopeds or pedestrians path, you may notice that some of them do not have blue lines on them. Since the path is already very narrow, city officials probably felt that they didn’t need to draw blue lines.
So, what about this road? Is this road the cycle path to your destination, Imabari?
I think Japanese, or people who understand Japanese would somehow understand that this does not seem like a cycle path because a little further ahead there is a sign that indicates there is a vehicle ticketing machine.
In addition, the road is wide and cars can run on this road, so obviously this road is not exclusively used for cycles, mopeds or pedestrians.
Although this uphill road, located near the bridge goes to Imabari, it is a restricted road and not for use by cyclists, mopeds and pedestrians.
In fact, I missed the following sign. The reason why I missed it is that the sign was immediately adjacent to the road itself on the left-hand side. And the route direction is deceptive.
When I went past this left turn, I eventually found the blue line again. So, I was correct to have passed this left turn.
In the event that you do not understand Japanese signs, I would recommend that you continue to follow the blue line. In this instance you should not turn left, but instead go over the junction and you will immediately pick up the blue line.
For instance, as the photo below shows, it shouldn’t be difficult for you to understand which way to go as the arrow on the road indicates “turn left.”
Also you will notice that after passing this “left turn”, there is no blue line on the main road.
However, as you will see, when you turn left, there is no immediate blue line on this path for cycles, mopeds and pedestrians. A little further ahead you can see that the blue line does continue in the following picture.
- 常に青い線があるわけではない。
さあ、橋が見えてきました。そして登りの道が見えてきました。海外から来ていて、日本語を解さないあなたはこの道を使いますか？
自転車・歩行者・原動機付きバイクの専用道に入ると、たまに青い線が引かれていないことがあります。
道が既に凄く狭いので、分かるだろう、との判断なのかもしれません。
ではこの道はどうでしょうか？今治に向かう自転車道でしょうか？
日本人や日本語が分かる人には、看板が日本語で「この先 自動発券」と書いてあるので、”なんか、自転車道っぽくないな”というのは分かると思います。しかも道が広くて自動車が通れるので、自転車専用道でないのは確かです。
そうです、この道は橋の手前にある登りの道なのですが、自転車用の道路ではないのです。
実は私は、この看板を見過ごしてしまっていたのです。見過ごしたのも進行方向に向かって並行に設置されていたからです。
実際にこの曲がり角を通り過ぎると又、青い線が引かれていました。なのでこの場合は、左折せずに、通り過ごしたのが正解だったのです。ですので日本語の看板の意味がわからない場合は、「青い線を目印にしていく」といくことを推奨します。
例えば、以下の写真では左にある入口を超えた部分には青い線が引かれていません。これで、この上り道の先が今治への自転車道ではないことが分かります。
さっき述べた通り、この写真を見て頂いて分かるように、例え自転車・原付きバイク専用の道でも一部、青い線が引かれていない所があるんですね。すぐ先に青い線が見えるのでこの場合は、分かりやすいのですが…。