Ishigaki island loop

Route 79 leaves town for the flat shore of Nagura Bay, where Pottering Okinawa counts about 10 km of nearly level coast, then climbs over the hills to Kabira. A short detour on Route 207 runs through Kabira village past the bay, and Route 79 carries on east along the north coast through Yonehara and Nosoko to Ibaruma.

Pottering's own 120 km challenge course follows the same line and adds the Hirakubo peninsula from Ibaruma, which we keep as a separate route. Its notes describe a fast descent into Kawahira and the climbs at Yoshihara and Yamabare. By our route data our shorter loop climbs 606 m, and the longest single climb gains 51 m over 3.7 km.

At Ibaruma the island narrows to a neck, and Route 390 turns south past the Tamatorizaki lookout, New Ishigaki Airport and the village of Shiraho before running back into town along the south coast. In a winter north-north-east wind this whole leg runs with the wind at your back.

Kabira Koen Chaya above the bay closes only on Thursdays. The north coast's soba houses keep short weeks, so check them the night before or carry food from town.