Onomichi/Ikuchijima day trip

I am thinking about doing a day trip at Onomichi from Hiroshima. I�fm planning to depart Hiroshima early (say 8 a.m., journey takes around 90 mins), and leaving Onomichi at around 6 p.m (but I�fm flexible on this).

1. I am interested in doing the Temple Walk as well as visiting Hirayama Ikuo Museum and Kosan-ji Temple at Ikuchijima Island. Is this realistically possible to do so all in one day? Will dropping Kosan-ji make a difference?

2. Alternatively, is it realistically possible to visit Hiryama Ikuo Museum, Kosan-ji and just Senkoji/Senkoji Park all in one day?

3. I�fm not very good with bikes so my only options to get to Ikuchijima from Onomichi seems to be either by ferry or bus, with ferry being the faster and more frequent option (please correct me if I�fm wrong, because I�fm getting this information from the Japan Guide website: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3479.html). Can anyone provide me with a ferry timetable, or at least:-

- the earliest ferry time;

- the latest ferry time;

- frequency of ferries;

- the journey time?

Thanks!

Only part I can help you with is the Temple walk.
You can pick up a Local Tourist guide map from the stations information desk before you do the walk.
The map pretty much gives you the routes of the walk. The walk depending on your speed and how long you stay at each location can take 2-4 hours.

Onomichi temple walk + Kosanji can be done in a day, if you start early. Take the bus (special RT ticket between Onomichi and Kosanji, 1700 yen) because it will go directly to Kosanji ( no need to worry about transportation from ferry terminal to Kosanji). See the other thread regarding Kosanji itself.

I think it may be a bit of a long day, but as others have said, you can do both if you start early. I'd recommend starting with Kosanji and then doing the temple walk with whatever time you have left. Have in mind that most temples of Onomichi are small and though you won't be able to collect any goshuin once they are closed (5pm-ish), you would still be able to walk around the grounds of quite a few of them. (PS: if you go to my profile you can read my Onomichi trip report).

The temple walk can be quite a jolt for your cardiovascular system if one isn't used to it. There are lots of steps! I only did a little of it because I wasn't going alone for most of the time.

You can reach Onomichi from Hiroshima in 49 minutes. I took the 6:13am Hikari to Mihara and then local trains to Onomichi. The first one would arrive at 7:02. Due to miscommunication, I missed that one and still arrived at 7:18, so just over an hour.

I started with Jiko-ji, with it's massive stone gate. It's right next to Tsuchido Elementary School, so you can take the first pedestrian bridge over the train tracks just past the statue to Hayashi Fumiko. Or if you know where you're going, take the north exit from Onomichi Station, under the tracks, and turn right and take the hill road to the other side of the pedestrian bridge. There's a map next to the steps to the school which shows you the starting point. I started at about 10:30, but that's because I visited the elementary school for about 2 hours.

In early March, it was still warm enough to make you perspire and leave you breathless at times. I'll see how it is in October when I return to Onomichi for the fourth time....