May 23rd in words

It was so hard to the leave the Ryokan, it was such a great place and the owners were so nice. We had an easy bike day so we didn't rush out the door. We had breakfast at 7 and then just relaxed for awhile (okay, I relaxed, Heidi reviewed an abstract). Around 9 we finally headed out. We were a little sore from the day before but not as badly as I had feared. We had only 22 kms to cover today so we opted for the "Island Explorer" route rather than the direct route. It took us along the coast line, past, to quote the map: "The island's famous Oshima stone (granite)" and Yoshiumi Rose Park.
Along the route was a crazy steep hill and it made me appreciate how well the designers of the bike route calculated the grade for the ramps up to each of the bridges.
We came across the Yoshiumi Rose Park just as we were looking for a place to stop and it looked like it had food so we ventured in. It was a little surreal because the rest of the island felt so quiet and almost deserted -- I guess we found where everyone was! There were so many people, there was a stage area where kids were performing, lots and lots of food stalls, reverse bungy, mini train rides, bouncy castle and roses of course, lots and lots of roses. It was a great place for people watching!
I actually found it harder to get back on the bike after the short break than it was this morning, but off we went again and once we got going it wasn't too bad. Traffic (cars and cyclists) was a little busier near the Park but it soon died down - until we got to the bridge that is. I think we still were lucky with the crowds but it gave us a glimpse of how crowded it could be. My advice to anyone planning to do this trail - do it on a week day.
The last bridge was the longest bridge at 6.4kms. Heidi actually had a harder time with the ramps up to the bridge than she did with the bridge itself. All the previous ramps were nice circuitous routes through lemon groves or the like but this ramp had nothing but air around it. As for the bridge, I think it helped that the bike lane was on the right hand side of the bridge and we had to ride on the left hand side of the bike lane so we weren't right on the edge of the bridge. The 6.4kms across the bridge went a lot faster than the last 6kms through the city to the train station but we made it! Gladly handed our bikes back to the Giant store, found a bakery, had a delicious copy of coffee with some baked goods and headed off to catch our train. Not sure where we went wrong, we were definitely on the right train to start with and then about 3/4s of the way along it took a left turn and we were crossing water. We weren't supposed to leave the island! We checked our phones and sure enough we were now headed in the wrong direction. So we got off at the first station that came along, checked Hyperdia (the phone app with the train schedules) and fortunately there was a train heading in the right direction within the half hour. It all went rather smoothly and we were in Takamatsu before we knew it. We picked up some groceries, found a taxi, found our hotel, our spare luggage was waiting for us, now we are showered and fed and all is good.