Wednesday 13 November 2013

San Francisco to Ventura

Thursday 7th November
We have reunited in San Francisco and I can't begin to describe how great it was to get together again following an hour and a half in the customs queue, before being taken for questioning about being in the States for so long. Then a Paris flight arrived but no John, Lucy and Hugh and after two hours eventually the last passenger came through wearing handcuffs escorted by the police! Finally I clicked that that wasn't their flight and they duly arrived. Unfortunately Air France had lost one of their bags and it just happened to be the one with all the tools in it to put the bikes together again.Got to the hotel on dark - equally missing the bike lights from the lost bag. All good and bag arriving tomorrow. Really relieved to be together again.

Girls' Team Reunion

Luggage as arrived off plane - minus one bag!

 Friday 8th November
Day in San Francisco. Got up with jet lag and managed to get the shuttle at 10.30 to airport (looked at the Airport Museum and the Museum shop) and then the BART train into town. Had a wander through the market at the Embarcadero and then caught the tram up to Ghiradelli Square which was awesome. Lovely relaxing time in the sun – very warm. Came back to San Bruno station via REI to pick up the tent. However – was the wrong San Bruno Station but on the way back, managed to stumble across the coolest Mexican restaurant – Don Picos. It was awesome. Had a really nice time there.  Great to be back together again.
SFO cable car

Awesome retro trams we travelled on

SFO Fire Engine in action - man in cabin top right

Reunion dinner at Don Picos

Saturday 9th November
Days Inn San Francisco Airport to Half Moon Bay 38kms
Got up at Days Inn and set off towards San Bruno Ave and up a few hills to the Skyline Boulevard. Were unsure of the route so jumped onto the San Andreas Trail and then the Crystal Lake Trail. Weren’t sure whether we could get through without being thrown onto a motorway. Continued on and managed to get there, despite me having a sore back. It was a lovely day and quite hot. Later in the day we ascended the road to Half Moon Bay on Highway 92. Lots of traffic and dramatic descent. Great to get in to the State Park and get camped. Right on Francis Beach. Darkness fell about an hour later and we cooked dinner and went to bed early.

San Andreas Cycleway

Sunday 10th November
Half Moon Bay to Pigeon Point Lighthouse Hostel  45kms
Lovely morning and my back feeling much better. Packed up, talked to a few people and then got away about 9.30am. Had a coffee and bagel in town before heading south, into quite a head wind which intensified during the day – nothing on a NZ scale. We went on past several amazing beaches and gorgeous coastline, pelicans flying and dramatic headlands. Had a windy lunch and decided not to go on to Santa Cruz but rather to stay at the Pigeon Point Lighthouse Hostel and that meant we had time to go into the historic town of Pescadero – which was really cool. Had a coffee there and went to a cool grocery store. Biked back and on to the hostel. It is great and the guy let us use the hot tub for free and the lighthouse is really cool and I think we even have the room to ourselves which is great. Best of all – there are electric lights.

Half Moon Bay State Park - Francis Beach Campground

Francis Beach

Hugh with bagel - Sunday morning in Half Moon Bay

Coast south of Half Moon Bay near Ano Nuevo State Reserve

Clifftop Piano!

Californian Coastline

Bivvy

Lunch Stop at Pescadero Beach

John's coffee haven in Pescadero township - Moto Guzzi Banner in rear..

Outside the Pescadero Cafe

Heading to Pigeon Point

Pigeon Point Lighthouse and Hostel

Sunset at Pigeon Point

Seals playing below lighthouse

Jet tracks in sunset

Pigeon Point Lighthouse

 Monday 11th November
Pigeon Point Lighthouse Hostel to New Brighton Beach State Park, Santa Cruz 61kms
Great ride and stopped at a berry farm and had coffee and then at a cafe in Davenport for lunch. had made good progress with migrating pelicans all along the way which were truly spectacular - in the thousands and flying in formation all along the coast. It was wonderful. Arrived into Santa Cruz on the oceanside bike path and things got trickier after that - turned out to be a Soquel Drive and a Soquel Ave so had to detour a little and having visited the Safeway, arrived at the camp right on dark at 5.30pm. Really hard to manage the short daylight. The camp was cool though and we weren't alone in arriving late to the hiker-biker. Three other guys there with us. Great to be back in the great camps and had a campfire which was a treat in the darkness. Read through Dad's eulogy together and had a good cry.

Leaving the hostel

Birds on a Wire

Near Waddell Beach

Pelicans migrating south

Slow Coast Airstream General Store

Swanton's Berry Farm and Cafe

Tuesday 12th November
New Brighton Beach State Park, Santa Cruz to Monterey 
Set off much earlier - soon after 9am and made great progress through huge farms of strawberries and brussel sprouts and artichokes - massive. At Moss Landing we saw about 300 sea lions all squeezed onto a jetty and hugely noisy and raucous. It was amazing. Still some tail-end pelicans as well. Stopped ata fruit stall called The Whole Enchilada which was awesome and had some lunch there before continuing on some serious highway-type roads before jumping onto the awesome dune cycleway which cruised through the towns of Marina and Seaside before entering Monterey. The cycleway parallelled the sand dunes - very pretty in the lowering sun. Wanted to stay in a motel for the two nights we are here - mainly to get some light at night and do some laundry so called in at Starbucks and booked one online with the free wi-fi. It turned out to be nearby - and near town - and really flash - so lovely. Ate at a casual place down the road which was really nice - The Monterey Cookhouse. Home. Bed.
New Brighton Beach State Park Campground

Bicycle Camping Only

Huge strawberry farms on left

En masse sea lions at Moss Landing

Marina-Seaside-Monterey Bike Path
Wednesday 13th November


Great day in Monterey. biked into town about 9.30am after free breakfast at hotel and went to Fisherman's Wharf, Cannery Row and the Monterey Aquarium - fabulous. Saw sea otters feeding and a million other cool things. The kid's favourite was a weird sunfish they called 'Awesome Dude'. Saw humpback whales off the deck as well as well as numerous wild sea lions and sea otters sleeping on their backs wrapped up in kelp - amazing. Kids loved it and finished with Black-footed African Penguin feeding at 3pm. Rode home, did washing and had an early cheap dinner at the same place as last night. Ready - but also nervous - for the Big Sur. So much has happened and turned out differently to how we expected that it is weird to be here at last about to embark on this section of the journey. 



Seals by Fisherman's Wharf, Monterey
Jellyfish, Monterey Aquarium

Cannery Row, Monterey

Fish feeding at MontereyAquarium

Monterey Foreshore 
Sealions - wild on coastline

Sea otters at aquarium

Jellyfish

Illuminescent jellyfish

Awesome Dude - that's all of him!

African penguins at aquarium

Fisherman's Wharf
 Thursday 14th November
El Castell Motel, Monterey to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, BigSur
74kms

Got up early and had breakfast at the hotel. Hugh made himself a double lot of waffles. Got away at 8.45am – a record almost. Cycled around the cycleway out to Seventeen Mile Drive in Monterey – spectacular even if a little foggy. Saw lots of sea otters which were cute playing in the water and eating crabs. Continued around to Carmel via some exclusive golf courses and houses, arriving at the intersection with Highway 1 about 11.30am. Were pleased to find an agglomeration of the three things we needed – bank of America, Starbucks and Safeway. Had coffee and got groceries and continued on to Point Lobos State Park for lunch. The fog had come in again, but still lovely and had a nice time there.

After lunch we headed to Big Sur proper. Climbed through Carmel Heights past some magnificent clifftop houses to the more wild coastline where we climbed up and down before embarking on the more serious  hill past Bixby Bridge to the last point before the descent and then rolling land to Big Sur. Arrived after 74kms to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park Campground where we settled in, cooked tea and went to bed. Good day. Early night.
Wild sea otter eating crab at Monterey

Ominous sign outside Carmel

Coastline at start of Big Sur

First bridge

Getting further into Big Sur 

Some great engineering

Big Sur Hugh

Looking ahead - girls on road at corner

Looking back
 Friday 15th November


Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park to Kirk Creek Campground  48kms

Beautiful morning and we got away early at about 8.45am. Big Big Sur hill to start and made it up ok. I had put my back out again but we got up the hill okay and the top was sooner than expected. Went past Ventana where we had hoped to stop for breakfast but it was only open for breakfast and lunch so carried on and soon found Kevala restaurant where we had a lovely brunch in the sun. A few communication problems where John ordered a two egg breakfast rather than two egg breakfasts so I had to re-order mine, but not a hardship to spend longer there.

Carried on to miles of gorgeous rugged coast and up the next hill. Had lunch at a vista point and stopped at the top of the last hill at a place called Lucia. Nothing there except a restaurant so we stopped there and on a whim ordered a plate of their USA famous fish and chips and shared them between us with a beer. Great. Carried on to Kirk Creek Campground where we arrived about 4pm and watched the sun set and the kids played in the eucalyptus forest which they loved. Great to get somewhere early.

Went to bed early since there was a fire ban and it got quite cold. Nice time there. Beautiful place.

Lucy and Hugh playing at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park Campground

Hike-bikercampsite at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park

First of two big hills - glorious morning

Cafe at top of first hill

View from the cafe

Big Sur Coast

Up - or maybe down....the first hill

Looking south

Pacific Ocean

Grinding on second hill

Stop on way up the second hill

Looking back

Palms on the beach

Approaching Gorda

Looking back

Sunset at Kirk Beach

View from campsite
 Saturday 16th November
Kirk Creek Campground to San Simeon State Park. 69kms

Great day along Big Sur and lots of challenging hills and gorgeous breath-stopping coastal scenery. Up and down to start and then a mega hill before reaching the ‘town’ of Gorda, which was ore a gas stationand cafĂ© – but great coffee and cake and had a lovely stop there looking out over the sea. Carried on and down and up the next mega-hills and then out onto a flatter coastline. Met two Thai tourists who were really great and a British guy going from Alaska to Ushasia. Carried on and came to a sea elephant colony – incredible – and Hearst Castle where we went to the Visitor Centre. Interesting. Then raced to see the sunset at San Simeon and get settled at the State Park. Really quiet and pleasant and best of all – started a campfire. Lucy read Anne of the Island to us which was great. Bed at the later time of 8.30pm thanks to the campfire! It has been a very wild and remote time since we left Monterey – and to some extent before that. Really nice. 

Saturday morning at Kirk Creek Campground
Beautiful morning at Kirk Creek
Hill to Gorda

Welcome cafe stop at Gorda - gorgeous sea view and sunshine from our table

More wild West Coast

Last hills of Big Sur

Approaching the last summit

Thai friends on the road

Flattening out of the road

Hearst Castle

Elephant Seals

Thousands of elephant seals - 15000 live in the colony

Sunset at San Simeon

Just before turning into San Simeon State Park

Lucy and Hugh on San Simeon Beach

Kids at sunset

Full moon near campsite


Sunday 17th November
San Simeon State Park to Morro Bay State Park 45kms

Chilly but lovely morning and got away soon after 10am after seeing off our friends on their moped bikes – an  older couple who had lost their home when he had some heart attacks. They were truly great and had trailers and solar panels – the lot! Their take-off was impressive.

The racoons had stolen our cooler bag – luckily just with a small piece of parmesan cheese in it.

Reasonably easy day and had Sunday morning coffee and bagels in Cambria and met a local guy and his wife who were interesting. Continued inland a little and the scenery changed to dry hills and then back out to the coast at the seaside town of  Cayucos. Ate sandwiches on the beach and continued on to Morro Bay and around through eucalyptus trees to the State Park, arriving just before sunset. Lucy and I walked down to the water to watch the birds flying across the sunset – mainly cormorants and pelicans.

Got settled in the camp and cooked tea and another guy, Wolfgang, who we had met at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, came and chatted around the campfire.

Hugh doing racoon impersonation high in tree

Breakfast

Motor assisted pushbikes

Barbara leaving the campsite on motor-assisted bike

Brown Butter Cookie Company, Cayucos

Sunset at Morro Bay

Pelican at sunset

Monday 18th November
Morro Bay State Park to Oceano Beach State Park 44kms

Another fairly leisurely day and got away after talking to our Alaskan cycling friends about 10am. Visited the Natural History Museum next to the camp – and free with State Park entry- which was amazing and the kids really liked it too. Went to the cafĂ© after that and ate BLTs and burritos and salad and had coffee – really good and felt like we needed it. Carried on at midday to Los Obos where we got groceries and then headed over to the outskirts of St Luis Obisdno  where wegladly found a sports shop selling gas and then also found some great Merrell shoes for Lucy – long overdue as her others have almost fallen apart. Carried on through Pismo Beach and then to Oceano – just on dusk. Met our Alaskan friends again and decided to share a campsite together since there was no hiker-biker. All worked out well. Had stir fry for dinner and then they came over and we had a good chat and laugh.

Peter has confirmed he will pick us up from Barstow next Tuesday so we are getting excited about that now. Also looking forward to some motels soon as have camped several nights in a row now. It has been fun though and great to get back to the simplicity of the State Parks. Certainly having early nights – later tonight – 8.45pm!

Morro Bay Nature Centre

Morro Rock

Bayside Cafe, Morro Bay
 Tuesday 19th November
Oceano State Beach to to Days Inn, Lompoc
70kms

Quite hilly and overcast over huge vegetable country –broccoli, lettuces and strawberries - at the start but made it to Guadalupe – a very Mexican town - and had a good rest eating Mexican tacos and Hugh had all-you-can-eat pancakes. We carried on to the hills by Orcutt and finally up the very steep and hot Harris Grade – quite a challenge, rising to 950m in 3 miles. Glad toget into Lompoc as the weather had changed and cooled and as Lucy struggling with the cold she has, we went to Starbucks and booked a motel online and it was just down the road and very nice and they even had drinks and snacks from5-7 which we partook of and then had a cheese sandwich for dinner since had had such a good lunch. Watched telly and emailed and facebooked and went to bed. Bliss to have electricity and lights and laundry. Oh – and a bed.

Packing up at Oceano
Massive raspberry farm at Harris Grade before Lompoc

Wednesday 20th November
Lompoc to Lake Cachuma County Park, Santa Ynez Valley
57kms

Set off from Lompoc after the hotel breakfast. Got to Highway 246 pretty quickly and it was rolling uphill most of the way but manageable and cracked out 32kms to Buellton and Slovang pretty quickly –firstly through vegetable fields and then vineyards higher up. Beautiful actually and made us really pleased we decided to come this way – especially since there was obviously a band of mist on the coast. Slovang was cool – Danish town and very amazing with bakeries and pancake shops and cute Danish architecture.  Went to an amazing bakery for lunch and drank lots of coffee. Grabbed some groceries on the outskirts of town and carried on to the junction with Highway 154 and rose steadily until the lake and the County Campground. Very dry ranchland and hills all around – very beautiful. Great to get here just ahead of the drizzly rain and to find they had some yurts free! After all of Oregon and all the yurts been full all summer, it was great to get one here as the kids had so wanted to stay in one – and me too.

Raining steadily now and lovely in here. Had a drink before dinner while the kids played fishing down at the lake which was very civilised and lovely. Think we will remember the Santa Ynez Valley fondly.

Days Inn, Lompoc

Flower farm out of Lompoc

Danish town of Slovang

Our Yurt at Lake Cachuma County Park


 Thursday 21st November
Lake Cachuma County Park

Ended up having a rest day and booking the yurt for another night since it was drizzly and bleak when we got up. The drizzle came and went but visibility was so poor all day that we were glad to settle in for a rest. Lots of good bird-watching, cups of tea, nice walks and a relaxing evening with cosy living in the yurt. Off to Santa Barbara and Ventura tomorrow, having condensed our days a little as a result of today. Kids did some schoolwork and doing really well with that. Early night before the San Marcos Pass. 

Rest day at Lake Cachuma

Grey tern at the lake

Weather and mist clearing above the park
 Friday 22nd November
Lake Cachuma County Park to Emma Wood State Park,Ventura
85kms

Quite a day and here we are camped alone on grassland between the freeway and the train tracks, with huge Amtraktrains passing by and continuous heavy traffic on the freeway. Happy to be here though and really pleased to get in such a big day in such short daylight. Left the yurt at 8.30am but talked to a guy near the shop and closer to 9am when properly on the road. The first six miles were pretty quick and beautifully scenic before chugging up the four mile San Marcos Pass which was indeed hilly. Got to the top at 2240 feet about an hour and a half later before a dramatic descent into Santa Barbara.

Hit hills again on Foothill Rd once we left the highway and then descended into State St and detoured into the Santa Barbara Mission which was beautiful and then down into town. Had coffee and a bite to eat and carried on down to the beachfront, pastthe gorgeous courthouse and other beautiful architecture in the town.

Joined the waterfront cycleway right through to Carpenteria, past numerous gorgeous gardens and waterfront properties. Had a shower of rain in a thunderstorm, but dried out again pretty quickly. Got groceries at Carpenteria and carried on to the freeway for four dramatic miles of fast freeway traffic before branching off to the county and state parks road where there was a superb beautiful sunset over the Channel Islands and numerous oil rigs out at sea, and Lucy spotted some dolphins close to shore – big black ones, which was cool. They swam into the pink glittering water of the sunset and disappeared.

Got to EmmaWood State Park just on dark. Pretty desolate but we were just happy to arrive and camp and have dinner and go to bed. 

Beautiful morning at Lake Cachuma

Breakfast at the yurt

Approaching San Marcos Pass

Looking back to Lake Cachuma

Rest stop at vista point

Top of San Marcos Pass - 2700 feet

Descending to Santa Barbara

Road descent to Santa Barbara

Mission at Santa Barbara



Beautiful gardens in Santa Barbara

Appropriate with Christmas approaching

Oil wells off Santa Barbara

Rejoining the six lane freeway near Ventura - frightening!

Waterfront properties

Literally hundreds of RVs parked on coast before Ventura for the winter 

Sunset

Fishing at sunset

Nearing the campsite

Cooking dinner!

Emma Wood State Park campsite -between the railway line and freeway!

AMTRAK train passing campsite

Hugh at beach by campsite