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| Seals by Fisherman's Wharf, Monterey |
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| Jellyfish, Monterey Aquarium |
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| Cannery Row, Monterey |
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| Fish feeding at MontereyAquarium |
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| Monterey Foreshore |
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| Sealions - wild on coastline |
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| Sea otters at aquarium |
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| Jellyfish |
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| Illuminescent jellyfish |
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| Awesome Dude - that's all of him! |
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| African penguins at aquarium |
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| 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.
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| Wild sea otter eating crab at Monterey |
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| Ominous sign outside Carmel |
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| Coastline at start of Big Sur |
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| First bridge |
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| Getting further into Big Sur |
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| Some great engineering |
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| Big Sur Hugh |
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| Looking ahead - girls on road at corner |
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| 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.
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| Lucy and Hugh playing at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park Campground |
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| Hike-bikercampsite at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park |
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| First of two big hills - glorious morning |
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| Cafe at top of first hill |
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| View from the cafe |
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| Big Sur Coast |
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| Up - or maybe down....the first hill |
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| Looking south |
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| Pacific Ocean |
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| Grinding on second hill |
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| Stop on way up the second hill |
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| Looking back |
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| Palms on the beach |
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| Approaching Gorda |
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| Looking back |
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| Sunset at Kirk Beach |
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| 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 café –
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.
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| Saturday morning at Kirk Creek Campground |
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| Beautiful morning at Kirk Creek |
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| Hill to Gorda |
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| Welcome cafe stop at Gorda - gorgeous sea view and sunshine from our table |
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| More wild West Coast |
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| Last hills of Big Sur |
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| Approaching the last summit |
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| Thai friends on the road |
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| Flattening out of the road |
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| Hearst Castle |
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| Elephant Seals |
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| Thousands of elephant seals - 15000 live in the colony |
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| Sunset at San Simeon |
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| Just before turning into San Simeon State Park |
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| Lucy and Hugh on San Simeon Beach |
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| Kids at sunset |
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| 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.
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| Hugh doing racoon impersonation high in tree |
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| Breakfast |
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| Motor assisted pushbikes |
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| Barbara leaving the campsite on motor-assisted bike |
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| Brown Butter Cookie Company, Cayucos |
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| Sunset at Morro Bay |
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| 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 café 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!
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| Morro Bay Nature Centre |
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| Morro Rock |
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| 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.
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| Packing up at Oceano |
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| 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.
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| Days Inn, Lompoc |
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| Flower farm out of Lompoc |
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| Danish town of Slovang |
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| 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.
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| Rest day at Lake Cachuma |
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| Grey tern at the lake |
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| 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.
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| Beautiful morning at Lake Cachuma |
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| Breakfast at the yurt |
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| Approaching San Marcos Pass |
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| Looking back to Lake Cachuma |
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| Rest stop at vista point |
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| Top of San Marcos Pass - 2700 feet |
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| Descending to Santa Barbara |
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| Road descent to Santa Barbara |
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| Mission at Santa Barbara |
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| Beautiful gardens in Santa Barbara |
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| Appropriate with Christmas approaching |
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| Oil wells off Santa Barbara |
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| Rejoining the six lane freeway near Ventura - frightening! |
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| Waterfront properties |
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| Literally hundreds of RVs parked on coast before Ventura for the winter |
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| Sunset |
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| Fishing at sunset |
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| Nearing the campsite |
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| Cooking dinner! |
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| Emma Wood State Park campsite -between the railway line and freeway! |
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| AMTRAK train passing campsite |
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| Hugh at beach by campsite |
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