California back into Nevada

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Day 69……09/06/2012

There is a weather phenomenon here on the California coast, and it’s called the “June gloom” and it is exactly how it sounds, gloomy misty weather. Well that is what it is like this morning, after weeks of clear blue skies, the one day that we needed sunshine for our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean, the weather’s naff. The forecast is for it to be sunny in Los Angeles which is where we plan to go today, just not here yet. I suppose that we really should not be so ungrateful, seeing what beautiful weather we have been having and besides it could be much worse, we could be riding in England and by now would probably have drowned. A ten minute ride and we were at the sea, and although the views were a little disappointing it should improve later. We rode South on the iconic Californian Route 1, a coastal road featured countless times in many films and TV series. We rode through Malibu with its waterfront homes with lottery win price tags, and passed driveways to unseen properties tucked away on the hillside. As we reached Santa Monica the sun did eventually break through, and the splendour of the oceans colour was at last visible, as were the few surfers doing their best with the limited wave action available to them. As we rode further towards the heart of Los Angeles I remembered why I had not included this city on my route the last time I was here. The place is an absolute nightmare to negotiate, traffic lights every fifteen feet, stop signs in between them, pot holes that you could lose a small van in, and traffic that treats anything on two wheels as a contact sport, apart from that it’s great. We found our way to a very bumpy Mulholland drive, a road that connects the rich and famous in the hills above Los Angeles, with the rich and famous in Beverly Hills. We glided down passed homes that defy description, and on into Sunset and Wiltshire Boulevards, place names that have been mentioned so many times before, and world apart from the rest of America. Ok, we’ve been there and done that, now let’s go home for us sightseeing needs to be enjoyable, and maybe from on top of a tour bus it is, but to be honest I spent most of the day trying to stay upright on these piss poor roads, and keep Lynne on the back to really notice the sights, ok rant over.

Day 70……10/06/2012

More mist this morning but as we were traveling north up the coast it will be nice to ride in cooler temperatures. The ride today will be around 150 miles up highway 101, passing through Santa Barbara, and onto San Louis Obispo. Within a few miles we moved just slightly away from the coast, and there was the sunshine, the sea mist only extending a few miles inland before being burnt off by the sun. Even though the temperature was nothing like previous highs it was very welcome after the chilly mist of the coast. We made our way to the small town of Solvang, around 50 miles from our destination, and as we rode into the busy streets you could be forgiven for thinking that you had been magically whisked back to any picturesque Germanic village. The buildings and shops were like nothing you should see in this part of the world, but here it was, there was even a full sized windmill. We parked up and had a good look around in the beautiful afternoon sunshine. Most of the Scandinavian countries showed some influence here whether by their architecture, culture or the finest displays of cakes and chocolates in the many tempting window displays. With a few more trinkets and mementoes safely packed away on the bikes we headed for our evenings stop, back near the coast. We booked into a nice motel, and found a Louisiana style restaurant, selling all things spicy, I had the hot seafood Gumbo, and Lynne had a burger, well her constitution is a little more fragile than mine.

Day 71……11/06/2012

Today was another of those days when you really need fine weather, because today we will ride further north along the coast towards San Francisco. But this is no ordinary coastal road, this one was built by “Carlsberg” and in my humble opinion is one of the finest in the world. Sure the Amalfi coast in Italy is pretty, and Southsea seafront has its moments, but this road is outstanding. Part of the near 130 mile route from Morro Bay to Monterey includes the famous stretch called the “Big Sur”, and if you have not been lucky enough to have been here, then imagine the most dramatic Cornish coastline on a road that precariously clings to the hillside and sweeps and dips like a demented snake, and around each corner a view of the Ocean in varying shades of blue crashing over the rocks sometime hundreds of feet below, then you will get some idea of the spectacle. Anyway back to us leaving this morning to ride this wonder,….. it’s misty again. We set off anyway despite the fact that you could not see a hundred yards in front, let alone the ocean, and just hoped that it would burn off, if not it would be a long damp 130 miles. Well I am not sure who is keeping tabs on us, but within 10 miles or so the fog lifted slightly, well enough to catch glimpses of the sea every now and then, and just as the more twisty road appeared so did the sunshine, and wow what a transformation, and we both enjoyed every mile of it.

Day 72……12/06/2012

The previous days ride had taken its toll on Lynne’s arms a little, so it was just as well that the roads into San Francisco were going to be fairly straight, but would definitely be a lot busier. All hail the sat nav again, because once again it saved the day, having to keep one eye on the road signs, one on the little vehicle behind, and the other on the traffic, with the Californians carrying out their interpretation of careful driving, hold on that’s three eyes. We entered the outskirts of San Francisco, and I just knew that Lynne was having kittens behind, the freeway became ever more manic the closer we got to the heart of the city, so it was with a good deal of relief when we took the off ramp and headed into the downtown area and our hotel. Just one thing now stood in our way, the infamous roads that this city is well noted for. We rode up and down some pretty steep streets, avoiding the lumps and bumps, and also the tram tracks. I would like to say we resembled Steve McQueen in the film “Bullet”, but once again probably more like Wallace and Gromit. We got to our accommodation on Lombard Street at around 2pm and quickly settled in, next we were off on a walk to explore the Presidio a once old military base that covers a large part of the downtown San Francisco area, and the beautiful gardens and lake that complement the even more impressive Palace of fine arts. We like San Francisco, we feel comfortable here, we had a great time here in 2006, there is something about this city we both like, but damn, we could never afford to move here.

Day 73……13/06/2012

We have already done most of the touristy things that there are here, we have visited Alcatraz, seen the bay by boat, and had fantastic clam chowder at Fisherman’s wharf, so it was a little hard to decide exactly what to do this morning. So we chose just to walk, and soak up the atmosphere that this great city exudes with such abundance. We walked to Chinatown a very colourful and vibrant part of the city, lots of busy people just as I imagine it would be in China. Apparently San Francisco has the largest population of Chinese in one area outside of China. Lynne went into shopping mode and I did what I do best at these times, I followed. The reward for my compliance was one or two stop offs at some Irish bars along the perilously steep route home, one actually had an Indian restaurant inside it, double bounus.



Day 74……14/06/2012

The last day of our visit here was spent pretty much doing the same, just relaxing in the sunshine sitting at fisherman’s wharf with some clam chowder served in a hollowed out round sour dough loaf, and just watching the people go by. Then a slow walk to Pier 39, another small shopping experience, there are also quite a few sea lions that have made the nearby pontoons their permanent home. They just seem to lay there soaking up the sun, squabbling with each other, and making loud sea lion noises much to the delight of the gathered crowds. We finished the day off with a great Chinese meal near the hotel, fantastic food, which seemed to be endorsed by the fact that after we arrived the place filled to capacity, which was not many. Around six or seven deaf Italians sat down next to us and no this is not the intro to a joke, but what was funny was that as you would expect they were all talking at once as they do, and waving their arms about as they do, but this time the arm waving was to communicate by sign, there was not a sound coming from the table, oh well it amused me anyhow, not their deafness obviously, oh you know what I mean, you just had to be there.

Day 75……15/06/2012

All packed up and off we set in the early morning Frisco traffic, we headed north along Lombard street and made our way towards San Francisco’s most famous attraction, the “Golden Gate Bridge”, this had been a little bit of a nemesis for Lynne, and she had worked herself up a little as to the difficulty in crossing it. Well yes it is just a bridge with around six lanes to many, but still a bridge. Lynne had a bad experience six years ago on the Bay Bridge which crosses another part of San Francisco bay, she had been on the back of my bike when apparently all the other traffic going in our direction had it in for her, I must admit I saw nothing. Anyway we crossed the Golden Gate without any incident, and then up onto an overlook which provided fantastic views of the bridge and back across the city. The route from here took us just a little further north and then east and onto Sacramento, all the while the temperature was rising again very quickly. We passed through Sacramento and from there we started the climb up and over the Tahoe Mountains. The rolling hills of coastal California gave way to more pine forest and rugged cliffs of the region that straddles California and Nevada. We climbed ever higher and at around 6000 feet we actually spotted some snow higher up on the mountains, but still the temperature was fairly hot here. We eventually started our descent down into the wide Nevada valley that took us to our stop at Reno, which was very welcome now as the heat had once again taken its toll on little Lynne, despite the many water stops. A motel was found double quick thanks again to the sat nav, and the air con was on even quicker.

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