August 7th – August 12th
We planned a couple of relatively short days to ease us back into life on the road together after both of us had been off the bikes for a couple of weeks. From Monterrey we would be heading down the Big Sur coastline – land of Jack Kerouac novels, bad Thrills songs and also a rugged and undeveloped coastline that attracts roadtripping tourists (including myself 7 years ago!). I had only vague memories of my first trip, but did remember it being beautiful so this has been a part I have been looking forward to.
Before our 2 week siesta from the trip, we had gotten our morning routine down to a fine art:
– My alarm goes off at 7:30. Lu would have been up for half an hour or so
– Pack up all the innards of my tent and down a litre of water to wake myself up and be able to hold a conversation
– Crawl out of tent at 7:45 to be greeted by Lulu with a cup of coffee and porridge ready for me (yay!)
– Become human by drinking said coffee and talk agree plan for the day
– Post porridge, pack up outside of tent.
– Pack bags, load bike
– Teeth, suncream and, umm…anti chaffing substances (!) at 8:50. A very important step!
– Agree a meeting place 15 miles or so ahead
– On the road by 9!
After a couple of weeks off, our routine was a little rusty and we limped out of the campsite, had a long stopoff at a supermarket (big supermarkets have a way of sucking you in when all you really want is porridge!) and were eventually on the road and heading for the big sur somewhere around midday! The roads out of town were some of the least bike friendly we’d ridden, with no shoulder and lots of traffic. I reminded myself that these are what the majority of roads are like in England! After 10 miles or so the road narrowed into the single lane Route 1 which would hug the coast for the next 100 miles or so, and most of the traffic dissapated to leave mostly tourists and locals, with the trucks and long diatancers taking the inland freeway. We’d been scared by stories of busy traffic and no shoulders along this stretch, peppered with sheer drop offs to the ocean without and crash barriers. But thankfully, it really wasn’t too busy and the drivers generally decent about giving us room. Again, something that probably wouldn’t be the case in England! The scenery felt similar to Oregon with rocky coasts and bays, and waves crashing against the cliffs, and true to form the fog stuck around until mid afternoon adding to the gloomy feel. Similar, but with way more tourists, with people pulling into lay-bys to take photos before moving onto the next.
The fog was clearing as we arrived at what I think was the best campsite we’ve stayed at so far. Pfieffer-Jones State Park, fully equipped with trails into the hills, a store, a river running through, hot water a plenty, and a beautiful hiker biker area all for the usual princley sum $5. This would be a great place to spend a few days, with a 20 mile hike up to some hot springs starting at the site. I was tempted to suggest staying for a couple of days but we were only 1 day on the bikes…next time! We found a great little bar up the road with a great beer selection, and put off camp cooking for one more night by having some amazing food there whilst planning out the final leg of the trip. We knew that that post big sur, the state parks and campsites would be getting thinner on the ground as we moved towards LA and had a bucket list of things we wanted to book in before the end of thr trip. Conjuring up all our Accenture/type A organisational skills, by the end of the evening we had booked tickets for Dodgers baseball match , a trip to Disneyland, a guilt free fast food/motel binge in a sh*thole town along the way, booked in hostels and warm showers hosts for LA, and worked out that we would have 3 weeks for our Mexican baja trip at the end. We both felt good for having a plan sorted, and it did a great job of getting us back into the trip after the time apart.
Lubricated by a few local beers, we had an interesting 2 mile roll back down to the campsite in absolute darkness. Thank god the journey there had been uphill!
Over the next day and the following morning, we made our way along the rest of the Big Sur, and the scenery got more impressive as we did. We set off early to beat the traffic and being on the road without cars was worth the 6am alarm. An impromtu sunset cycle to a grocery store also gave us the opportunity to see the coast with the sun setting over it and almost traffic free.
Having lost my spork in Yosemite I fashioned a new one out of a spoon liberated from the grocery store. Slight risk of serious injury when eating and it looks like a weapon an inmate might make to escape prison, but it did the job!
The final stretch of Big Sur was two big hills, followed by a great long descent into some completely different scenery as the road levelled out into long undulating stretch through coastal farmland via a noisy and cute but ugly pack of elephant seals.
It was a varied day, as the landscape turned into parched grasslands and farmlamds before swinging back to the coast at Morrro Bay. Another great example of a state park with a campground on the edge of town right on the bay, and within a mile of the tourist centre which was busy with saturday night diners. We had a dinner of Mac n Cheese – a new addition to the camp kitchen, and had a wander in town before an early night.
Since our fail at the supermarket pre Big Sur, we’d been low on supplies so breakfast was a couple of cookies purchased from a late night bakery before setting off on an early start for a ling 76 mile day to Lompoc. My bad maths was to blame for the long day after google maps revealed the true fugure vs my planned 60 miles the night before! It was an incredibley varied day starting with the standard foggy ride out of Morro Bay, then turning inland for some long straight miles.
On our bucket list had been a visit to a proper American diner, so after 30 speedy miles by 11am, we knew there was only one thing to be done when we came across this place on the roadside!
Our original plan to stop for a quick drink obviously turned into a full breakfast part deux, (with a side of hash browns of course).
By midday, slightly comatosed after the feast we were back on the road and heading inland. As we got further from the coast the temparature increased and the landscape got drier until it felt like we were in a completely different country. The names of towns became spanish, passing through Guadalupe which was full of Taquerias and mexican shops. The temparature soared and shade dissapeared, and the miles flew by as I took in the changing landscape and finally a short but sweet tailwind!! Strawberry fields started to surround us and it was only right to stop and get some from one of the roadside shacks. We made friends with the farmer who loaded us with all the free strawberries we could eat and carry. They tasted amazing.
A big hill and a sail down hill to Lompoc was the end of the day. After trying in vain to find the campsite we settled on a cheap motel with a pool (to be fair, we didn’t need much convincing at £32!). The evening was spent in Walmart, our first visit of the trip, which was like a black hole of time and ridiculously cheap. I came away with 2kg of trail mix and an intention that it would last the rest of the trip. Needless to say most of it has already been devoured 2 days later! A terrible Russel Brand film, a dinner of ramen and a good nights sleep in a bed made the most of Lompoc, which seemed to be on the map just to keep fast food chains and motels in business!
We are now in Santa Barbara, and it finally feels like California! After a climb and descent back to the coast through what felt like a wind tunnel, we joined up with the busy 101 highway, leaving the last of the California hills behind us.
Riding the busy highway isn’t great, but there are wide 8ft shoulders for bikes and well sign posted routes on and off especially for bikes.
On the plus side the miles fly by on the flat, and palm trees, blue skies and sandy beaches started to appear. The OC theme tune at last felt like the right song to be singing!
Off the highway we followed great bike paths for 15 miles into Santa Barbara, taking us right down the main street to the pier for the standard celebratory ice cream! Really lovely town with a spanish feel – a massive contrast to Lompoc!
Our campsite was 12 miles along the coast at Carpenteria. Again, great cycle paths took us there. Slightly eventful trip as one mile from our destination an electricity pylon above the cycle lane exploded after a collision a few hundred metres ahead knocked into a pylon. It all happened very quickly, and as the transformer exploded above the bike lane we were incredibly lucky to avoid the two live cables which fell down right in our path, sparking and jumping around. Somehow we both managed to swerve out of the way but it was a very near miss and a bit of a life-flashing-before-eyes moment! The only close call we’ve had on the trip and one we would never have predicted!!
After a brief stop to consider the meaning of life and all that good stuff, we headed onto the campsite, positioned right on a goregous beach. A lovely sunset and a well earned bottle of wine to calm our nerves ended the day…
..until an army of raccoons woke us up at 4am! I still think of the Raccoons as the loveable creatures from my childhood saturday morning TV. These ones appear at night and ransack any food left out! After hearing rustling I opened my tent to see 4 huge shadows around our foodbag. Thankfully it seems they are quite fussy and they left my sacred trail mix be in favour of the cheese and broccili freze dried pasta. Lesson learnt and tonight the food is locked away from the racoons and the armies of ants that are crawling all over my tent! Gotta love camping 🙂
Grrrls On Tour 