West Coast Cooler....

Saturday was spent heading north from San Diego in search of the Pacific Coastline......and I have to say it was pretty elusive for most of the day.......the morning was spent on the Interstate – Californian driving is somewhat more aggressive than I have been used to over the last few weeks.....they are all in a serious hurry – and much of the afternoon was spent crawling between sets of traffic lights in Long Beach and Los Angeles.......
The coast really only appeared around Malibu and by that stage I was ready to call it a day.....finished up in Oxnard.


Sunday morning was initially more rural than coastal but eventually I hit the coast road and it was good fun......plenty of cliff-tops, hair-pins and views of the Pacific.......with some elephant seals and squirrels thrown in! Came across the most expensive gas of the trip so far.....$3.50/gallon (works out about 65p/litre) which is $1 more than anywhere else I have been.....in a little Shell station in Big Sur. Made it to Monterey for the evening about 120 miles south of San Francisco.


Total Mileage on the bike – 16,489
Miles ridden this week – 2,055
Total miles ridden – 9,045

Monday was overcast, grey and with rain in the air as I left Monterey following Highway 1 north. The coast was pretty misty at times as I made my way into San Francisco and crossed the Golden Gate Bridge (no toll to pay when you are going north!)......it was pretty misty and drizzly as I crossed the bridge.

From there I continued north and Highway 1 took me into the hills, more curves and hairpins with the added complications of wet roads and reduced visibility due to the mist but it was quite a fun ride and then I had an hour or so of heavy rain as the afternoon ticked by.........the countryside was lovely along the way.....really rural with dairy cows and horses in the fields. I stopped in Jenner for the night.