Total Distance 1,377 miles
This is what it's meant to be like! An awesome day. Stunning scenery, clear blue skies, ideal temperature, tailwind, feeling good, and with a spectacular campsite to finish. More like this, yes please.
I awoke early from dreams of bagels (and I mean entire packs, not just one or two) feeling refreshed after yesterday's short day and quickly set off in the direction of my first must see place for the day - the cinnamon bakery. Having stocked up there I set out along the coastal path through Pacific Grove towards the detour that is the 17 mile drive. Now the guidebook I have didn't seem overly impressed by this part of the world so my hopes weren't that high. But I thought I'd try none-the-less.
The guidebook is wrong. It was stunning. Now I'm definitely not one for flowers (as I'm sure any of my ex's will testify) but the carpet of pink blooms along the first mile or so of the path were quite beautiful. Then came the pristine golf courses sculpted through the dunes with picture postcards beach backdrops (gents, I have definitely found the location for our next Mhesa golf outing). Just when I thought it couldn't get better, as I was spinning along the road a vulture decided to join me and cruised along beside me for 200yrds, almost in touching distance. Special.
My main reason for taking this 17 mile detour was that I was particularly keen and excited to see the Pebble Beach golf course, albeit not quite as excited as it must have looked to the line of cars stuck behind me as I cycled past the entrance, cause at that very moment, the drinking tube came off my Camelbak. I rapidly ended up very wet but to those following me it must have looked like I'd lost control of myself.
I then passed through Carmel where I'd hoped to get some breakfast but it seemed the emphasis in that part of the world is Tiffany and Villroy & Bosch stores rather than french toast and pancakes. Still, I had my cinnamon treats to keep me going. So, I rejoined Highway 1 after a 70 mile absence and turned south towards Big Sur.
Having heard so many good things about the San Fran to LA stage of Highway 1, I had so far been largely disappointed so was really hoping that this 'jewel in the crown' of the route would deliver. And boy does it. Cliffs, mountains, beaches and blue skies mixed together in a beautiful collage to produce headland after stunning headland (I lost count of how many there were when I stopped to take today's pic). And lost count of how many times I stopped to take some snaps. And to make it even better, the cycling was relatively flat given the harshness of the terrain (only relatively, though). However, I did get the fastest descent of the trip, a 2.5 mile +40mph swooping stint where I caused some confusion to the driver of the SUV I was politely harassing all the way down and where I clocked my fastest speed of the trip so far - which I'm not putting here cause my mother reads this.
To add to my marine mammal filled day of yesterday I also caught a glimpse of two distinctive sprays of breath from the ocean - porpoises, dolphins, whales, who knows, but after all the looking I've been doing over the past weeks for some sign of something big in the water it was a cheer to finally see it.
So, I finally arrived in the expensive but great little Treebones Resort where I'm paying more for a simple campsite than I did for my motel in Coos Bay. But the view, easily, easily worth it.
The only slight dampener on the day was the guy in reception saying it's the next 12 miles that are by far the most 'curvy' - and not just laterally. Which brings me onto my dilemma. I'm kind of in no-mans-land in terms of getting to L.A. being either three a-bit-too-long or four a-bit-too-short days out. I guess I'll just see how I feel tomorrow but if I can get a +90 day on the clock then three is a definite possibility.
