Wednesday we set off to visit Haight Street district, walking down to Castro then continuing along to Haight Street. Unfortunately (and I blame Janet) we turned right instead of left, after a couple of blocks we realised Janet’s error and jumped onto a bus back past Castro, the correct direction this time.
A few trams (I just love them).
Tim was up and away very early (before we were even up) and just left us to it. So a little bit of a sort and tidy of our things was in order, and of course plenty of admiring the view across the city.
Night view from Tim’s apartment
After yesterdays winds it was a relief to wake up and find all was calm and still. There was a very heavy mist giving a lovely grey colour to everything!
The misty harbour at Half Moon Bay
During the night the wind got stronger and stronger (dam those pinto beans) by morning they were gusting to 20 mph and by 7.30 am when we left the skies were looking very dark indeed. We had to have a good search for our waterproof things as we have not used them for so long now!
Rainclouds gather over a wind whipped sea
As we only had a short 20 mile day today a long overdue lie in almost took place (well maybe an extra 30 minutes). We sat down with Rita for a lovely english breakfast, thank you, the first one since July and also tried Persimmon, a lovely refreshing semi sweet taste, try one today (make sure it is ripe!). With nice tea and coffee we chatted away for a while before the campground called us onwards.
Seafront rollercoaster
Pier and beach Santa Cruz
You do get a nice easy start from a motel, everything packed and ready to go. Again it was a chilly start (all relative though, back home it would be a lovely start) hat, gloves and gilet on. It was straight on to the cycle path from yesterday but this soon finished and we rejoined highway 1.
Near the end of the cycle path
The highway was very busy indeed, just a steady stream of cars really.
Everything was dry again this morning but to make up for it the wind has started to blow, gusting up to 20 mph, but a steady 12 mph straight at us, it was going to be a tough but beautiful day.
After 2 days of wet tent syndrome, we had dry tent disorder which assisted in a quick pack up and away. We said goodbye to Ralph and Imke who are currently on a 2 year world cycle trip.
Ralph, Imke and Janet
There was no mist today woot woot. Today consisted of many ups and downs in stunning costal scenery (plus it was a little cooler with no wind at all today making cycling very pleasant).
Today we woke to a tent that was absolutely saturated inside and out with condensation from the mist that had rolled in overnight. In fact the whole site was shrouded in a blanket of it.
Misty coastline
By the time we had packed up and ready to start the sun was well up, or at least we think it was, you just could not tell, the sun’s warmth was not impacting on this mist.
The tent was the wettest yet, the warm evening and very damp wet air made it seem like it had rained. As we left Oceano behind the road gently rose and fell but surprisingly there was actually a tailwind so we made good progress.
Passing through Grover Beach then Pismo Beach then Shell Beach, all of them having more RV Parks that you would know what to do with (unless you had an RV to park of course). As you can tell with the give away common name clue in all the last three places, we followed the coast closely.
RVs RVs everywhere
Then we turned inland and all of a sudden there seemed to be green everywhere, proper green not green caused by irrigation. Although there are many many vineyards here, acres and acres devoted to the grape.
Cycle Travellers 