Or indeed anywhere on the west coast as far as we can tell. We entered our fourth week with absolutely perfect weather – clear skies, temperatures in the low 70’s and a gentle breeze to keep things comfortable. We enjoyed another 40 miles of classic ‘Big Sur’ country with loads more Mustangs as well as the odd Corvette for good measure and we are starting to see plenty of ‘premium’ European cars too. Once we get to Malibu every third veeeeehicle will be a Ferarri or a Lambo.

We are now in San Simeon – home to Hearst Castle. William Randolph Hearst was a mega-rich industrialist and chum of the Vanderbilts and Rockerfellas, though you may know of him thanks to his granddaughter …..Patty Hearst! Anyway, to show everyone how impressively minted he was he commission a ‘castle’. The design approach appears to have been to use money and taste in inverse proportions resulting in something that even Walt Disney would be envious of. We saw it distantly from the route but maybe some of the punters will have take the detour and taken the tour.

Other than the castle, San Simeon seems to entirely comprise motels, hotels and other establishments to house the tourists…..or tired cyclists riding the Specific Coast Highway.

On a more mundane level I would like to record that I am sick of camping! There is nothing basically wrong with it that a comfortable bed, proper bath, TV and door wouldn’t fix but after 3 weeks I would like to return to the sort of life I spent 30 years working to afford!

Steve
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Many years ago Hertz kindly upgraded my rental car to a Ford Mustang. These classic Merican ‘muscle’ cars are consistently damned by Top Gear and for good reason. Apart from being badly made and handling like a stuck pig it’s only party trick was an ability to spin the rear wheels furiously in any gear at any speed and without a breath of warning. In dry weather this could be passably exhilarating; in the rain it was pant foulingly terrifying!

Why, I wondered, would anyone ever consider buying or renting such a thing? The answer, I now realise, is to drive the 100 or so miles of Highway 1 in the region of Big Sur. This stretch of coast it the most stunning, spectacular and photogenic of the entire trip and just made for cruising in a drop-top Mustang.

 The rental companies must buy them in the thousands because if I had a dollar for every Mustang I saw today I would nearly have enough money for the tips involved in checking in to an up-market New York hotel (in other words a LOT).

We are staying in the heart of Big Sur and the hotellers are in very swanky lodges (I.e the posh word for cabins which is the posh words for sheds). We are actually in the state park and it is all very splendid. The campground is also excellent though a little less swanky. Everywhere is full as it is the weekend and it seems that half of California heads for the state parks.

We have just one more week of riding and will soon start to tackle the 50 mile sprawl that is LA – but first a few more days of good old Highway 1.

Steve

PS. You can now add Condors to the Autumnwatch list – Bill Oddie would probably pee a little.

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Blog for Thursday – hopefully that is all days accounted for!

It was a very short day – just 46 miles – and totally different to everything so far in that:

1/ the sun didn’t come out….well not until lunchtime and
2/ the scenery has completely changed. Today we had endless fields of salad crops or strawberries with hundreds of dagoes (I believe Latin Americans may be a little more PC) toiling in the fields. The temperature was around 70 yet they mostly had sweatshirts and hoods and even the odd thick coat. One or two of them may even have had a work permit!

What does all this have to do with the song de jour? Absolutely nothing! This, however, does:

For some time I have been building a mental list of the wildlife that we have encountered and it surprisingly long list:

Whales – we ae now pretty certain they were whales not minkies

Elk – lots of deer but some proper Elk too

Seals

Sea lions – at least they looked like seal lions though they were not balancing stripey balls on their noses so it is hard to be sure

Sea Otters – two separate sightings, one of 3 together and another diving for clams and opening them

Coyotes – though not carrying anvils nor anything manufactured by the Acme Corporation.

Racoons – Alan had a face to face encounter with a gang outside his tent flap

Polecats – or some other long thin rodenty thing a bit like a Pine Martin.

Pelicans – and pelican’ts

Bluejays – or something we think is a bluejay

Vultures – not half as nice as the Jungle Book version

Birds of prey – chuffing loads of various sorts but, sadly, no bald eagles. Though if we can catch a buzzard I have a sharp razor…….

We still have some 450 miles to go so who knows what else we might see – probably unicorns.

Our campsite surpassed itself tonight with a ‘club room’. Basically a nice warm rooms with pool table, sofas and a chuffing great plasma TV. Alan was as happy as the proverbial pig in brown stuff scouring the airwaves for Merican Football.

Tomorrow…..Big Sur.

Steve
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Another slow news day but this is something I have been meaning to write about.  Since we arrived we have seen many signs that the threat from Tsunami’s is in the consciousness of west coast Mericans.  Wherever we go we see details of the Tsunami evacuation plan, shelters, alert practises etc.  Naturally we are aware that there is a threat but had no idea that the profile of this threat was so high.

Today, as we were leaving SF, things went to Defcon 11.  A full Tsunami alert drill.  Sirens sounded throughout the bay area and, as we cycled out of town, we saw helicopters in the skies, marine hovercraft on the beach and an aircraft carrier out in the Bay.  They take the BIG wave pretty seriously here. Even the mayor came!

Other than that the big news is that the weather has changed – the wind is now blowing strongly from the south and there are cloudy skies and lower temperatures.  Bugger.  The riders put it a bit more strongly!

We are now in Davenport (pop 200) and the guests are in the biggest hotel in town. It is also the only hotel in town as well as being the only restaurant and, very nearly, the only building.  Our campsite is nearly 14 miles north and very lovely with a restaurant, bar, sauna and all sorts of luxuries unbecoming us mere campers.

Steve

PS…if anyone cannot get the song connection I suggest they email me privately rather than humiliate themselves in public!

Tuesday 2nd Oct.

 Today Joseph arrived in Bethlehem and the innkeeper said there was no room at the inn.

Translation:

Today Steve arrived in San Francisco and Mr Patel said ‘yes, I see you have reservations for 11 rooms but I only have 8 rooms to give you’.  Bugger.  To make matters worse, it is the world Oracle conference in San Francisco and hotel rooms are rarer than hens teeth.  Buggery buggering bugger.

After a frank exchange of views with Mr Patel (known in England as ‘An Argument’) he came up with a ninth room thus slightly reducing the gap and, at vast expense, two rooms were found elsewhere so the crisis was averted.

Mr Patel’s hotel proved to be reasonably comfortable, though the lobby and hallways were probably striving for shabby chic they mostly just managed shabby. Alan and I washed our bodies, our clothes, our shoes and anything else that looked like it could be washed, reducing the bath to the sort of thing that might have been used by John George Haigh……Google it!

In addition to all this excitement there were 3 new guests to collect from various locations so a rest day it was not.  At least not for me.

We are saying goodbye to one guest who is leaving us to return to blighty and we do so with a heavy heart – she was great fun and a pleasure to travel with.  No names but YOU know who you are!!

 Steve

Phew what a scorcher.  Our route (by the way please hear this word as Rowt in all entries) briefly left the ocean and the temperature on LM2’s thermometerisation module read 98 degrees F.  To verify this I stuck my head out of the window….yup, chuffing hot.

Not only is the weather spiffy but the scenery went up to 11 (I love Spinal Tap).  The ride from Fort Ross to Bodega Bay is probably the best so far:

We are now in Stinson Beach a seaside resort 20 miles north of SF where, with the unseasonal weather (today was the hottest day in SF since May) the place is thronging with lithe bikini clad girls. ……………

……..where was I?  Our campground is a little out of town and is accessed via a single lane switchback down a ravine to a promontory.  The sheer drops made everyone pay careful attention but the views from the campsite made the risks worthwhile.  Unfortunately the road stops about 200yards from out pitch so we used the campground wheelbarrow to transport all out crap the last bit.  We set up camp and watched the sun set:

Tomorrow we are off to ‘Frisco.

Steve

PS The bulgarians seem to have buggered off but Sweden is coming on stream.  We love you Sweden and we will try for an ABBA song very soon.

Sorry for the radio silence…..lack of interweb/commitment!  This is the blog for Sunday, riding from Fort Bragg to Fort Ross.  There are lots of Fort places on the route, mostly a hangover from the pioneering days when the routes to the west coast were first opened and usually not a whiff of fort in sight.  In Fort Ross, however, there is a pathetic modern replica which, presumably, Merican tourists are happy to haul their colossal butts round.  But I digress.

The California way of life and general climate is pretty nice so I started thinking how I could relocate here permanently.  Naturally I would need a job but nothing too stressful, and preferably something that would allow me to enjoy the whole hippy pot smoking vibe.  So this is what I have come up with:

Basically it is gardening……..but while high on weed!!  So far I haven’t had any responses, which is a bit disappointing, but I’m pretty sure the orders will come rolling in once people see the attraction of wonky stripes and a gardener who giggles a lot.

Yup, you’ve guessed it… a low news day!   The weather has been great – not toasty hot but clear skys and much less mist and the views have been terrific all day:

Our campground is a little basic (portaloos) but, yet again, right by the Specific and only a few hundred yards from a decent restaurant. Our waiter was gayer than Christmas and had the irritating Merican habit of describing everything as ‘Awesome’.  If the Chef’s spinach salad is awesome what superlative will he use for some really hard man sex?

Alan says I may have gone too far with the last comment.  Excellent!

Steve

The first song is pretty inspired!  It is Saturday AND….drum roll…we drove in a tree!  But more of this later.  Firstly it seems the Bulgarian Massive are firmly behind us now with a total of 10 hits.  Thank you Bulgaria, we love you.

A few more words about last night.  The Redgate Villas motel is a simple 8 room place in Leggett, CA (population 122).  It is run by Mike who looks just like Mikey from American Chopper and possibly IS Mikey.  A very nice guy who handed over his garden, gas barbeque and most of his crockery so we could cook dead animals and feed the troops.  When I arrived he was busy giving away his profit on the night by sharing his malt whiskey collection with the punters.  This was much appreciated by the punters for obvious reasons, and by me because anything tastes ok after a few malt whiskies.

Our campsite was almost as good….run by Billy – a Mancunian who left England 22 years ago when her husband died of a cold (you see…man flu IS serious).  She had promised me a discount if I could bring her some Roundtree Fruit Gums but sadly I forgot so the heartless bitch made us pay full price.  Apart rom that it was a great place to spend the night.

So, back to this tree.  I’ll admit to a degree of scepticism but it was the best 5 dollars I ever spent.  It is a TREE but you can drive through it!  As you will see it was a pretty snug fit for LM2.

The next car through was even bigger and it cleared the edges by about half an inch.  Once through, the driver got out – a women with an arse the size of Kansas.  She tried to walk through the tree and got firmly wedged.  They called the fire brigade but the eventual conclusion was that – a la Winnie The Poo – the best solution was to leave her till she got thinner.  I recokon this will take a bout 5 years.

The tree is pretty huge – not just fat but very tall too:

We then joined Highway 1 for 20 miles of stunning riding over the hills and back to the coast.  The climbs were gentle, the road was winding and the tarmac was creamy smooth.  Lurvely.  As we approached he coast God decided to play Misty for me.  It is really weird – the mist cloacks the coast while just a few hundred yards inshore it is brilliant sunshine.  The temperature dropped 20 degrees F and everything is viewed through a veil.

It was a very short day and we got into Fort Bragg in the early afternoon.  I spent the afternoon cleaning out LM2 and catching up on a few chores  while Knobby and 2 of the guests finished their miles in a verl leisurely fashion.  Tonight it is eat all you can Chinese Buffet – my favourite!

We are about half way which means lots more blogs to come….Bugger.

Today the sun had a really very big hat on indeed.  LM2 indicated 94 degrees F at about 3 o’clock and everyone found the very short day suprisingly tough.  We are slowly putting those bleedin Redwoods behind us but they have a last hurrah as we are staying in Leggett – site of the drive through tree:

Tomorrow I will take LM2 and see if it fits through.  Alan is doubtfull but I reckon that the trick is to take a good run at it and go through FAST.

They really are quite big these Redwoods.  Our campsite is, again, in the forest and the following picture is of just an ordinary tree of which there are countless thousands.  To take it I had to lay on my back on the forest floor and I am still picking bits of twig out of my pants.

Today our campsite has a pool and I had time for a quick dip while Alan was slogging up a long hill in the heat….titter.  Once again the motellers are in the middle of nowhere so we laid on a barbeque.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it except the chef……….or Me as he is otherwise known.  It is now 10pm and we are back at camp drinking beer and chillaxing.

Tomorrow we leave Highway 101 and start on Highway 1 – THE Specific Coast Highway:

Време е за лягане сега – лека нощ.

Steve

The Tony christie song……no not THAT one, the other one.

Today I spent the morning chasing around after a bike that kept puncturing but eventually we swapped the tire and it started to behave.  We are now in the Avenue of the Giants so guess what?  yup, more bloody Redwoods,  though impressively fat tall redwoods and the riding has been very lovely. 

The plan was for us to camp in the grounds of the motel where the others were staying but thanks to Tanya at the Redcrest Resort (who decided to ignore our tent booking and dig up the campground) we are staying in Burlington Campground ‘4’ miles further on.  This is a Tanya 4 miles so actually 8.1.  THANKS Tanya!

Having pitched out tents we then returned 8.1 miles to sit on the porch, eat pizza, drink bear and talk b******s while the sun set.  

We are away from the coast and temperatures are now a toasty mid-80’s and full sun, though there is plenty of shade in the sodding redwoods.

In a quiet moment I took stock of the state of LM2.  It is coated in a layer of dust about a foot thick and the inside is so disgusting that the gypsies have moved out muttering about it being too messy for them.  I think a tidy up may be needed soon :-(.

Sorry for the short entry but doing 3 days in one go is a bit of a pain……..maybe I’ll go for a big one for Friday if I can find a Bulgarian-English dictionary!

Steve