Day 465
Golden Gate
Feeling better than expected after yesterday’s marathon effort we were confident we could catch up with ‘the gang’ today. As we were in a very luxurious motel, we decided to take our time and enjoy the comfort whilst we could. I even had breakfast in bed! Then we received a message from Nicola and realised we had actually overtaken her! Blast! She was at a campsite, (Manchester KOA) with a pool and hot tub and wasn’t leaving anytime soon! We just wanted to get this day done, more climbing, constant up and downs, with endless inlets which took us down to sea level, the road becoming a berm and then back up. I tried to get my speed just right, slow enough to stay on my side of the road but fast enough to speed up the other side, didn’t always get it right!
Though keen to get this day done we had a few stops along the way. First was at the Sea Ranch Chapel. It is a nondenominational church built to honour ‘Kirk Ditzler’, a navy aviator, zoologist and artist. Designed by James Hubbell, it is a stunning work of art, the roof resembling a sea snail and with doors so beautiful Tom took photo after photo. On we went. Then Tom spotted a plume of spray in the water. We pulled to a stop, binoculars out. Was it simply the sea hitting a small rock or could it possibly be a whale? Oh my goodness, it was a whale! We stood for ages, watching as it gave us a wonderful demonstration of how they fish. We didn’t just get a glimpse, no we were able to watch as it leap from the water, repeatedly hitting the surface with its fins and then flicking its tail up, again and again. Tom finally dragged me away!
This part of California was littered with Russian names, I knew Russia had ‘owned’ Alaska until they sold it to the USA in the late 1860s but was unaware that they had several outposts around here. We past several buildings they had left and paused at an old cemetery. Then on we rode, but soon to stop again at a point where a river met the sea at Jenner. To say this is a bird watchers paradise is a major understatement. There were thousands and thousands of sea birds sat around, feeding and even appearing to surf the river as it met the sea. I wanted to ‘beam up’ my niece Phoebe as she would have loved it.
Just a final few miles, then we were at our campsite, Bodega Bay. Robert greeted us with a cheer! ‘Legends’ he called out to us. We had a great evening chatting with him, Rachel and Flo, plus we had finally managed to meet up with @pedalsandpubs, James and two friends had been cycling route 101 and we had spent the last 2 weeks just missing each other! We sat around a camp fire chatting late into the night swapping tales of life on the road.
Next to our campsite is a memorial, the Children’s Bell Tower. Back in September 1994 a local family, Reg and Maggie Green with their 7-year-old son Nicholas had been visiting Italy. They were attacked and Nicholas was tragically shot. Reg and Maggie took the decision to donate their son’s organs, saving the lives of 5 children and the sight of 2 more. This in turn created what became known as ‘The Nicholas Effect’ encouraging others to do the same. Tom and I were both moved by this beautiful memorial and stood for a while listening to the gentle sound of the bells but also the sound of children playing nearby.
From here we rode to the harbour and treated ourselves to the local speciality, seafood chowder. An unusual choice for breakfast but it was fantastic. Now Robert had said today was not too hilly but clearly his memory was playing tricks on him. We left the bay riding uphill, and that was what we appeared to do all day long. We were slowly heading inland. This area of California, Marin County is somewhere I know the names of so many places. Back in the early 90s the bike to have was a Marin and we sold many of them. Tom got rather fed up of me squealing ‘Bear Valley’, ‘Muirwoods’, ‘Pine Mountain’ again and again. Names so familiar to me, I loved it. To shut me up Tom took us to see a fence! He knows how to treat a girl! To be fair this was not just any fence, this was the ‘Earthquake Fence’. This area of California sits above what is known as the San Andreas Fault. In 1906 it caused a massive earthquake, resulting in death of over 3,000 people in San Francisco and destroying 80% of the city. Out of the city, on a farm on Bear Valley Road a fence was split in two by a 12ft gap created by the earthquake. It still stands today as a simple reminder of the devastating power on the earthquake. Just one more campsite and then we were on the road to San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge.
Now neither Tom and I are keen to visit cities but there is something about SF made us excited to be here. To ride over the iconic Golden Gate Bridge. Cycle by the water looking out at Alcatraz and looking at the skyline and those oh so steep streets rising away from the harbour. Scenes so familiar to us from endless movies. I was beaming with excitement and it didn’t disappoint. San Francisco, we love you!
