Monday, 16 September 2013
Day 11. Hermosa Beach LA to Laguna Beach. 51.2 miles .
Today we continued through the metropolitan area of LA. As my book says ' Travel through any city is demanding. Riding through the nine cities of that make up the Los Angeles coast area stresses the word ' demanding ' to a whole new dimension. ' I followed our excellent cycling maps and managed fine, to quote Murray ' you were bloody magnificent '. I felt quite chuffed, praise indeed. Amazing the number of beaches we passed, must be about 100 miles of almost continuous sand. We ate breakfast at a beachside restaurant and watched a couple set up a exercise circuit on the beach, then complete all the stations. Wondered if they do that every morning before work. Long Beach was fabulous, affluent, miles of berthed cruisers, beautifully laid out. Yes, we did see the Queen Mary, looking glorious. By afternoon the temperature was mid 30's but as usual more bearable on the bike than off. Mixed roads today, some exceedingly busy with no shoulder, others broad and safe. Some terrific broad quiet bike paths, by the sea, where we could get up some speed. Another short day of 50 odd miles, any more and Murray's butt hurts him too much, he really is suffering. Finding good motels without any problem, people very interested in our journey. On arrival I immediately wash any dirty clothes then the bikes become washing lines, usually dry by next day. Loved today, was varied, challenging, places of interest, a few hills to enjoy. Good stuff.
P.S. Not getting good wifi signal so photos etc a bit slow to go. Will catch up eventually.
P.S. Not getting good wifi signal so photos etc a bit slow to go. Will catch up eventually.
Sunday, 15 September 2013
Day 10. Port Hueneme to Hermosa Beach. LA 70.7 miles
We knew today would be a difficult day because we were approaching the urban sprawl of Los Angeles. Another beautiful, sunny day but as we left early, the air felt lovely and cool. A quiet back road took us past a Naval Airforce Base, before we found ourselves again on Hwy 1. We passed beach after beach, families already there enjoying their Sunday break, surfing is certainly their favourite sport. We made Malibu in good time passing some very expensive looking properties, gated big entrances, made you wonder who lives there. We passed a field of American flags, presumably to commemorate 9/11. Santa Monica next, this is a very wealthy area, we had planned to stay in Venice but decided to go on further. We were on a beach path then ran for 20 miles making slow progress due to other walkers, jogggers, skateboarders and cyclists too numerous to mention. I have never seen a beach so long or so broad, it just went on and on. People watching had never been more fascinating. We had to make a short detour inland but missed our turn off, ended up going round in circles for a while. This seemed to get to Murray and as there were no signs of motels anywhere, and time was getting on, he was not a happy chappy. We eventually picked up the beach path again and asked some locals for advice, they pointed us to a couple of motels so all's well. LA is huge, cities within a city, at one time building over three storeys was forbidden so it spread out and out. Everyone seems to love the outdoors but who can blame them with this warm, sunny climate and massive well kept beaches.,
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