San Francisco - sorry, but thumbs down, Sat 18th

What a day! I guess on every holiday one has an “off”day, today was ours – big time! When we woke up this morning it was overcast & cold. Despite that we had a good breakfast, then discovered one had to book prior to going to Alcatraz, & if we did go there without booking we may miss out. We spoke to the staff at reception & got instructions to get to Golden Gate Bridge. A guest at the counter also told us about the Muir Woods, it apparently has trees up to 35 stories high. Armed with all the info – we headed off deciding to make a decision about Alcatraz closer to Pier 33 at Fisherman’s Wharf. Getting out of the Hilton car park, Ken missed seeing a cement diamond block in the park, & caught his foot/ankle under the bike pedal, and consequently twisted his ankle & knee. Altho’ it was clearly obvious he was suffering, he decided to leave it alone and continue on. He didn’t want to risk taking the boot off & then not being able to get it back on. The weather was cold, we were not happy, and we could see masses of cloud / fog which didn’t argue well for the bridge view.

We got onto the San Rafael Bridge (cost us $4) & headed towards Muir Woods in the Mt Tamalpais State Park. The higher we got, the colder & damper it got, not to mention waves of cloud were being blown around. Finally, got to the Muir Woods turnoff, with 2 miles to go we couldn’t see a thing, other than white. We decided to turn around & head back down, slowly & carefully. Ken’s foot, ankle & knee were sore but not too bad. No place to stop for a coffee while waiting for the clouds to lift, so continued on. Over the Golden Gate Bridge - & we saw heaps of fog & not much else! Frustrating. To top off a miserable morning to date – cost us $6 to get off (we were told there was no cost for motor bikes, & that’s correct, Monday to Friday!) In a pretty poor state of mind we headed off again, the GPS leading us all over the place, in & out, up & down the streets of San Francisco. We have no idea if it was the correct way to go – but finally we were out past the airport. Oh my goodness – the road/bridge system is unbelievable. An absolute maze – but the trusty GPS again got us thru’.

We decided to continue out of San Francisco, then discovered that Ken’s watch wasn’t on his belt. That finished off the morning, we were not happy. Anyway, we screamed along the racetrack along with everyone else, averaging 75-80mph in a 65mph zone, into the Santa Cruz area. This is predominately market gardens, acres and acres of strawberries, lettuces, cabbages & artichokes, with masses of people handpicking the crops. The whole time it was cold, windy and waves of fog rolling in & around from the Pacific, so unable to see much at all.

The first bit of good news - Ken discovered his watch still attached to his belt (altho' undone), as we were riding, it went into my jacket until we could reattach it.

Just prior to the town of Carmel we decided to refuel & pop into a Wal Mart to get a bandage for Ken’s ankle as it was starting to get pretty painful. Had a coffee, bandaged the ankle & headed off. Traffic was s…t, it was getting colder by the minute, around 59F & all we wanted was to get to Carmel & stop. Didn’t happen.

Everybody appeared to be on the road, & there were no opportunities to turn off, no sightings of accommodation places, so thru’ Carmel we went, then onto the coast road called Scenic Highway One. This is the Big Sur, and is 90 miles of road snaking along the coast with the Santa Lucia Mountains one side, & on our side the Pacific Coast. This would be absolutely beautiful in clear weather, unfortunately all we could see for most of the first part of the trip was the bit of road in front of us – the rest was white misty cloud. By about 2pm the cloud started to clear in spots, by about 3pm we had decided to stop at the first place we came across. It happened to be Ragged Point, and once Ken had hobbled in with me as his brace, the lady took one look at us & offered us the Handicap Suite. The cost was not a factor (altho' it’s over $300 & I’m still having palpitations), but it is beautiful & we look out over the coast. We had a late lunch/early tea, then headed back to the room to relax & hopefully get better. There was also a wedding here which we watched, the reception is being held right next door but we can’t hear a thing. We will rest up tonite & leave tomorrow mid morning (10-11am) providing Ken is OK. His foot is swollen, bruised and very painful to touch, but once his riding boot is on the support is there & he has no trouble riding.

As there is no phone or internet coverage here I will do the blog tomorrow night.

Crossing San Raffael Bridge (2 tiered)

Heading up to Muir Woods 8.30am

Getting onto The Golden Gate Bridge 9 - 9.30am

A street of San Francisco

I was able to take some photo's every now & then - we could definitely hear (& smell) the water below us (somehere down there)

No idea where we are ....

Views of Scenic Highway One

Ken relaxing on the seat outside our room (The Handicapped Suite!!) 3.30pm & fog stilll visible