As we’ve headed south I’ve been expecting to see more Mexican-inspired architecture and generally this has been the case. What I wasn’t expecting was to find myself in Denmark, but that’s where we appear to be, having arrived in Solvang!

Solvang translates from Danish to mean ‘sunny fields’. The town was settled in 1911 by Danish immigrants and they tried to recreated a bit of Denmark right here in sunny California. In addition to timber framed buildings, there are windmills, lots of shops selling Danish pastries in abundance and a statue of the Little Mermaid and its creator Hans Christian Anderson. It’s all very lovely and a bit weird at the same time. Who knows where we might arrive next on our travels?

Near the end of our long (and hilly) 104 mile ride today (Sunday 11 Sept, 2011), we came across a beach near San Simeon, home to a colony of Elephant Seals. The perfect end to the day.

Being on a long road trip often brings to mind ‘Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’, the movie about three drag queens travelling across the Australian outback in a converted bus. Clearly we don’t have a bus and we are not drag queens, (at least we weren’t last time I checked). But we are covering awesome distances. Today was one of those long stretches, 120+ miles and at points, as the Pacific coastline stretched out ahead of us into the distance, my mind flashed back to the scene in Priscilla when they are looking out over miles and miles of desert as far as the eye can see. I have to admit I have wondered about attaching a long flowing piece of pink chiffon to the bike and blasting out opera through a sound system. However, Mike’s luggage weight restrictions have prevented either of these items being available.

Having any additional drag (geddit?!) while struggling against the awful headwinds we faced today would not have been pleasant, so I suppose the chiffon-bicycle-opera combo will just have to wait for another day.

From San Francisco to Santa Cruz (75 miles) was constant headwind, a shame as it distracted our attention from the really pleasant coastline.

We’ve had another Priscilla moment as we passed (twice) a young guy on a bike laden with four bags, a tent and even a guitar on his back. We’d passed him before in the Redwoods and Eurika, but a bit like the Hare and the Tortoise, he keeps overtaking us! Those familiar with Priscilla will recall the women running across the outback pushing some strange ball who keeps overtaking the coach – this young guy is our equivalent.

Thankfully the wind turned after Santa Cruz, but it still meant that we arrived in Seaside after dark – over an hour later than scheduled. Nick our host was just going out as we arrived – to spend the evening mountain biking in the light of the full moon. We were welcomed by his fiancé Katie who chatted with us all evening and gave some good advice on a Mexican take-away. Today’s exertions have left us pretty weary, so we’re off to sleep now. Only 100 miles to cover tomorrow.

We worked out our final cycle route for today last night using the Garmin/Google map combo. It looks like it will be a wonderful ride on route 35, then Highway 1 all along the coast from San Francisco to near Monterey.

The slightly down side is that it’s a bit longer that we’d thought at nearly 120 miles, but we’ve done it before and we can do it again. Mike was a little displeased at the length of today’s journey, but I know he’ll be fine riding it, especially now our bikes have been fine tuned, tyres pumped etc (fingers crossed for no technical problems) and it was worth it to spend two whole lovely days in SF.

Sadly the old girl didn’t show us her Golden Gate properly, we only got a peak of the top of the towers through the fog, so we’ll just have to return one day. I’m sure we shall.

As we’ve already established on this blog, Mike is a bit of a train spotter. The sound of an American train horn blaring or level crossing bell clanking cause his ears prick up!

It’s now time to out myself as a plant spotter, although this won’t be much of a surprise to those of you that know me. As we’ve travelled southwards I’ve loved watching the fauna change. In British Columbia fir trees and ferns predominated, through Washington State more huge pine and poplar forests. In Portland we saw the most beautiful roses, the city is called the ‘Rose City’ as the climate is near perfect for these blooms. In Oregon we saw the rain forests; so-called because of the damp climate that provides perfect conditions for the moss and lichen that grows all over the bark of the trees. Sometimes the moss hangs low, apparently it’s called ‘old man’s beard’ by the locals.

Following the coast through Oregon the plants were similar to those you’d find on the British coast: broom and gorse growing wild and Agapanthus and Hydrangeas popular in gardens. The giant redwoods were amazing, but they have already had a mention on the blog.

Not until we reached California did we start to see more arid plants. Succulents, palms, Red Hot Pokers, Douglas Fir, lots of wild fennel and of course Californian poppies. The bright orange flowers are so synonymous with the state they are in fact the state flower. The other plant that grows wild in all of the verges is Pampas grass – they’ve been everywhere since we arrived in California. It’s strange how a plant considered synonymous with the 1970s naff in the UK are so dramatic and impressive here. The other plant that has stuck out on our journey through California is what locals call Naked Ladies. These bright pink lillys have been growing everywhere. The stems are bare of leaves (hence the naked phrase), but the flowers are incredibly pink. Thankfully, they are the only naked ladies we’ve seen so far on our travels!

An audio boo from Fort Bragg and some pictures of the former Union Lumber Company Department Store.

http://audioboo.fm/boos/461148

Today has been our longest day’s ride so far and the longest of our trip. 122 miles covered today from the foggy coast of north California to the sun-dappled giant redwoods. The final 30 miles were along the Avenue of the Giants – phenomenal, words can’t really describe how awesome these trees are. As it turned out, an unfortunate puncture (a thin piece of wire put three holes in the same inner tube), that held us up by about 30 minutes earlier turned out to be a blessing as it meant we had the avenue virtually to ourselves – hardly any cars at all. We were treated to wafts of cedar, pine and fennel that grows wild along the roadside wherever the sunlight gets through the trees. Tonight we’re sleeping amongst the trees in a wooden cabin – magical. If we weren’t both so sleepy after our long ride it would also be romantic!

Every holiday has them – the days that don’t go to plan or the off-day. The days that you’d quite like to delete. This was one of them. Today should have been an excellent day, beginning with the final 40 miles of Oregon coast and ending with the start of the superb giant redwood forests. Although we got both, fate also intervened leading to some less favourable occurrences. First we had headwind almost all day, as any cyclist knows this saps your soul. It also holds your speed right back, (so we didn’t reach our goal of averaging 15mph today).

Second we had punctures. Not one but two – one of which was a slow one which we pumped up twice to keep us going.

Finally we had cold fog. So much for welcome to sunny California! From the moment we passed the state border it was a virtual ‘white-out’. It made climbing through the redwoods pretty eerie – although reaching the viewing point above the clouds was amazing, (it was like being in a plane above clouds) before we descended at high speed (terrifyingly) into the fog again. All of this made our ride the longest yet and very tiring. It was a huge relief to get to the Ravenwood Motel in Klameth, our (very comfortable) refuge for tonight. A good night’s rest is what’s needed and a less challenging day tomorrow (fingers crossed).

As is usually the case on our holidays, we’re having much fun touring the aisles of local supermarkets. We’re not doing as well as my nephew Toby, who on a recent trip to France played ‘supermarket bingo’ and attempted to visit at least one branch of every chain possible. So far we’ve only been to Safeway’s (thrice) and Wal-Mart. ASDA is part of Wal-Mart, so that will give you an idea what that’s like. Curiously, all the clothes in Wal-Mart are the same ‘George’ brand that are available in the UK – this used to be an ASDA brand. Wal-Mart have imported it to the USA and ‘supersized it’ for the larger consumer. Safeway’s is a bit more like Sainsbury’s, which explains why we’ve been to three branches! I’m beginning to wonder whether I should sign up for one of their loyalty clubcards! One thing we’ve not found yet is soya yogurt, although they do have soya milk. – often sold by the gallon! What would anyone do with a gallon of soya milk? Recipe ideas, anyone? They are very big on gluten-free things, my sister-in-law Richmal would have a ball here. Last night we noticed that the Halloween merchandise has started to emerge on the shelves – a sure sign of summer drawing to a close. I had a very happy 20 minutes checking out, (and stealing) ideas from a copy of Martha Stewart’s Halloween magazine. For our UK readers unfamiliar with Ms Stewart – think Delia Smith on steroids with a sprinkling of Oprah for good measure, (oh, and a criminal record for tax avoidance, you’d think someone might want to lie low after that sort of thing). I think I’m going to excel myself with goodies for trick and treaters this year – watch and weep Delia!

Some readers of this blog may have detected a slight difference of writing style in some recent posts. This can be explained by a ghost writer, one – I might add – who was initially quite dismissive of this blog! So, dear reader, some tips to help you identify the ghost writer’s posts as opposed to those written by me – Matthew.

1. The ghost writer tends to appear late at night.
2. The ghost writer does tend to write lengthy blog entries.
3. The ghost writer uses impeccable grammar and spelling (unlike me).

There are no prizes for guessing the ghost writers identity (*Mike edit: that should be writer’s identity! You asked for that, I think!!). They are most welcome to contribute to this blog and I hope you’re finding our combined blogging enjoyable!

It’s a bit foggy in Seattle this morning. In fact it was sunny when we left Aaron’s house, but as we dropped down into the valley and towards the coast the fog started to envelop us. It will probably burn off later, so should be another nice ride. We’ve stopped off at (another) Starbuck’s for breakfast before setting off – well, when in Seattle, do as they do!