by Philip

Day’s mileage : 63

Running total : 1,934

We woke early with the prospect of a long ride, and were greeted by hummingbirds seemingly inspecting us through the large windows. A breakfast of gorgeous oranges from our hosts’ trees and porridge, followed by a lovely chat with Jim and Eileen and we headed off down the very steep hill, circumventing Komoot’s 3 miles with serious climb which was (a) impassable and (b) unnecessary. We joined the 101 with avocado groves on the hills to the left and citrus groves to the right, and saw a field of heavily pruned trees which almost looked like concrete sculptures – we have no idea what they are. After a few miles another Komoot special told us to ride down the opposite carriageway of the 101 – we declined and tried what looked like a potential option only to find a locked gate after a mile with no way through so retraced our steps, finding a stretch of the 101 where bikes are banned – the first time we’ve come across that – and we rode into the town of Goleta itself, stopping at a bus stop to remove layers and start writing this blog.

From Goleta we passed the Santa Barbara airport with jets taking off – seemed like another world! There were avenues of palm trees, jacaranda trees, and miles of shops. Then onto a lovely cycle path which took us into Santa Barbara itself, through throngs of people enjoying brunch on Saturday. We played another game with Komoot and took a few wrong turns but ended up at the beach and the pier which you can drive onto, admiring the pelicans lined up on a nearby pipeline. There are several oil rigs visible at sea, one burning a flare which is unusual. It was nice to see the beach being well used – volleyball, fishing and people in the water – even lifeguards which is a first.

Santa Barbara – or at least the part we saw – seems very upmarket. Liz commented it is how she imagines Cannes to be – beautiful avenues of trees, well manicured public areas, lots of people enjoying the afternoon. The city has obviously invested heavily in cycling infrastructure – we enjoyed cycle paths along the beach which then continued inland and along quiet roads, albeit next to the 101 highway. We stopped for lunch at the Carpinteria town skate park – opened 2 years ago and well used. It’s outside the police station so behaviour was good! From there we went back on the highway for half a mile before being forced off … and into several miles of purpose built cycle path along the bay – lovely riding but very noisy next to the freeway. Entering Ventura county the cycle path ended but the highway disappeared off so we stopped for a rest and to write this, with only the sound of waves to accompany. 

As I was writing the last paragraph, two cyclists, well laden, went past and called out, then stopped for a chat. Kristen and Bethany are from Toronto and flew with their touring bikes to Vancouver and are doing the same ride as us, with some minor variations in the Washington state area. It’s only the second time we’ve met anyone doing the ride, which has really surprised us – they are mainly camping, but hopefully we’ll bump into them again on the way south.

The cycle path theme continued through Ventura, with wide paths along the front shared with pedestrians. We were buttonholed by a pamphleteer and had to make an excuse of needing to get an urgent photograph to escape. From Ventura we rode on a very straight road through dunes and into Oxnard, initially underwhelming, with derelict industrial sites, then a power station and oil refinery on one side and a mile or so of fields prepared for strawberry planting in the other. Coming into downtown Oxnard the view changed – clean and pretty past a park with heaps of palm trees and then the biggest marina I think I’ve ever seen. A stop at a supermarket as usual ensued, and then the last 2 miles (be quick – the sun’s out and we’ve got ice cream!) to our AirBnB – which is a ground floor flat on the beach, with the sand coming right to the patio dune-like, but with the ocean visible too.