by Cathy

Day’s mileage : 46 + 17*

*Cathy went for a little 17 mile jaunt after our day’s riding

Running total : 1,482

Ascent : 2,238ft

Thursday.

The AirBnB at Aptos last night had a really wonderful fire pit outside with a view of palm trees and a sliver of ocean, and it was finally warm enough for us to sit and eat our dinner under the setting California sun. We had bijou desserts: tiny slices of carrot cake, frozen chocolate pie, strawberries, bananas and a scoop of cherry vanilla ice cream. It felt like classic California. 

This morning, we packed up and set off on our day’s journey and headed out of Aptos along a highway, eventually leaving behind most of the cars to travel through farmland. The morning’s ride was less about animals, and more about crops. We saw lines of strawberry pickers, using tiny wheelbarrows and picking at speed, and a little later on some people sowing seedlings sitting on the back of a tractor using some sort of rapid-planting machine. Other crops we spotted were globe artichokes, lettuces, cabbage and beetroot.

We ended up back on the highway for a while with a nice bike lane to ourselves, and stopped briefly in Moss Landing after hearing the call of seals over the sounds of the traffic. In the marina, there were hundreds of seals and sea lions calling and splashing in the water. On the docks there were a few people trying to shoo them away, but they weren’t very successful. 

Just after this, Mum and Dad both reached 1500 miles for their trip so far – an impressive achievement. It’s great to have parents that are up for an adventure!

My biggest role on this trip is to find cycle paths and routes that our navigation app Komoot can’t find, and today was no different. We managed to cut off the last 5km of the highway, then we went into an old military ground that had been turned into a national park. It had a cycle path that wound through the dunes and gave us a glimpse of the sea every so often. The dunes were covered in tiny red flowers and we could see people paragliding in the distance. It was hard to find a spot for lunch today – in the end we sat in front of a big disused bunker that was built into the dune. We carried on along the path for a while, sharing it with other cyclists, baby ground squirrels and lizards, then came into Seaside and Monterey where the traffic picked up again.

Our AirBnB tonight is a little cottage surrounded by pine trees, with a (mist-covered) view of the sea. It’s on a route called 17 Mile Drive, which my friend Jen recommended to me before I left the UK. We got to the cottage, then I decided to go out and ride the 17 mile loop. It was amazing. The route was pretty quiet because it was dinner time and the fog had rolled in. Along the west side, the sea was crashing against the rocks, spraying up into the air. Golden and white sand beaches were enclosed by craggy cliffs and rocks out to sea were covered in birds and seals. Right in front of me, a family of 8 or so baby ground squirrels played, popping in and out of their den. I biked a few kilometres further and came across 3 deer in a garden right next to the road, then marvelled for a little while at The Lone Cypress tree, marooned out on a cliff.

The second half of the route was stranger. On a golf course, the sound of the bagpipes carried over the fairways. From a quick google, this is because it is a Scottish-style course and he plays every day at sunset. A few kilometres later, I came across hundreds of goats enclosed in a patch of grass who are there as a fire prevention measure. Well done goats.

I got back to the cottage and relayed all of this to Mum and Dad. I really hope they’ll do the 17 mile loop before they leave Monterey. We had dinner, set off some laundry and are now bedding down for the night. 

Additional notes

Aptos to Monterey, Santa Cruz and Monterey counties, CA

Left at 10am. Arrived maybe around 5pm.

Weather: Warmer. I wore shorts and didn’t wear my down jacket. Clear blue sky and sunshine. Warm in the sun but shady sections were cold. Drying in the sun and wind. 

Landscape: Quiet through Aptos. Busy, bigger roads past shopping malls, businesses, hotels etc. Quieter after Aptos Historic Bridge, trees and homes. Quiet country roads. Fields of crops and blue mountains on the horizon with little traffic. A wetland area, ocean ahead and mountains beyond on the other side of Monterey Bay. A busy section of the 1. Moss Landing. Fort Ord Dunes State Park – blue ocean, yellow dunes and a sea of red plants. Dune paths, the sea glowing jade in the surf. Busy roads into Monterey. Alongside nice little sandy beaches, through a eucalyptus grove and up into the hills. 

Towns: Watsonville. Seaside. Monterey.

Trails: A bike trail that led to the Fort Ord Dunes State Park. 

State roads: A few yards on the 1. Then a lot more later, very busy, the shoulder about four feet wide, not sufficient to get far enough from the cars and trucks that rushed by. 

Breakfast: Waffles, strawberries and ice cream.

Lunch spot: Outside a disused bunker, hot sun and no view but sheltered from the wind. 

Dinner (P): Roasted veg and panela cheese made with a microwave and tiny toaster oven. 

Wildlife: No bird life at all in the fields of crops (why not?) but lots in the wetland area. A tiny hummingbird on a barbed wire fence. Hundreds of sea lions in the marina at Moss Landing, we could hear them barking over the traffic noise. Baby ground squirrels. Lizards. Deer. Frogs ribbeting outside our window.

Plants: Wild broom. Small red plants on the dunes. 

Things we saw: A road called Peaceful Valley Road. Looking back at one point we saw the ocean on the horizon. A string of strawberry pickers working in a field up the hill, the first of many we would see over the next hours and days, wearing long sleeves, long trousers and hoods against the sun, picking furiously and running to deliver filled boxes and fetch new ones. A team of planters – four people dropping seedlings down a chute in a moving apparatus in which they sat and six people with buckets filling in holes that had been missed. A large team of lettuce pickers under a contraption that moved slowly and provided shade and music. The fields had crops at different stages of growth, some seedlings so tiny they were almost invisible, others more mature and those that had already been harvested. Stalls selling produce – cherries, avocados, kiwis, honey. Fields of globe artichokes which led to a farm shop in the middle of nowhere, Pezzini Farm, family owned since 1929, specialising in artichokes. A mobile food outlet with a sign that read ‘The ’choke van. Even artichokes have hearts’. The dunes area was an old army firing range. Hang gliders with colourful wings. Bike paths in Monterey run along the middle of the dual carriageway. 

People we spoke to or saw: A couple at the artichoke farm shop, impressed at what we’re doing. The man asked where we’re from then answered ‘I thought you talked funny’.

Incidents: Started the day by cable tying my panniers on P’s bike. P made a number of calls to arrange the return of C’s bike to Sam. Went through a section of roadworks in a huge cloud of black dust. On the busy section of the 1 we stuck together and kept our heads. We reached 1,500 miles. The dunes landscape erodes at a rate of 5 to 8 feet per year. 

Shopping: Safeway, Del Rey Oaks (Monterey). 

Accommodation: A house high up in the Del Monte Forest about four miles above Monterey. I’d expected the forest to be a backwater but it’s smart. 

Today’s sound: Music played by the pickers.

Today’s smell: Lettuces growing in the field. 

Special moments: C went for an extra ride this evening, the 17 Mile Drive, and loved it. 

Positive experience from my journal: Enjoying the crop landscape. 

Appreciation from my journal: Managing my tiredness. Giving P and C an appreciation as I do every day on this trip.

Blog comments from Andy and Jenny.

Video: Quiet road with sea beyond near Sand City (3s). 17 Mile Drive: the road at Spanish Bay (1m30s); the sea (6s); road and sea (6s + 10s); the sea (1s). Ground squirrels and the sea (22s + 32s + 19s); three deer (39s); riding beside woodland (9s); firebreak goats (8s).

Mementos: Safeway receipt, Del Rey Oaks.