by Philip

Today is an extra rest day! We built it into the schedule knowing that we would have two arduous days getting round the closure at Big Sur, and the hotel we chose is in the most stunning location, right on the cliffs, with views from our room straight out to the ocean. There’s a low fence outside the french door from our room, from which we can see a large rock covered in pelicans.

Having had a sumptuous dinner in the hotel restaurant last night – a rare treat to eat out on this trip – we had a lazy start this morning. Liz caught up with a friend while I wandered around the hotel grounds, and I saw a large pod of dolphins out at sea. One indispensable piece of kit has been our binoculars which live in my handlebar bag and are frequently used. We bought pastries and tea/coffee in the hotel’s coffee shop and sat in comfortable chairs looking north along the Big Sur coast – possibly our best breakfast location yet. We had decided not to go out on the bikes today, so after a post-breakfast nap (well it is a rest day), catching up on some AirBnB-related admin, and watching the sea for a bit, we walked down the “nature trail” to the beach.

The trail began with uneven steps, then became a rough path, quite steep in places, with sharp hairpin turns downwards. We had started the walk carrying a takeaway cup of tea but realised that was impractical when trying to manage the path, so we parked it under a bush and collected it on the way back. We saw a few lizards and heard a lot of rustling in the undergrowth. Access to the beach itself proved tricky with large boulders to scale, so while Liz sat under a tree I went further down and sat in the sun watching the crashing waves. Our climb back up stretched our leg muscles, and we rewarded ourselves with chocolate looking up the coast to the north.

We had a very chilled afternoon, reading and writing with occasional ocean inspection for whales (0) and pelicans (100+) and were graced with a visit from a humming bird to the flowers outside our room. One piece of admin was to check our mileages as recorded on the blog as we seem to be adrift from our bikes’ computers and we found a missing 50 miles so have updated the blog which was rather frustrating but good to fix! We finished up yesterday’s strawberries to fend off hunger before heading to the restaurant for dinner. It has been a very gentle, relaxing, rest day, finished off with a wonderful meal and gorgeous sunset.

Additional notes

Rest day at Ragged Point, San Luis Obispo county, CA.

Weather: Sunny and clear.

Things we did: I wrote up yesterday’s journal. Philip went for a wander and saw a pod of dolphins, quite far out but clear. We explored the hotel grounds, up on the cliff. Philip had a sleep. Walked (well scrambled) down the zigzag path to the beach. Reached the big rocks. The beach has black sand, the waves were crashing and spray was flying. Had tea and chocolate at the viewpoint when we got back to the top. Chatted about another expedition and whether to keep the bikes in storage – concluded yes to expedition, no to keeping the bikes in the US. Did some admin – emailed Staci about sending the bikes back to her as we had discussed, wrote some outstanding accommodation reviews. Checked and corrected the total mileages in the blog as they had gone askew. Quizzed ourselves on where we were one, two, three etc weeks ago (we were still doing this regularly! and kept doing it for months after our return). Watched the sunset from the viewpoint, very pretty, then walked up the road to make up my steps, Highway 1 was deserted in the dusk.

Breakfast: Pecan danishes (Philip thinks this should read Pelican danishes) sitting at the viewpoint.

Lunch spot: Didn’t need lunch.

Dinner, in the Ragged Point Inn restaurant: Early dinner at 6pm as we’d skipped lunch. We both had halibut and chips, delicious. Shared a New York cheesecake.

Wildlife: Dolphins. Kept looking for whales. A hummingbird on the spiky plants outside our room and later outside the restaurant. Lizards.

Plants: Wildflowers.

People we spoke to or saw: I had a chat with K.

Incidents: Set out down the zigzag path to the beach with a cup of tea in hand but the route was precipitous, and I abandoned the tea as we needed both hands to scramble. I retrieved it on the way up.

Shopping: No shops!

Accommodation: Our room with a beautiful view up on the cliff at Ragged Point.

Today’s sound: The waves crashing at the beach.

Today’s smell: Fish and chips for dinner.

Special moments: Seeing two hummingbirds. Philip helping me down to the beach. Finding my aches weren’t too bad after yesterday, surprisingly. Philip asked the waiter for some of the delicious homemade bread for our lunch tomorrow (there are no shops nearby) and he was more than happy to package a loaf up for us, offered to butter it but we had butter and cheese. This has been the best rest day by far, beautiful, comfortable, interesting, good weather and two delicious meals. A real treat and both of us felt content.

Positive experience from my journal: Staying in this incredible place with perfect weather.

Appreciation from my journal: Recovering well from yesterday and feeling ready to set off again tomorrow.

Video: The sea from the beach (1m).

Mementos: Three Ragged Point restaurant receipts.