San Diego to LA

Right, time for a quick burst of writing I think, because all this seems like a really long time ago. I always say with holidays, or any change of situation recently, that it hardly seems to take any time before my mind just starts to accept it as being the new normal and everything else starts to feel like some dim and distant past. Obviously when you head home...

Given that I was on a new bike, I figured that I probably shouldn’t go straight to doing massive distances on a daily basis. I settled on about 40 miles a day, which was probably 20 fewer than my plan. There were also so many places that I wanted to see that there really didn’t seem any point in rushing through.

On the second day I had to cycle across Camp Pendleton, which is a US Marine Corp base. My map directed me across it and it seemed like it was just a cycle route to avoid having to go on the freeway. When I got there it turned out to be a fairly major road, albeit with a couple of Marines checking the IDs of everyone entering and playing games to see who could come up with the most entertaining pose. It was a really desolate place, which I guess is why it was turned into a military base, but the contrast was all the greater as the rest of the coast is just one long urban sprawl.

I spent the second night in Laguna Beach in Orange County. TV had led me to expect a pretty pretentious place with lots of cool bars. I couldn’t have been more wrong. It was a completely chilled out place. It wasn’t even that good for a night out, although I did meet a few nice people and got pointed in the direction of a random roof top bar in a hotel that was great for watching the sunset. Unfortunately I didn’t appreciate quite how far away it was, so it was pretty much dark by the time I got there. The view was still amazing though. I also met a lovely girl from Louisiana, who was in town with her Aunt and had the most stereotypical accent I think I’ve ever heard.

I hadn’t bothered at all with the beach in San Diego, because the weather was just a mass of grey cloud. It’s called May Grey apparently and happens every year. Followed by June Gloom. Not exactly the year round sunshine. Something happened as I went further north though, because the weather just cleared up completely and every day was just never ending sunshine. The prospect of being able to just spend a few hours a day lying on the beach didn’t exactly increase my motivation to start cycling longer distances!!

On the third day I went through Newport Beach, which genuinely did feel like being in an episode of The O.C.

I couldn’t afford to stay though and after a couple of hours lying in the sun at Huntingdon Beach I headed into the 5,000 square mile city that is the Los Angeles area. I’ve got to say, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I’d expected.

Because I followed the coast most of the way, I spent a lot of time (probably at 100 miles over a week or so) just cruising down cycle paths across beaches. Perfect for chilling out and people watching.

(Yes, I know this photo needs cleaning up, but the best editing software on my laptop at the moment is Paint and it didn't know how to zoom out from the full size photo. Just in.)

I was going to see a band at a venue in West Hollywood, so I gathered up my guts and headed inland. I guess it must have been a pretty nice day, because there was no sign of the smog that I’d been told about, although there sure as hell were a lot of cars! Not the most bike friendly place.

In general, I’ve found the US pretty good for cycling so far. Most of the roads have really wide shoulders, so it’s like having a permanent cycle lane.

I was staying at a hostel in Hollywood, which was fun and I wandered round doing the tourist bits in the afternoon.

Nic (W), I even managed to get a photo for you.

Possibly the most embarrassing experience of my life as I tried desperately not to look like I was hanging around in the street waiting to take a photo of Audrey Hepburn’s star on the Walk of Fame. It would have been fine, but for the couple who spent what felt like half an eternity, but was probably about a minute and a half, taking photos of each other with it.

The gig was awesome. Far were amazing (http://www.myspace.com/far and http://www.antiquiet.com/features/shows/2010/05/21-far-troubadour/ ) and the venue was really cool too. I even got to have some fun getting a bus there and back. Unfortunately, by the time I got back to the hostel, everyone else had gone out, so I didn’t really get to experience much by way of LA nightlife.

Enough for tonight I think. I promise to post more photos soon. At the moment I’m about 20 miles outside San Francisco in a hostel that used to be a lighthouse, so there’s still quite a lot more to write about.