Day 10 Monterey to Santa Barbera

This was to be our longest day in the saddle, 335 miles. Sadly , as mentioned earlier, Highway 1 was closed by a landslide some 4 weeks before our trip began. It was still not opened so there were options - a)go as far as the blockage, 64 miles south of Carmel, and then head east over the hills via the Nacimiento Valley to H101, then south and west to get to H1 again 40 miles further south. (this detour is about 100 miles)
b) take H101 direct to S. Barbera
c) do as much of H1 as poss and use H101 to link the ends.

4 of us did a) while the rest did b) I think. (haven't seen them yet to confirm as i write)
What can I say. The run from Fort Bragg to SF was a good taster of what was to come on this leg. The Big Sur as it is known is a fantastic drive and the views and scenery are outstanding. It is an amazing variety of changing landscapes. It has everything, tall pines, deciduous woods, desert hills, seascapes and a ribbon of road joining them up and linking settlements together. The variety of housing too is a constant source of interest, ranging from modern houses to traditional ranch style bungalows hiding in the trees to odd shaped pent roofed items sheltering in the lee of huge boulders, or not, when they are seemingly perched on the brink of oblivion , right on the edge of a precipice. The views from them must be something else.

We rode to the 'Road Closed' sign, this was 60 miles south of Carmel. On the way we had a coffee stop at a super cafe come art shop. They specialised in glass art from all over the state. The building was unusual too, a round wooden affair (imagine a 'wall of death', but 30ft diameter) with large circular windows 3ft diameter. The deck was on the first floor roof - great views to the sea.

One the laybys we stopped at had some friendly locals who came out looking for food.








Next came the up and over to Nacimiento valley. This is a steep road, very twisty, and not too wide. Something like the Bealach na Ba road to Applecross, but twice the height. Stunning. The view back down to H1 and the bridge crossing the creek was superb. The curving horizon of the Pacific accentuating the wildness of the area. The drop down the other side was through woods hugging the road and with the sun sparkling through the foliage was a magical ride. We stopped to remove a layer as the temp increased. On the coast it was a cool 60F while now it was 72F and rising. It peaked at 81F. The creek here looked pretty narrow and shallow yet we had just passed a guy with a rod, wearing waders up to his chest. Maybe there was a lake other side of the trees.

The road soon straightens out, goes through an army training area and then heads down the valley where it eventually comes to our lunch spot, the Lockwood Diner at the junction with the G14 which we take next. This is a friendly foodstop with interesting memorabilia pinned to the ceilings. We meet Tim who is with 2 other bikers on their Harleys, going from Sacramento to Santa Barbara for the weekend. They invite us to The Tequila Bar in downtown SB if we get the time, thanks guys.

The G14 is a good flowing road with nice curves for a motorcycle. We scoot along and soon get to the coast at Cambria. We stop here for a coffee and meet a guy with an old 1100 Gold Wing. He says he has been working on it as it was neglected and he has done a lot to it. When he takes off we see he wasn't joking about it 'still being a bit rough'. It would hardly take the skin off a rice pudding, it was so under powered it spluttered off choking in its own exhaust (and us too).


128 miles to go so back to the bikes, refuel in the gas station and rejoin Highway 1 southbound this time. The weather of course changes with the scenery and soon the temperature drops and the wind gets up. It is a bit blowy as we near Santa Barbara and just as we get parallel with the coast a point is reached where the wind funnels down and blows us about a bit, well me for sure while the gold wings are less affected. A couple of miles later we can get back up to 65mph and resume checking out the scenery as we go. The outskirts of SB are very pleasant. Big houses, ranch style, and plenty land. The view across the bay is nice although some oilrigs kinda spoil it. I try not to take them in my view.

We are soon at the hotel,Mr Garmin gets it right, and we park up and go and check in. Whats next? Yep, food. Its hungry work all this riding.