Sonntag, 24. Juni 2012

June 24 - El Granada to Pigeon Point

Our alarm clock rang at 8:00 a.m. First thing we did was turning on the laptop and looking for some accomodation for the night from June 25 to 26. We had decided that we always wanted to have accomodations for at least 2 nights in advance before we left our current place.
After packing we had breakfast in the lobby of the Inn (as we learnt: if you book a night at an Inn breakfast is included and is always held in the lobby. Sometimes really funny because you sit right next to the receptionist like this):

2 seats for breakfast

breakfast next to the counter

To every reservation we made I attached a message asking where we could store/park our bikes safely during the night. The good thing about the accomodations during our trip was that we were always allowed to store our bikes in the room! (I can't imagine this in Germany....:-)

the Harbour View Inn
parking Christoph's bike in the room
my bike parked in the room

At 11:00 a.m. we had to check out. While we were preparing our bikes at the car park we had a nice talk with 2 women who wondered about Christoph's bike and were interested where we started our tour and where we were going to. They said they admired us but they could never do it by themselves. They wished us good luck and a nice trip and thought we were really brave:-)

Our next night was booked in a lighthouse and when I read about the facilities the lighthouse offered I was wondering what BBQ meant: just a place where we could grill or that a dinner (BBQ) would be included. Unfortunately I couldn't reach someone on the phone. So I asked the receptionist of our Inn and she interpreted the text as the first option. So we decided to go grocery shopping first: we needed something for lunch, dinner and breakfast and beverages for 2 days (around the lighthouse was nature only that meant our next shopping would be in 2 days).
Next to our Inn was a small grocery shop and we bought canned noodles, bread, ham, cheese and lots of water and energy drinks. Our panniers got heavier and heavier....We had another nice talk with a guy whose daughter had spent some time in Germany and whose wife had also visited the daughter. He drove a nice old VW Käfer and admired Christoph's bike as well.
At 11:50 we finally started. I would summarize our 2nd day stage this way: "flat", then I had to walk my bike uphill twice and ride it downhill, the last hill was ok and I could ride my bike uphill before we experienced the last downhill ride for the day and a flat part again.

Christoph and I had an agreement: whenever we reached an uphill part that was to steep for me to continue on my bike he would be waiting for me on the peak of the hill. So everybody could go uphill on his/her own pace. Usually a two or three arrow hill was to steep for me and even walking up my bike was though too: I had to lean on the handlebar to prevent the front wheel of the bike from lifing off the ground (panniers only on the back rack might not be the best solution....) and had to push it hard cause the weight of the panniers pulled it the back downhill.

Christoph on the road

the coast

more coast

even more coast
Christoph and I had a long-lasting lunch sitting on the ground of a turnout and enjoying the beautiful view. We ate bread, cheese and ham that we had been carrying with us all day. After a while a guy started talking with us. He told us that he comes to this place once a month to enjoy the view and that he really loves it just standing here. Then we talked about old people still driving a car, diving and he was also interested about the political situation in Europe (especially about our opinion about Greece) but we couldn't answer his questions properly because none of us really knew what had been going on since our departure.
our lunch place
and the last coast picture for that day:-)

Highway 1 = Cabrillo Highway

At 17:00 we arrived at the lighthouse.

Pigeon Point Lighthouse Hostel in the middle of nowhere:-)

We were lucky because we had a 6 bed dormitory to ourselves (the lighthouse was run by Hi Youth Hostels). After taking a shower we went to the commun room, "cooked" our noodles in the hostel kitchen

dinner at the hostel kitchen: I was still hungry after finishing the canned food:-(

and I spent the evening with downloading all my pictures from the memory stick of the camera to the laptop and sorting out the best ones. Christoph used the laptop later on to continue planning our upcoming stages.

At midnight we went to bed.

Tour stage

Tour stage: El Granada to Pigeon Point
Distance: 41.67 km
Total time (breaks included): 11:50 - 17:00
Average speed: 14.45 km/h
Real running time: 2h 53 min

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