We decided to see a bit more of Monterey and Carmel, so first we visited the Carmel Mission and Basilica (well I did while Pete had an afternoon snooze) to see how the town was first lived in by the Spanish. I’m amazed how many baptisms they performed in the first few years with the native families.
Then we revisited Clint’s ranch in the daytime to appreciate the lovely views.
And then took a walk around the town of Carmel looking at the various art galleries and then along the very prestigious beach.
Someone thought it amusing to add some modern art of their own.
The next day we were on sea otter watch as we cycled along from Monterey’s Fisherman’s Wharf to Cannery Row which used to be booming with the canned sardine industry until the 1960s.
And I finally got to try a clam chowder (in a sourdough bread bowl) while on the Wharf – yum!
We met a lovely cycling family while watching the sea lions so told them about the twi-light cycle that night, a monthly event that allows cyclists to cycle the Laguna Sega race circuit. And we were very happy to see them there and do a couple of laps with them.
We stayed at the raceway campground which was deserted but we did get to see a load of Ferraris turning up for the Ferrari Challenge that was due to happen that weekend.
Up the coast we discovered a New Brighton (hmm familiar?) and stopped at a very cute place called Capitola for lunch.
Then onto Santa Cruz – with the oldest boardwalk, a carousel dating back to 1911 and a history of amazing surfing, skateboarding and the creation of mountain bikes.
The home of the history of surf museum
We did a coastal cycle ride – with our bargain bikes just about coping with the fairly flat but bumpy terrain.
Beautiful scenery and, no matter what time of day, there’s always some surfers to watch.
