Jono's Travel Blog

09/10/2010 Day 39 Vancouver to Mexico

Distance Travelled: 3 Miles from Seaside to Phiffer Camp ground in Big Sur 50Miles (80km)

Money Spent: $5 for a beer and $5 for accommodation at the hiker/biker campground

Time cycling: 3 hours 50 min

Total Distance Traveled: 2297 km

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It was a good thing I camped where I did as a few miles further I would have been in the town of Seaside where I wouldn’t have found anywhere to camp for the next 15 Miles.

I wanted to make it out on the road early so I packed my things and scoffed down brekky (Cereal with amazing strawberries) before 8am.

I cycled the long route through 17 Mile road that took me along the shoreline that had very pretty views of the coast especially at that time of the morning. This is where I briefly met Helly and Rayo, they were from Canada, retired and pretty sound although Helly seemed very reserved… I would have cycled with them but they were a little slow, so I pushed on.

Not sure whether I have mentioned it before, but I now have a new found love for bagels, cream cheese and avocadoes…this as a snack was so good.

Cycling through the town of Carmel was very picturesque, just a lovely cosy little town with an amazing beach with the whitest sand, I highly recommend checking out this place. Whilst here I found the library but it didn’t open till 1pm and I was there before 10am so I joined back up to the highway and made my way to Big Sur.

Ive been told a lot of good thing about Big Sur and didn’t look into any details about the place, it looked like it offered nice views of the coast and more redwood forests but from what I could see it was nothing better from what I have seen further North in California.

I found a nice little café on the side of the road offering internet, I bought a beer (Very expensive), uploaded some blog posts and did some emailing. I met a nice couple who I chatted with for a while and the offered me their leftovers as they couldn’t finish it…. Perhaps it’s the way I look but as I have mentioned several times before in this blog its free food and I’m not going to refuse it.

I went to the Phiffer State park camp ground were I met Charlie and Sasame, these two had met Jeff before and were a very funny couple (engaged) who gave me a shit load of brussell sprouts as they had too many of them weighing them down… more free food!

Rayo and Helly were at the campground too along with a whole bunch of other cyclists and hikers, perhaps upwards of 12-13 people more than I have seen in all the hiker/biker camps ive stayed at.

Today was a bit of an achievement too, I had cycled 45 Miles before 12pm.

I had a beer with dinner with the German couple I had met a few days ago at Half Moon Bay (Nicole and Timo) and as everyone went to bed very early, so did I.

Californian coast - HDR

Passing through Monterey

Coming close to Big Sur