Crossing the Golden Gate.

Day 35  Saturday 7^th May 2011

We cheated today. We used our sat navs to get us from the hotel in Tracy to San Francisco going via Oakland over the Bay Bridge which cost us a whopping $5 per bike – exactly the same as for cars. The route continued through the busy traffic of San Francisco alongside the many numbered piers at the harbourside until we were directed off towards the Golden Gate Bridge which delighted us with the news that northbound traffic (that was us) was toll free – yippee !  

Mark ahead of me crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco

 We stopped at the other side of the bridge at Vista Point to take in the view of the Bay area including the infamous Alcatraz Island and the skyscrapers of downtown. We took a look at the map and managed to find our way onto Highway 1 which skirts the Pacific coastline northwards. The initial drive through Marin County took us up high into the pine and cypress forests filling our noses with that unforgettable alpine smell that goes with the scenery.

The road twisted savagely through the countryside until it ejected us along the cliffs of the coast until it took us back inland again. Strange to think that only three weeks earlier we were looking out over the Atlantic ocean in Maryland at the aptly named (but lacking imagination) Atlantic City. Our map told us that we should stay on this road until just before Manchester and we did. We left the coast road east on Mountain View Road which was another excellent 30 mile twisty which took us neatly onto route 128 into Ukiah where we had booked into the Super 8 motel.

Check in went well and our room was very good and well sited next to the Henny Penny restaurant in which we were served some nice home cooked food by our PJ, our waitress. We decided that Ukiah would be a good place to have a two day break so on the way back to our room we booked an additional night.