Baywatch?!...

We allow ourselves a short day as we head back to San Francisco. Niles Canyon is an easy gradient through the hills, but a very narrow way through between the rock faces, with river, rail and road there was no room for a shoulder so a bit hairy in the fast traffic. It terminates at the historic railroad village of Niles, also famous as Charlie Chaplin lived here whilst he shot 5 of his films.
Next the bliss of a dedicated cycle route along the river, terminating in a wetland conservation area. Skeins of American White Pelicans cross the sky, Black Necked Stilts, tiptoe through the shallow water, and flocks of American Avocets sieve for food.


Great Egrets and Purple Herons stand like sentries, only up to their ankles in water.
At the northern end of prosperous Silicon Valley we find an historic 1920s hotel in Palo Alto with room in the massive lobby for our bikes.


It is like a museum, with the old switch board and public telephone booths still on display.
Cycling north we pass through a large mexican area, with adverts and signs mostly in Spanish. More bird watching on the Bay, with a very high tide and hundreds of Willets and Marbled Godwits. Forsters and Royal Terns crowd together on the beach, making it very easy for us to identify.


A few Black Turnstone mingle in the crowd, do we're lucky to spot them. We also get a lot of help from a local birder.


Tour miles to date: 1,889

Location:Pleasanton to San Mateo