Santa Cruz is only 10 miles away when we have the first puncture of the trip, caused by a big shard of glass. Mike expertly fixes it in short time, then we pedal past more little farms and along the front at Santa Cruz, a bit like a Brighton, or a small Blackpool with amusements and fairgrounds. As it is a lovely warm evening there are many families promenading and the first surfers we have seen. A passing cyclist helps us find the way over the estuary, on a cycle bridge attached to the side of a rusty rail bridge. The GPS gets us to Chris's bungalow, after 71 miles.
With his local group, Chris has cycled all over America and in Turkey. The latter sounds very interesting, so yet another place for us to add to an expanding list!
After a cyclists' breakfast of porridge and banana, next day is an easy ride, mostly through farmland. The acres of strawberries are ripe and so the fields are full of Pickers, in wide- brimmed hats, bent double in what looks like back-breaking toil. The sparse traffic is only small trucks dashing back and forth with port-a-loos, lunches and plastic seats for the workers. Later the fields are full of globe artichokes, some being picked into big baskets carried on the fieldworkers backs.
At Moss Landing there is a large marina and not much else. A tongue of sea mist hides the boats, then suddenly clears to reveal the kayak pontoon, nearly sinking under the weight of hundreds of sea lions and their pups! Others are relaxing on their backs in the water, waving their fins at us.
We reach Monterey at 47 miles by lunchtime ,so spend the afternoon at the Veterans Memorial State Campground, checking the tyres for any more glass, and planning the forward trip. The camp is at the top of a hill and the first windy conditions we have met.
Tour miles to date: 2,006
Location:San Mateo to Monteray
