Are we there yet??: Monterey Bay

Monterey is Steinbeck country – the books he wrote here were about the sardine factories on Cannery Row. Cannery Row still exists but now tourists are the sardines. However, it is still a laid-back little fishing port with a thriving fishing industry. The cold sea currents well up from a deep sea canyon, supposedly much bigger than Grand Canyon, and this brings the nutrients that support a wide variety of sea life. The coastal rocks are covered in kelp and home to hundreds of Californian sea lions and seals as well as pelicans, cormorants etc.

We slightly over-extended ourselves and cycled 20 miles right around the Monterey peninsular to the upmarket village of Carmel. It was a memorable day, with stunning scenery – but lots of hills and a head wind. Consequently lunch in Carmel was delayed till 4.30 pm and we opted for a bus back to Monterey.

Santa Cruz, further around the bay towards San Francisco is another pretty seaside town with long white beaches and a giant amusement park along the boardwalk.

After leaving the bay area, our overnight stop was at a Harvest Host berry farm – here we tried something new – ollalieberries. They are a cross between a blackberry, a raspberry and a loganberry. They also make up into delicious fruit pies which we felt obliged to sample (real hardship). The cafe/sales area is like a big, cosy comfortable lounge with games out on tables and the walls covered with interesting photographs, articles, artefacts etc. All slightly run down but interesting. The farm is currently 80% owned by one man, but is slowly turning into a co-operative as workers are paid partially in shares after a certain number of hours employment.

From here it was up the coast to San Francisco – Daly City actually – where we found the cheapest RV spot in the city!