Sunday 11 May 2014

Wow….wow and wow again! California Highway 1 (PCH)

Today 'Americas Mothering Sunday' we rode from San Simeon to Carmel.  For me it was the most spectacular awe inspiring road I have had the pleasure of riding a motorcycle on in my entire life - just wow!!!!   

It really is quite hard to put into words the natural beauty, the colours, the smells, the terrain and the feelings as you cruise along this incredible road.  We took our time riding at about 40-55mph and stopping off to take many photo's and videos (which I will post later).


The world famous 'Pacific Coast Highway' - what a privilege to ride it.




7 miles north of San Simeon is a beach where the northern elephant seal lives and breeds. They spend eight to ten months a year in the open ocean, diving 1000 to 5800 feet deep for periods of fifteen minutes to two hours, and migrating thousands of miles, twice a year, to its land based rookery for birthing, breeding, molting and rest.


They 'pong' a bit too!


Further on up the highway we stopped for a coffee at the Ragged Point Inn. It was 'Mothers Day' in the USA (which is a different date and month to the UK Mothering Sunday) so the place was starting to get busy with families treating 'Mum' to a nice breakfast or lunch out.  As is often the case kind people come up to us to talk about the bikes because of the strange number plates (license plates) and ask about our travels.  One such couple were Pauline and Roger Whitchurch from Paso Robles who sat with us as we shared our stories and spoke about their travels over in Europe too.  We have found in all our travels so far that the American people are so friendly and not shy about engaging in a conversation with strangers.  I wish the Brits were like that more back home.



Another turn in the road and another beautiful bay.  With the sun shining brightly the colours of the ocean was stunning. The photo's don't really capture the true essence of it.


Just checking that rear brake it firmly on!


Jon says he looks like a "Telly-Tubby" with one of our GoPro camera's attached to his helmet but he filmed some great segments with it.  Stay tuned for those videos.


Dotted along the highway are many flowers growing naturally or in the case of these pictures  planted in a rockery to create a dramatic effect.  There were lots of kids having 'Mothers Day' photographs taken with Mum amongst the floral displays.


It would take a long time to get bored of views like this.


Beach after beach, after bend after bend…..HOG ridin' heaven


Just look at that sky.  No sign of the infamous sea-mist (fog) that can easily ruin a day riding this stretch of the coastline.


Shame the mustang clashes with the flowers!

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