Thursday 12th October - day 23.

We started today with a pre-work outing with Chris to La Jolla Cove and shores. La Jolla Cove is a very beautiful series of rocky coves with small sandy beaches. The area is known for its wildlife and there were sea birds, especially cormorants and pelicans perched on every rock and seals and sea lions in the sea and on rocky ledges. The Sea is a marine reserve popular with divers and snorkellers - no kayaking allowed.
The town has only two drawbacks - firstly there are buildings immediately at the edge of the coves - mainly hotels and apartment blocks. Secondly, all the birds produce a lot of guano and the sea lions eat a lot of fish so there is a distinct fishy/ammonia odour everywhere.... We ran along the back of the Cove, admiring the scenery (but not the smell) and came across large tanker truck operated by two enthusiastic ladies in boiler suits. They were busy spraying a white liquid over the cliffs which turned out to be a yoghurt based solution designed to dissolve the guano.
We moved up the coast a mile or two to La Jolla Shores - a typical Californian beach with blue sea, white surf, golden sand and plenty of space behind.
We parked and ran and swam - it was glorious. Then we drove back to Mission Bay for breakfast sitting at our sunny Oceanside side spot, overlooking Mission Bay.
Chris dashed off to work, leaving us to shower, sit in the sun and drink coffee whilst planning our day exploring San Diego.
We loaded the bikes into the RV and set off for Balboa Park.
The park occupies 1200 acres just north east of downtown San Diego. As well as extensive landscaped grounds and gardens it has a famous zoo ($50pp), 15 museums, theatres, restaurants and concert venues. The architecture is very beautiful - lots of arched colonnades, red tiled roofs, and covered walkways in Spanish Renaissance style. It was created for two cultural expositions in 1915 and 1935. We parked by the zoo and bikes to the Spanish arts village, then explored on foot. Particular high spots were the Spanish ceramics, Natural history museum, Dragon coffee shop (wonderful latte and apple cake), giant ficus tree, cactus garden, Botanical building and reflection lake with water lilies in flower, the Alcazar garden, Palm Canyon and the rose garden. The fountain that I had sweated by the previous early morning was now transformed - glowing bright white in the midday sun with jets of turquoise coloured water creating a dazzling and almost blinding display.
The weather was very hot, but with a good breeze and plenty of shade. It was a very peaceful, soothing and lovely way to spend a sunny morning.
Our afternoon plan was to bike the Bayshore Cycle Route starting in Coronado. To get there from Downtown we drove over the Coronado bridge - a spectacular piece of architecture - 2 miles long, curving in a J-shape on very tall concrete supports so that it towers over the city. We could see why there was no cycle lane over it! We drove over, marvelling at the birds eye views of the city, and then drove down underneath the bridge to park by the bay at Tidelands Park. The cycle route was signed from the park and was easy to follow south through the town and out towards Silver Strand.
On the map the cycle path looked ideal. A traffic free route along a narrow strip of land with the beaches of San Diego bay on our left and the Pacific Ocean on our right. Perfect - a great cycle route to fly along. The problem was that what the map didn’t make clear was that in the middle of the Silver Strand was a four lane high way, fenced so that we were unable to cross from east to west, and that the southern part of the Coronado peninsula was a military area, and the top third of the west coast of strand was patrolled by armed guards and surrounded by razor wire!
We pedalled south admiring the wetland nature reserves to our left and wondering how we could get to the Pacific beach to swim.
Finally we came to the Silver Strand State beach, accessed via a tunnel under the road. The beach was lovely - a strip of white sand and waves steadily breaking onto it. The surroundings were not so lovely. A series of dilapidated concrete buildings and a car park.
Never mind, we sat with our backs to the concrete and enjoyed the ocean view.
There were several surfers in the water and two lifeguards watching them intently, blowing whistles and waving their arms.
I thought I should just check before swimming!
The surfers were all part of a school surfing lesson. The teacher said it was fine to swim but be aware of rip tides and a strong tidal flow south - the whistles were to remind the pupils to keep heading back north to prevent the whole lesson ending up 500 metres further south.
I was reassured by the life guard lookout and two life guard trucks parked nearby, and so whilst Bill sunbathed, I swam and body surfed.
Changing was the usual struggle of towel wraps and sandy feet, but once accomplished we cycled back north up to Coronado, watching the late afternoon sun falling in the sky to our left. Although the road and military fencing obscured our view of the beach, we had an uninterrupted view of the horizon all the way back to the town. Here, we left the cycle route and pushed our bikes along the pedestrian path along the back of the beach. We made our way past the famous Del Coronado Hotel, the huge and opulent resort on the west coast of the peninsula. The fine white sand beaches rolled away from its luxurious terraces and gardens onto the sands.
As well as the main turreted Hotel building, there were numerous beach villas and ranch houses with gardens, where the wealthy hotel guests lounged, in full view of any passer by who cared to wander past. Tonight there was a huge banquet / reception being laid on by / for Shell on the beach and we mingled with the invited guests on the foot path as they made their elegant way down onto the sand where there were white clothed tables, gazebos and lanterns, all eclipsed by the setting sun.
Finally, the advisory signs indicated that it was ok to pedal our bikes again, so we hopped on and pedalled through the dusk back to the Tidelands Park and home.
Refreshed by showers and a cup of tea, we admired the impressive views up at the Coronado bridge as we looked out at the city nightscape.
Soon there was a knock at the door and Chris bounced in - back with us after a long day at work. We set off for a flight of craft beers at the Coronado Brewing Company and then headed Downtown for a truly Californian vegetarian supper at Cafe Gratitude. (“Enjoy this moment - this moment is your life”).
Feeling suitably grateful and full of impossibly healthy stuff, and soothed by a golden latte (almond milk with turmeric and nutmeg) we used the ‘Brothers and Sisters’ washrooms and drove back over the bridge to pick up the RV.
There was a moment of high anxiety as flashing signs indicated that the access road to Coronado bridge was closed, necessitating a 50 mile detour south around the bay.... luckily for us, local knowledge and cunning meant that Chris found an alternative crafty route onto the bridge using a different access road.
He then took us on a driving tour of night-time Downtown and the lively Gaslamp district, before we drove back to Mission Bay for some much needed sleep!