22nd June 2018
Well yesterday when we were at Eagle Rider a couple of the Aussie girls came in. They had collected their hire bikes from the same place yesterday morning and one of the bikes developed a problem; the engine warning light had come on and wouldn’t go out. The techies topped up the engine oil and took it for a spin… all good. As they were waiting they mentioned a ride out north to the Redwood forests today to see the giant redwood trees and suggested we go along with them.
So up and at em this morning and riding in to San Francisco to meet up with Sylvie, Lynda and the Aussies. The President of Queensland has given us their address so we can meet them there, only problem is my GPS can’t find it.. I know it is near the Castro in Mission district and have a rough idea of the location so I make my way there. I need petrol but decide to find them first. Once I arrive in the general area I text the President for the zip code but she doesn’t know it… I tell her where I am to try and get some directions, but then I notice on my GPS the name of the road is Fair Oak not Oak Fair, that’s why the GPS couldn’t find it. I am only 2 streets away so arrive almost on time. No need to worry as they are not quite ready yet. Before long we are ready to go, I mention that I need petrol so I lead the group round to the nearest petrol station… but somehow I manage to lose most of them, only Sylvie and Ann, one of the Australian girls, follows me into the petrol station. We reconnect via text and manage to meet up with the rest of the girls and make our way to the Golden Gate Bridge… it’s a lovely day for a ride and the ride over the bridge is perfect….
We soon arrive at the place where we will need to park the bikes and catch a shuttle bus up to see the redwoods, (apparently you cannot ride there). We pull in only to discover that the shuttle bus isn’t running.. bugger… change of plan then… we head over to Sausalito, which is just down the road, to have some lunch. This seems to be a quaint seaside town, quite well to do with quirky little shops and restaurants. Sylvia, Linda, myself and Ann from Queensland elect to have an artisan sandwich and very nice it is too! We have only paid for an hours parking so we are soon back on the road and riding north along the coast. After a while we stop at a place called Bodega Bay and call in for a coffee.
It seems that Bodega Bay was once destined to have a nuclear power plant constructed nearby but, apparently a local woman campaigned vigorously to stop the plans, as of course slap bang on top of the San Andreas fault.. she fought it all the way and won – good for her.
We continue riding northwards and it is getting progressively colder, in fact it is freezing!! We thought we were heading back to San Francisco but find we are still heading north, a quick turnaround – and a few photos of the gorgeous shoreline – and we are back on track.
I tell the President that I am going to peel off on the way back as I am going to Oakland not San Francisco and once we are on the freeway I soon see the sign for the San Raphael/Richmond bridge so take my leave of the group to make my way back to my apartment.
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