Left the palm trees of Refugio and got back on the coast road heading south.
Arrived in the delightful city of Santa Barbara, and treated ourselves to some free Starbucks wifi o the street corner.
We always look distinctly out of place when we arrive in towns and cities, but particularly when they are pretty upmarket places. Whilst we shower each day, we definitely wear the same clothes for many miles and days between washes, so I’m not sure we smell all that good. Sweating wasn’t such a problem when it rained everyday, but since San Francisco, the sun has been shining bright, so we probably smell far from fresh.
We stopped at our favourite place of Trader Joes for a stock up on as much food as possible, and our new found favourite treat of all time, the ginger fingers. A delicious combination of a gingerbread biscuit, but enhanced by a chewy soft texture. Literally delicious, and we can’t leave the shop without a good supply to get us through the day.
We watched Ben for a bit at the Skate park, and then cycled along the cycle paths of palm trees and beautiful bright flowers. Definitely more homeless people here – probably because the weather is better than further north, but there were a lot of people ‘napping’ on the grass along the cycles paths.
We arrived in Carpinteria, and with heavy hearts had to say good bye to Neil, who needed to get to LA before us, so was peddling on. A fabulous Canadian, picked up at a service station, and filled the void of Canadian Guilliame leaving us. One of the funniest people ever met, who wore his paedophile, thrift store sneakers with pride, teamed with cycling shorts and fleece. A look not to be forgotten.
We turned right off the road, and headed straight to the beach and the beach campsite. Rose and I went for a wonder around the little town, treating ourselves to coffee and cake as a pre dinner snack, following it with coke, tacos and chocolate. Its easy to pack in the food when you are cycling all day, and we definitely don’t scrimp on the calories.
Rose has decided that tacos from the dogs looking taco shops are potentially the best thing she has ever eaten. I’ll wait to see if she gets food poisoning before passing judgment…
Robyn and Rose cycle the Pacific Coast 