6,000 miles....Done

Tonight, we are staying in the town of Lompoc, just a stone’s throw from the Santa Barbara wineries and, in particular, Santa Ynez, where the movie Sideways was filmed. It’s a fairly average town a few miles inland from the coast, with not that much to see, but our Eat the Borderline fans will be relieved to know that we did manage to find a good Italian restaurant to eat at tonight, and a decent bottle of vino…

It was quite a tough ride today: 60 miles with a good deal of climbing and, worst of all, a 15 – 25 mph headwind. Now, we know that we said that we were not going to whine on about the Evil Edwin, as we expect him to be in his element all the way up the coast, but this was a powerful wind, that even stopped us in our tracks as we were descending steeply after a 1,000 ft climb. And, when it comes to the word “sideways”, we were also surprised to find that we have been continuing to cycle West as we work our way “up” this bit of the coastline…when will that West wind ever let up? No need to say it, “when we start going North” is no doubt the answer.

Anyhow, we can’t complain. The day started with some beautiful scenery as we pedalled out of Santa Barbara, via a lovely little post office where we jettisoned a few items for return to the UK, and along a bike path down to the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), which must have the best views of any academic institution anywhere in the World. We giggled as we found ourselves cycling through campus, with students on foot and on bikes swarming around everywhere. Audrey and Margaret were, not surprisingly a little confused and overwhelmed, trying to keep up by chirruping away at every opportunity and instructing us to turn directly right through the middle of the Performing Arts Building. Although we were tempted (!), we resisted, and eventually found our way out the other side, and onto the Freeway, which made up the lion’s share of our route today.

By the time we arrived this evening, we found that we had hit the 6,000-mile mark…yes, over 6,000 miles since that day in October when we pedalled out of New York. Still not halfway though…who’d have thought it?

Us x