Pat and Sari's Honeymoon Bike Ride

Thursday, June 05, 2008
Inverness Park, CA to Jenner, CA
45 miles (4406 total miles)

We only have an hour's access to the internet tonight, so the pictures may be delayed until tomorrow morning or later. Tomorrow night we will probably not have cell phone access again, and may not have internet access either, so don't be disappointed if there's no webpage - we'll get caught up some day. We're going to have lots of access challenges in the next week or so, so please be patient.

This morning we had a late start - we didn't get going until 10:30, having lingered over a delicious breakfast at the Blackthorne Inn. Mary, the cook, made the best frittata I've ever had and wonderful pancakes too (at our request). She also made exceptionally good coffee. We chatted with a terrific couple who were also staying there that night, and had a terrible time tearing ourselves away. We were very encouraged that the wind, which had been raging the night before and pretty gusty at times the day before, was very calm as we set out. Unfortunately, it soon picked up and battled us all day long. It was a stiff wind nearly all the time with some incredible gusts that nearly blew us off our bike and slowed us practically to a standstill. It was also pretty hilly, shorter climbs than we had yesterday, but lots of them. The combination of the hills and the wind was exhausting. Even though we only covered 45 miles today, it took us almost 5-1/2 hours of bike time. We got into Jenner at 5:40.

Now that I've got all the whining out of the way, the day was actually quite gorgeous. We started out along Tomales Bay, a major element of the Point Reyes Seashore. It was a broad bay with many marshy areas and shoals. There was a lot of oyster farming along the bay and a lot of oysters being sold in the towns that dotted the shore. The bay finally emptied our into the ocean, and our route took us through a canyon following a river off-shoot of the bay. The road then turned inland for a while, through hills and valleys, ranch lands and dairy cow pastures. It was all quite lovely. We turned back towards the ocean and reached it again at Bodega Bay. There was a large bay separated from the ocean by a sand bar. The beach there was sandy and backed onto sand dunes. The next 10 miles to Jenner were along the ocean, and the coast there was very rocky with spectacular cliffs. Seeing the ocean gave us quite a lift, even though we were dragging by then. The last 4 miles or so seemed to last forever as the wind just kept getting worse. We were thrilled to get to the inn we would stay at. We showered, walked to dinner a quarter mile down the road and then set to work on the website.

Tomorrow we'll be along the ocean all day, which will be a treat, but it looks like it will be about as hilly today. We're hoping the wind will have worked out its issues and give us a break finally. We'll see.