We're going home...........

Monday/Tuesday 2nd/3rd December

We had spent an hour or so last night sorting out all our stuff - some of which we were leaving behind in San Jose in preparation for our next visit - and packing so that we could have a leisurely start to the day. Sherry reluctantly left for work at 10am, Rich was working at home and busy on conference calls but he managed to fit our farewells into a break in proceedings.  It was with heavy hearts that we waved goodbye and drove off down Erica Court for the final time.

Time had been allowed for a visit to Wells Fargo at Los Gatos so that we could open a US bank account before our departure.  This took slightly longer than expected but by the time we left we were the proud owners of a shiny new joint checking and saving account complete with temporary debit cards and a horse......yes a horse,  albeit  a small furry one which we accepted thinking it would make an excellent gift for Sherry and Rich's grandkids.  Unfortunately as we didn't have time either to drop it back to Erica Court or mail it, the poor thing found itself being unceremoniously squashed into my already bulging suitcase.

One last stop at Trader Joe's in Cupertino on the way to the airport - I am so going to miss Trader Joe - to pick up some treats to take back for our running friends and more frantic squashing of treats into my seemingly bottomless suitcase.  We couldn't resist one final episode of thrill seeking before reaching the safety of the airport.  The deal with our hire car was that we paid in advance for a tank of fuel and returned it empty....in our case with 3 miles of gas remaining! I was seriously thinking I may end up pushing it the last few hundred yards, luckily the Thrifty return garge was on the 3rd floor of the parking lot. If it had been on the top floor I don't think we would have made it!

We were at the airport in plenty of time to check in, go through security, buy coffee and relax before boarding our flight which, thankfully, was on time at 4.20pm.  Once on board we soon realised that we had three children from hell across the aisle from us - they were absolutely the worst behaved children I have ever encountered and their mother who looked about 12 years old herself just sat looking blankly at the air crew as they repeatedly told her that she must make them behave.  It got worse - a couple of hours into the flight I realised that I had mislaid my purse. Frantic searching of all pockets, rucksacks etc ensued only confirming that the purse definitely was not with us.  I knew I had it after we passed through security because I bought coffee so it must have been mislaid in the departure lounge.  I spent the rest of the trip trying not to think about the huge credit card bill that someone could be running up.......or that I would have to confess to Wells Fargo that I had only managed to keep my new card for 3 houors before losing it!

It really wasn't my day.....the in flight vegetarian option meal was inedible - a sort of mushy overcooked medley of unidentifiable vegetables, accompanied by an uninteresting salad and a small fruit salad.  One individual rice cake was the only carbohydrate included and no protein.  As usual I was starving! The non vegetarian choice was either chicken or a tasty cheese pasta - did they not realise that was actually a vegetarian option? Fortunately the air crew took pity on me and gave me a spare portion of the pasta.

I spent most of the trip trying to blank out the revolting children - at one point the youngest was standing up on it's seat, bashing the TV monitor with a can of diet coke whilst the mother watched it - and staring at my own monitor as it told me how many miles and hours of flight was still left. I hate flying!!  It was really strange watching the sky lightening as we came towards the end of the flight - our body clocks were still on midnight but by the time we landed it was 10.15am.

On landing first stop was to find wi fi, get a number for my credit card and ring to cancel it.  My brain felt like it was stuffed with cotton wool as I tried to remember when I had last used it and then convert Californian time to UK time!  We were lucky enough to find a courtesy bus for the parking already waiting and half full and once reunited with the car our fears that the battery may be flat proved groundless and it started with no problems.  One last slight hindrance as Martin took a wrong turn and we made an interesting detour north via Uxbridge before we could get the M40 back to the M25 and head for home!  Jet lag has a lot to answer for.

We arrived in Dorchester at around 3.30pm UK time which for us was 8.30am having been up "all night". It was so good to be home although the flat felt strangely unfamiliar at first..... So that was it, our adventure over and we settled down to catch up on some sleep.........now we just need to start planning the next trip................

The final day - at Big Basin

Sunday 1st December

Our last full day in California dawned bright and sunny - another perfect Fall day.  We took the scenic drive out to the Big Basin Redwoods State Park.  Not only was it scenic but also reminiscent of being in England as we drove along Highway 35 - an almost single lane road winding along the wooded ridge before dropping down to the aptly named Bear Creek Road.  Arriving at the Park we were, for the first time this trip, thwarted as far as finding free parking was concerned!  However, we have enjoyed a lot of visits to beautiful state and county parks during this holiday so finally handing over a $10 day use parking fee seemd entirely appropriate.

Map in hand we set off to run a 10.5 mile loop, heading towards the sea on the lovely Skyline to the Sea trail which runs for approximately 32 miles from the Castle Rock State Park to the coast at Waddell beach.  We were already formulating plans to the run the whole trail next visit and have Sherry and Rich meet us in Santa Cruz to taxi us home!


We set off through the redwoods crossing the Opal Creek and beginning to climb up through the forest occasionally overtaking a few hikers but for the most part enjoying complete solitude.  We were both surprised by the beauty of this area which is easily as striking as Muir Woods or the redwoods of Humboldt county and equally surprised that in all our visits to San Jose we have never found our way here beforehand.  This was my perfect location - my favourite running is through the forest with the sun filtering through the trees and an enticing trail snaking ahead begging to be followed.  I was so pleased that we had found such a great place to conclude our holiday.

The trail zig zagged up through the trees crossing the Middle Ridge fire road and then picking up and following Kelly Creek, a tributary to the West Waddell Creek which runs down to the coast.  For today however, the point where the creeks intercept was also the point at which we turned to the north to follow the watercourse along the Berry Falls trail stopping en route to admire the waterfalls and even having to negotiate mud in a few places - not something we have encountered much of in the past 2 months!


The falls and creek are named for a lumberman, Tilford George Berry who lived the life of a hermit on the banks of the trail and who disappeared in 1870 never to be seen again.  Some 25 years later, whilst strolling through a chaparral near Boulder Creek, a doctor came across a perfectly preserved skeleton with Berry's gun leaning against it and a single bullet through the head.

After the strenuous climb to the top of the falls we turned onto the Sunset Trail which would eventually lead us back down to Big Basin and, emerging briefly from the trees into bright sunshine, ran through a landscape that could have been Meditterranean with white slabs of rock and low lying scrub alongside the path.


Shortly afterwards we re entered the woods and the more familiar terrain and this is where our perfect day took a downturn.  A momentary lack of concentration and I turned my ankle on a tree root bringing me to an immediate stop in excrutiating pain.  Martin very helpfully told me that I'd definitely broken my ankle and was told quite impolitely to keep his opinions to himself!  Past experience has proved that if you can possibly keep moving on a sprained ankle it seems to help in the long run (hobble!) and as we were still 4 miles away from our starting point this is what I did.  Once the inital pain subsided it didn't feel too bad and I was hopeful that I may have got away without any serious damage but I was so cross with myself for spoiling a lovely run and especially on our last day.

It took us about an hour to finish the loop and even in my state of mind it was hard not to enjoy the beauty of the forest.  Due to a slightly late start and the slow rate of progress after my accident it was 2.30pm by the time we got back to the car and any plans we had for the afternoon's entertainment (slack lining!) were abandoned.  Instead we took an even more scenic drive back following Highway 9 up to Skyline Boulevard at the Saratoga Gap, stopping numerous times to enjoy vista points and note the trail heads for the Skyline to the Sea trail which we are definitely going to do next time - if I can manage to avoid tree roots and other such dangers!

Back at Erica Court we belatedly iced, compressed and elevated my ankle - which although puffy was not too badly swollen and showed no signs of bruising - until it was time to go out for our final farewell dinner with Sherry and Rich.  This found us back in downtown Campbell at the Rock Bottom Brewery and Restaurant, another excellent choice of venue, where we all enjoyed salmon fish and chips with apple coleslaw and some of us aso tried the sampler selection of hand crafted beers. Despite the great food, beer and company the evening was tinged with sadness at the thought of our imminent departure which we tried to offset by discussing plans for our next visit ................

Deja vu in Los Gatos

Saturday 30th November

We were all late getting up today despite yet another day of perfect fall weather.  The plan was to revisit the Los Gatos cafe for brunch.  We seem to have run out of exploring energy and instead are enjoying returning to favourite haunts during the last few days of our holiday.

Once again we had decided to cycle and meet Sherry and Rich there so we got the bikes out of the car and Martin put them back together for (hopefully) the last time.  We set off wearing far too many layers - just can't shake off that English expectation of being too cold - and were soon sweltering in nearly 70 degrees of sunshine.  We are so going to suffer when we get back to England.  We followed a slightly different route than on our previous expedition and eventually after about 7 miles of busy roads, interminable red lights and traffic we got to the Los Gatos Creek bike path and the enjoyable part of the ride.  This time we didn't make the mistake of exiting the bike path too soon but followed it through the Vasona Lake Country Park arriving at the cafe at exactly the pre arranged time of 11.45am having cycled 15 very warm miles.

We got our name on the list and then waited for Sherry and Rich to arrive and thankfully cooled down a bit. As expected it was bustling but the time passed quickly until our table was ready. The food was as usual plentiful and delicious and the company great - although slightly tinged with sadness that time is running out. After 7 weeks of diligent practice putting away American portions I failed again and had to get a "to go" box for the remains of my crab and avocado souffle omelette.  I was absolutely stuffed....

We strolled around doing some window shopping and enjoying the sunshine and also went to Sherry's bank where we were able to arrange to pay my marathon prize cheque (minus the portion that the IRS have incorrectly claimed!) into her account and draw cash.  I felt decidedly nervous walking round with a large sum of money and kept checking that my purse was in my pocket even though it was zipped and impossible for it to fall out.  Pleasant as it was in lovely Los Gatos we were conscious that it was already after 2pm and we had a 90 minute cycle ride ahead of us and no lights so we left Sherry and Rich to do a bit more shopping and headed back to the bikes.

It was lovely cycling back along the trails passing through the parks but I really wasn't looking forward to the road section at the end.  However it seemed much shorter on the way back. We again went a slightly different route and although the distance was the same it took us 20 minutes less. This was odd but we put it down to using more local streets and therefore minimising the time we spent waiting at red lights.

We were back at Erica Court before Sherry and Rich and fortunately we had left the slack line in their car...as Martin was really keen to go back out to the park and set it up.....whilst all I wanted to do was have a shower, a cup of coffee and a rest. We had after all cycled just over 30 miles.  I must admit that I gave into the temptation of a little snooze and the next thing I knew Martin was waking me up to tell me that we were going out for dinner.

After brunch I was so full that I couldn't imagine eating anything else for a week but by 7pm I was (predictably!) feeling quite hungry again which was just as well since Rich had arranged a special treat for us - a visit to Buca di Beppo. Of all the excellent restaurants we have been to this really was the ultimate experience. It's a big bustling Italian restaurant and they have one table which is in an alcove in the kitchen so you get to interact with the staff and watch all the food being prepared and put out ready to serve.  Apart from the unusual setting and lovely staff, the food is brilliant. They serve it in large dishes to share so we chose three dishes between us: Apple Gorgonzola Salad; Salmon Sorrento and Cheese Manicotti and each one was better than the last.  In addition we got to see a lot of other dishes being put out ready for the waiting staff and even as vegetarians we were impressed by the meatballs which were the size of small footballs!

It was a great evening and we are so lucky to have friends with such a good knowledge of all the best restaurants in the area and who enjoy sharing the experience of visiting them with such gusto.  We have been so spoiled and I am going to be on a strict diet for months to come in order to counteract all these special treats!

Black Friday

Friday 29th November

Today is the day that Americans head to the shops for I suppose the equivalent of New Year's Day Sales in England.  Having watched the news the night before and seen the gun fights and other violence that flares up over parking spaces, queue jumping and that extra special bargain.......we decided to steer very clear.

Instead we headed over to the northern end of Almaden Quicksilver County park for a leisurely stroll.  We have hit a spell of exceptionally nice weather for our last few days in California so even though it's less than a month until Christmas it was still comfortable to be walking in t shirts and shorts.  If anything it's even nicer now because the trees have their lovely autumn colours which look spectacular against the blue skies and in the golden sunshine.

Martin was suffering from a slight injury, his toe had been in an altercation with a rock at the beach on Tuesday so he was finding walking a little painful.  I was still feeling stuffed up and peaky with the virus which will not go away and we were both feeling a bit lazy after a very long day yesterday so we took it fairly easy. We enjoyed exploring this end of the park, which we had not been to beforehand but were surprised and a little disappointed that there were so many other people with the same idea. We had assumed that they would all be murdering each other at the mall but apparently not.......

After a couple of miles we found the perfect place to stop and put up the slack line - a picnic bench just off the path beside a shaded stream.  We had been there for about half an hour enjoying the peace and tranquility when a really annoying American family descended on us, sat down at the picnic table despite the fact that we had our stuff on it and I was actually sitting at one end and carried on a loud conversation with their two irritating little girls who were jumping around in the stream.  Then another three people showed up and joined them.....We took one look at each other, stuffed the slack line back in the ruck sack and exited stage left as quickly as possible.

A little further up this lovely wooded valley we came to the Guadalupe reservoir which is looking very sad with extremely low water levels. We continued along the Guadalupe Trail until it joined the Mine Hill Trail just short of where we had run the previous weekend and then looped back on ourselves until we reached the trail head and retraced our steps to the car.  This was our third and last visit to this lovely park for this trip and it remains my favourite place in the San Jose area. I'm already looking forward to returning next visit.

An exciting drive followed - only 17 miles worth of petrol left in the car apparently - but we made it to a gas station.  I guess if we had run out at least we still had the bikes in the back.........Next stop the Almaden Whole Foods for one last visit to the salad bar and then off to the Almaden Lake park for a picnic and more slack lining.  The first place we set up was not good so we walked around the very lovely lake and found absolutely the best place on the far side of the park.  I have found the last few sessions very frustrating and was losing my enthusiasm....but this time I suddenly got my balance back and it was much better.  It's one of those totally pointless things that you just have to keep doing and the parks in California are brilliant because they're so large, there are so many trees and nobody takes any notice. I can't imagine, for example, setting it up in the Borough Gardens in Dorchester......

We completed our circuit of the lake to get back to the car and both agreed that this is our favourite "town" park, definitely nicer than Hellyer although it is a bit further away from Erica Court.  I decided that I needed some more driving practice after a couple of days off and bravely took the wheel to negotiate the Saturday traffic and two freeways........I still find some of the junctions rather mystifying but I'm much more confident now.  It doesn't help when I ask for directions and the navigator says things like "keep straight here....or you could turn right if you want to......."

Back at Erica Court we caught up with Sherry and Rich who were debating what we should do with our evening and what/where to eat. Fortunately the final decision was to stay in and eat Thanksgiving left overs, not only because they were delicious but also because we really just wanted to relax and get an early night. It's so tiring being on holiday.......

Thanksgiving Thursday and the Turkey Trot

Thursday 28th November

Our Thanksgiving started very early as we left the house at 7am headed for Hellyer Park and the Turkey Trot Half Marathon.  Unfortunately the virus I picked up at the weekend had not gone away as hoped, the sore throat had returned overnight on Tuesday and I was feeling pretty wiped out, so I did the sensible thing........and raced anyway.

It was a lovely sunny morning, just a bit on the cool side that early in the morning.  First stop was finding the closest free parking (we could then feel smug watching the less savvy locals circling the $6 a day car park desperately seeking a space to park) and then walking over to the number pick up.  We got there just in time to hear the announcement that due to a power cut all the toilets in the park were closed because the flushes need electric to work.......400 plus nervous runners and no toilets, every race organisers worst nightmare! Fortunately our route back to the car to drop off our excess clothing passed through another part of the park where there were a couple of porta loos......which we found ahead of the other 398 people who all appeared to be queuing for them a bit later on.

We were expecting the race start to be delayed due to the toilet dilemma but it was actually very prompt. The half marathon and 10k started together with the 5k starting 10 minutes later.  So at 8am sharp we were off on the mile loop of the lake before heading out on the Coyote Creek Trail for the rest of the course which was a straightforward out and back. We weren't sure what the standard was going to be as this is only the second year the race has been held but our suspicion that it would not be a very high proved correct.

I had set my watch for 6.50 pace which is slower than my normal half marathon pace but I was being realistic about the sort of shape I'm in after 6 weeks of no regular training, too much food and alcohol and on top of that a virus.  The usual race start adrenalin rush made it feel easy for the first mile but unfortunately it didn't last long and it soon started to feel like hard work.  After 4 miles I really just wanted to stop and lie down at the side of the trail but since that wasn't an option I gritted my teeth and resigned myself to another hour at least of feeling horrible!  It was made slightly harder by not feeling like a race, after the initial jockeying for places, I could see one person ahead of me on the straight parts of the trail but otherwise I could have been out for a morning run on my own.

At least I knew I was ahead of all the other female competition and the going was fairly easy.  There were a few undulations, the odd dip in the path and bridge crossing but on the whole it was a flat course and I was just about managing to hang on to the pace target.  As I neared the turn around point I started to meet the leaders coming back and starting counting to see how Martin was doing.  It was fantastic to see him neck and neck with another runner in joint third place and looking comfortable.  The turn around was just across a foot bridge over the creek and I was 8th at that stage.  I had meant to take note of the time to see how far ahead I was of the next female when I passed her on the way back....but naturally I completely forgot!

There were about 3 or 4 women fairly close together and I spent the rest of the race expecting one of them to catch me up.  I pushed really hard to try and stay on the pace and I managed it until the 9 mile mark but after that I gradually dropped off and found myself working harder to run slower! Towards the end I started to pass the back markers in the 10k race, mostly walking and I knew how they felt!  I had risked a couple of nervous glances over my shoulder and knew that there was one other runner behind me - male - and as I reached the point where the path split and headed back past the lake to the finish he overtook me dropping me down into 9th place.  Martin was waiting here too and said that I was second lady which gave me a bit of a jolt, I knew I was first unless someone had cheated..........but I tried to put it out of my head because I could see the clock ahead and I still had a chance to get across that line under 1.30.  Somehow I managed to find an injection of speed from somewhere and just made it....1.29.59!!  My worst half marathon time since 2009....


Martin had done really well and finished in 3rd place overall and a great time of 1.25.39 which he later found was a PB for him.......by 1 second!  I was a bit worried by him thinking that I was second - he said that another girl with a half marathon number on had passed him whilst he was waiting for me. However, an announcement that the male course record had been broken was followed by another one saying that I had won and broken the course record by 5 minutes....so all was not lost.  Fortunately they were handing out the winners medals as the runners finished so we didn't have to wait around for a presentation and in all honesty all I wanted to do was go home and lie in a darkened room for several days........




........So we went home and after a quick shower and coffee I spent the next 6 hours in the kitchen helping Sherry cook Thanksgiving Dinner for 12!  At 3.30 guests began arriving, all bearing platters of food and eventually all was ready and we sat down to a gigantic feast.  It was really bad timing that I just wasn't able to do it justice although I did my best and I think Martin may have made up for me to some extent.  The evening was also marred slightly by Sherry having a spell of feeling unwell and having to go and lie down for a while but fortunately she rallied and the evening ended on a high.

After everyone had left it was back to the kitchen for more washing up duty and then we relaxed and chatted for a while before staggering off to bed.  It had been a long day.

Slobbing in San Jose

Wednesday 27th November

So this is going to be the briefest blog of the holiday.........neither Sherry or Rich were working so we spent some time with them and helped out with the big pre Thanksgiving Day shop.  Apart from that we stayed off our feet as much as possible and caught up with some mundane stuff like laundry.

A quiet night in, sensible pasta dinner and early night.

The only thing that was remarkable about today was that Martin didn't take a single photograph....so here's one from earlier in our stay of the lovely haven that is Erica Court......

Morro Bay en route to San Jose

Tuesday 26th November

We checked out of the very pleasant Day's Inn at Buellton and headed north up the 101 towards San Luis Obispo where we stopped for a break and coffee.  We had planned to pick up some food for lunch but we'd both got such good value out of the free breakfast at the motel that we decided we really didn't need anything else for a few hours.  After all this American over indulgence it's going to be really hard getting back to "normal" food.

Next stop was Morro Bay where we parked up north of the bay and walked out onto the beach.  And what an amazing beach it is!  This is a place that has been added to our ever growing list of places that we need to re-visit when we have more time. It wouldn't be your first choice for a relaxing day at the beach, it's far too big and windswept but for a run it would be absolutely perfect - miles and miles of firm sand stretching as far as the eye could see.  We walked south towards Morro Rock where the beach was more populated (due to it's proximity to the main car park) and where there were a lot of surfers and kayak surfers - all snugly encased in wet suits.  We felt not the slightest temptation to brave the surf today!

We strolled round the rock as far as we could go and climbed onto the rocks - past the sign which said "Danger - do not climb on the rocks".  The rock is connected to mainland by a causeway and stands sentinel at the mouth of the bay itself.  This is a really strange place - the town is clearly visible from this point sitting on the edge of what is effectively a lagoon separated from the sea by a large spit and really very attractive.  However, in the foreground is a huge industrial building with three gigantic towers which totally dominates and spoils the landscape. Why?  I just don't understand how or why it is there. The town's website describes it as being the "picture perfect getaway" - all photos carefully angled to avoid showing this monstrosity.

Our walk was about 4 miles out and back - I think it was probably as far again to the south end of the beach.  We have to come back here when we need to do a fast, flat training run.  There is also a state park at the south side of the bay which it would be good to explore.  We decided that, as we had no time restrictions, we would take the scenic route up Highway 1 and made a brief stop at San Simeon where Martin strung the slack line up for a while.  I wasn't feeling energetic enough to have a go and it wasn't a very good location so we soon moved on.

Last time we drove up this route was exactly 6 weeks ago to the day and we were too stressed to enjoy it as we raced to get to the Big Sur campsite before it got dark.  This time we were able to relax, take our time and enjoy the stunning scenery.  Consequently we made a lot of stops at vista points including one place just past San Simeon where we were rewarded with the sight of a beach-full of elephant seals basking in the afternoon sunshine. These were young males - apparently the adult males and breeding females don't arrive until December/January.  It would be interesting to see them because even the youngsters were massive!

Despite our gargantuan breakfast we were starting to feel a bit hungry by now so once we got to Big Sur we stopped at the deli to pick up some coffee and a snack.  Big Sur is definitely another area that we need to visit again, so many hiking opportunities and state beaches which need to be explored. A little further up the coast we stopped at a pull off and found a path which led down to the rocky shore where we sat in total solitude and watched the sun go down.  Even though there was a fair amount of cloud the sunset was absolutely amazing and we were also rewarded with the sight of a whale cutting through the surf.

Unfortunately our lingering along the coast meant that we hit the rush hour traffic at Monterrey and it took us quite a while to get back to San Jose.  As it was getting late we stopped off at the Almaden Whole Foods to pick up some salad for supper.  When we got back to Erica Court both Sherry and Rich were out so we were able to sort out all our rubbish and eat before they got back and then spend some time catching up.

It really feels like our adventure is coming to an end now, no more travelling, we will be spending the rest of our stay with Sherry and Rich and experiencing (for me) a first American Thanksgiving before heading for home.