A sad start to the day - having to say goodbye to our lovely little cottage and the very kind Scott who was most magnanimous about the broken wine glass........It was however farewell and not goodbye because we will definitely be coming back to this lovely place.
We had decided to do another long bike ride today starting from Muir Woods. Due to the difficulty in getting the bikes in the car we put the smaller one in and I cycled the other one down whilst Martin drove. It was a 3 mile downhill swoop with hairpin bends, exhilarating and terrifying in equal measure, especially given the drop off at the side of the road and the lack of barriers!
Reunited with both Martin and "my" bike we set off up the Deer Park Fire Road which climbed relentlessly up and up until about 1200 feet, criss crossing and running parallel to the Dipsea Trail, until it reached the junction with the Coastal Fire Road and Coast View Trail. We turned down the Coast View Trail which was narrower and bumpier than Deer Park and which goes all the way down to Highway 1 just above Muir Beach. Just when the views became seriously stunning a well placed picnic bench tempted us to stop for a coffee break before we came out onto the road. The compensation for riding along the road was another exciting steep downhill rush to sea level where we paused briefly to admire the Pelican Inn - which looks just like an English country pub (except for the sunshine!).
The next challenge was following the Coastal Trail south of the very lovely Muir Beach. We had actually run this part of today's expedition in December 2011 when we did the North Face 50k ultra. This was the point, around 40k, where Martin gave up trying to keep up with me - although I can't believe that I actually ran up this trail. It was the first point that we actually had to give up pedaling and push the bikes, it was SO steep. Fortunately the views back to Muir Beach were so fantastic that we had to keep stopping to admire them!
Eventually we turned off the Coastal Trail and continued climbing up the Middle Green Gulch Trail heading west onto the Miwok Trail and then Coyote Ridge.
All of a sudden a fantastic view of Sausalito, Richardson Bay and the Tiburon Uplands Nature Reserve across the water opened out ahead and to our right and the tall buildings of San Francisco became visible between two distant peaks, and then we could see the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge. Unfortunately I was so captivated by the view that I ran over a snake - I didn't even see it until Martin shouted at me. For some reason he was really cross with me, I pointed out that it was entirely accidental, I didn't seek the snake out and deliberately squash it. I also reminded him that in his time he has killed a deer and a badger whilst hurtling way too fast around country lanes.......
Point taken we continued on until we came to a little knoll which was absolutely the perfect place to stop for our lunch. We've been to some fantastic places and seen a lot of beautiful countryside in the last 2 weeks but this was surely the picnic spot to end all picnic spots!
After our break we rejoined the Miwok Trail. At this point we weren't sure of our route and Martin wanted to try to find a way across to a far distant ridge, which did look tempting but was going in totally the opposite direction to where the car was parked. I could feel my energy draining away just thinking about it so instead we continued down Miwok, then down the very steep County Drive which became a paved road and led down to the very edge of Mill Valley. More by good luck than judgement we came out onto the Shoreline Highway and cycled a couple of miles along this climbing steadily upwards until the Stinson Beach, Muir Woods split. Shortly afterwards we were able to pick up the Miwok Trail again which led up to the Dias Ridge Trail and this, I think, was my favourite trail of the day, firstly climbing up in gentle zig zags and then turning west with more fabulous views down to the coast before dropping in more challenging hair turn bends back down to the Pelican Inn on Highway 1 and then onto Muir Woods Road.
A short gentle stretch of road finished our 23 mile excursion, the only remaining challenges being getting both bikes back in the car and getting the car back to San Jose, via the Golden Gate Bridge and a lot of rush hour traffic.
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