It was with some reluctance that we left Lafayette after a leisurely breakfast with Nigel and Kimmen. This trip is tinged with leaving lovely places behind us....but fortunately each new place we visit soon makes us glad to be there.
Today we drove across the San Raphael bridge and through Sausolito before heading across Mount Tamalpais State Park and down to Stinson Beach. For the first time since we left England we did not have cloudless blue sky. There was fog in the Bay and along the coast and although it was supposed to burn off by 11am, in fact it persisted all day. Our run along Stinson beach therefore was not quite the experience we had hoped for.
Apart from the grey skies we had not figured out that the tide would be high and there was only a very narrow strip of wet sand which meant that we kept having to run through ankle deep soft sand dodging incoming waves which was really hard work! It was just over 2 miles to the end of the beach and by the time we got there I already felt like I'd run a marathon. We paused to look at the view of the lagoon before retracing our steps and by the time we got back to our starting point I had had enough. Since our feet were already pretty wet and sandy we went straight in for a paddle, shoes and all! It was not nearly as cold as I had expected but there was a very strong undertow and I felt not the slightest temptation to go any deeper than my knees.
As usual we were hungry so once dry and changed we went to the Parkside Cafe which looked completely unprepossessing from the outside but was actually really nice. We logged onto their free wifi having been bereft of internet for 24 hours and enjoyed bottomless cups of coffee whilst we agonised over the endless choices on the menu. Eventually, since breakfast was served until 2pm, we both had "scrambles" - mine with avocado, spinach and jack; Martin's with shrimp. They both proved delicious and as usual far too much food. As usual we managed to eat it all.
Next we headed back across Mount Tamalpais State Park to the Panoramic Highway where our next week's accommodation was situated at 310 meters above sea level - and as we climbed up through the trees we left the fog behind and emerged into lovely bright sunshine and skies the colour that we have quickly become accustomed to. We met our host, Scott, who showed us around the charming little cottage which was to be our home for the next 4 nights. It was every bit as delightful as we had expected and then some, small but beautifully designed and equipped. French doors at the back gave onto decking with views east down to the bay and at the front, just the other side of Panoramic Highway were the beautiful woods of the state park including Muir Woods which we have visited many times and love.
After some settling in we decided to walk down to Mill Valley, our nearest town for supplies. It proved to be quite a long walk but most of it followed the Dipsea Trail and we discovered that the second Sunday of June there is a race, the Dipsea Trail race which starts in Mill Valley and finishes at Stinson Beach, 7.4 miles away, with three sets of steps totaling almost 600 steps (which we know because we counted them on the way back up!). This gives us the perfect excuse to return to the area again......... It was a lovely evening and downtown Mill Valley is particularly attractive. We did our shopping at Mill Valley Market, a fantastic store which, amazingly, manages to be even more expensive than Whole Foods......and equally as full of temptation.
Due to the facts that anything we bought had to be carried back up the hill and was anyway probably twice as expensive as a more run of the" mill" supermarket, we restricted ourselves to necessities and began the strenuous ascent back up to Panoramic Highway. The rest of the evening was spent relaxing in our lovely cottage, cooking butternut squash risotto and drinking beer, which of course is one of life's great necessities........
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