and then there were two......

Yep, for some reason Biddy wants to join me on my next little trip. Check out how we get on..... http://mikeandbiddyinfrance.blogspot.co.uk

So where are the pickies Mike?

Sorry that it's taken so long to meet the oft-heard request to post some pictures. It wasn't easy in the States to find a town....which had a library....which was open......which allowed me more that 30 minutes on a computer.

Luxuriating in the sophistication of staying in Perth I offer you here some of the pictures of the trip.

Follow the link on the right hand side of this page to my Skydrive folder

Mike

Bloody oaf

Biddy and I looked at each other as he said this. We thought we were having a lovely conversation with this guy from Wellington as we cooked together at the Castlepoint campsite and then he comes out with this "Bloody Oaf". Had we inadvertently offended him?

Seeing our awkward glances he realised we were foreigners (there's a lot of them here in NZ. So much so that one of the normal greetings from anyone here seems to be "Which country are you from?"). Anyway, his wife translated for us. "Oh, bloody oaf just means, 'yep, sure, definitely'. It's obvious isn't it.

Actually we've been more struck by another totally foreign language the Kiwis speak. It's a little like American, though stronger. The best way of describing it is "positive". Everything is positive and the sun is shining (even when it isn't....and it definitely wasn't as we waded through a tidal estuary on the Abel Tasmin 'tramp' (i.e. walk...) at 6am this morning in the Abel Tasmin national park. Ass an example....Biddy was corrected at lunchtime today by the kayak instructor. "No, the weather's not bad....it's just raining". See what I mean. Let's hope I can take just a little bit of this new language , "positinglish" back to the UK when I return to counter the cycnicism and negativity that I realise is so prevalent.

So...what have we been doing, I hear some of you mutter. Well a bit of kayaking and walking in the Abel Tasmin nathional park in the north end of South Island. We drifted into a huge flock of shearwater (look that one up in Wikipedia if you've no idea what I am talking about) , paused in the two day kayak trip to watch New Zealand fur seals frolicking in the surf and marvelled at the Australasian gannet diving for fish yards from the kayak.

We stayed in lovely bunk house huts along the way, visited empty beaches with no road or track to them.

Oh....and to my great delight because it's on a 'list' of things I must see before I die, we spied sperm whales off Kiakoura earlier this week.

Am I enhoying myself? Is this good. Yep, or "sweet as" as they say in New Zealand.

No worries mate.

you must be French....

that's what the lady in the rzther rougn bar said as she came up to us. The place was full of tattoed and rather drunk mostly Maori jumping up and down cheering.

Usually I'd might take offence at being labelled as a member of that nation we Brits like to taunt but I could understand why the lady hzd made the remark. Seconds earlier the All Blacks had, just, beaten the French ag the World Cup final and tne fact that se were European and not dancing around meant we were surely crestfallen Gallic visitors. Seeing the final on a big screen amongstthe Kiwis was a specialevent. Needless to saythe overdue win has meant an AWFUL lot to the nation.

Thankfully I've not ceased cycling altogether. Biddy abd I did a 50km mountain bike ride through the remote bush in Tongoriro natiinal park - where those three volcanoes appear in Lord of the Rings. It really was remote. We saw no-one else in six hours of riding exceot a couple if hunters on quad bikes. we realised that it might be a little remote when the hirer gave us an emergency satelite beacin to use if we got into trouble. The best bit of tge 'ride' was having to wade waist deep across rivers with the bikes on our shoulders.

The Kiwi people really are lovely. There's a positiveness like I found in the US, but a warmth and deeper interest in you. It's vert attractive.

The notices pinned up tell a lot about the place, just as they did in the US. The Americans would put up signs saying 'do not litter - violators will be persecuted under state law 352 and summararily shot' - I made up that last bit. In New Zealand the notices szy 'please don't litter - thankyou'.

I know which notice I'm likely to take more notice if.

We managed the magnuficent Tongorira Crossing this week. Much of it was in snow as we wandered up over the volcanoes with great clefts in the crater belching sulpherous gases. "awesome" as they'd say in America.

Last night was rather wet. So much rain fell that we awoke to find tge tent sitting in about three centimetres of water and Biddy's crocks floating in the tent foyer. So....we treated ourself to a hostel this evening in Napier.....only to discover that there's kareoke going in in tge bar below our window. Tomorrow perhaps we'll head back to the quiet......and rain...of the mountains?

Betrayal!

What would you say if I confessed that I've turned my back on my constant partner, day and night, for the last two months? More than that, I've taken her apart and, with a guilty pang, unceremoniously, stuffed her into a box and left her.

Without wishing to be melodramatic I feel a slight sense if loss being without my bike.

I walked, yes, it did feel odd, down to Venice beach, Los Angeles thus morning. Nice.....but not a patch on our West Country beaches.

It's overcast this morning and i'm even wearing a fleece. Time for a change if hemisphere perhaps? I am deeply thankful for this chance to swan around the world. The dream will end eventually, I know.Till then I'm gunna enjoy it and give thanks.

Of snorkling, sea lions and surf.....

Nope, it's not exactly cycling, I know, but this morning saw me togged up in a wet suit bobbing up and down in the Pacific Ocean snorkling. It was, unusually, a bit of a misty morning and the visibility in the water wasn't geat but I rejoiced in seeing pelican flying overhead and sea lion (or were they seal....I need to check this out) basking on the rocks. As Steve and I dried off we saw a small pod of dophin cruise by. Idyllic eh?

I've been warmly welcomed into Steve and Marie's lovely home and am again enjoying wonderful Californian hospitality. San Diego reminds me of Perth: everyone up early in the morning running, cycling or swimming. Wide empty roads, clean and prosperous. I can see why people live in San Diego.

We've a party here tonight! Then it's back on the road for the last hundre miles or so into Irvine to meet Ella and box the bike.

"Be prepared to stop"

I've been seeing it since I first started the ride back in Washington in mid August.

Every few miles there are these big orange roadsigns that they erect before every bit of roadworks. I'd thought that they were something to do with the roadworks or something but now, I realise, they've been put up just for me! And, to my shame, I've not been taking any notice of them until today when I realise that I should have been paying attention and, yes, preparing myself to stop.

I reached a scadgy, dusty little town this morning. There was a little roadside cafe, lots of border guards and a slight edginess to the place. It was Tacate. The town I've been heading for for the last 4000 km. I got there this morning at 10:30am 'pacific west' time (that's 81:30hrs UK time and 06:40hrs the next day (Thursday) NZ time.

I realised that I hadn't 'prepared myself to stop' andnow feel all rather empty and pointless! I cycled back up the hill to Protrero and treated myself to a grilled chicken sandwich and pepsi and the waitress was good enough to sound impressed at my achievement. She even took a photo of me.

I'm still suffering a little from whatever ailed me at Oak grove t'other day. I think I've still got a bit of a temperature. Still, it's off to the campsite now for a shower and rest and a 60km ride into San Diego tomorrow to stay, I hpe, at Steve's house. Steve and I rode together into Kings Canyon Park earlier on the ride.

My thanks to you for following me and encourgaing me along the way. Your little words of encouragement have meant the world to me.

San Diego and then Irvine to meet Ella beckon.....

Da na na na na na, d'ne na na na nana

yep, those of a certain age will have spotted immediately that this is the theme tune to The High Chapparel tv series. You remember don't you. Boy Blue, Sinorita, that smikey Mexican dude and the plumb and often drunk cowboy.

Why mention this now, I hear you ask? Well, i've been riding through what they call the high chapparel for the last few days. Highish, scrubby landscape, the occasiinal cactus, dry very dry. All the 'rivers' - creeks as the Americans call them - are just dry beds. In the midst of this scrubby semi-desert are clearings where there are ranches with horses in. Goodness knows how the horses survive since the ground is just dry dust. There's not a blade of grass to be seen.

I had a bit of a conundrum this morning. Do i stay put of press on? The reason for this is tgat i spent much of last night pottering the 300m or so across the empty campsite in Oak Grove trying, sometimes in vain, to get to the toilet, repeatedly, because if a nasty bout of D&V.
I woke this morning feeling as if iwas hung over. Thumping head and dehydrated. Do i press on on an empty tummy or stay put in the empty campsite and continue to drink tne water whuch may hzve been the source of my problem.
I pressed in and paid more than i would typically do so to stay at the 'ranch' at Warner Springs. Still feeling a bit weak and feeble....but am popping loperimide and rehydration sachets.
Ok, ok, too much detail. Sorry. I've got to tell someone about it though.

I keep thinking I've done the last big miuntain, only to be confronted by another one. I'm heading for Miunt Laguna tomorrow, tummy-allowing a d then it really is downhill-ish to the Mexiczn border Almost there.

My thanks to you fir trackinb my progress and the encouraging nites. They've kept me going.

Mike

A Big White Bear

I awoke to a light dusting of snow this morning and minus 4 degrees C so I'm going to hunker down one more day at Big Bear and loaf around. There's a chance of snow again today.

Tomorrow I'll tackle the Onyx Pass and head south to the border - honest.

Should I have brought my snow chains for the bike I wonder?

A Big Wet Bear

Be careful what you wish for......

After worrying for weeks about the heat, getting up at silly o'clock in the morning to ride in the cool of the day and wishing for a little cool and dampness the weather's suddently turned all, well, British! It's just above freezing outside, snow is forecast for tonight and tomorrow and I am worried that I may not be able to make it over the pass tomorrow.

Thankfully I made it into the town of Big Bear (lovely name isn't it) up at about 7000 feet in the mountains. I've found a warm, welcoming and empty place at Big Bear hotel where I've hunkered down under my duvet for the last day and done lots of sleeping and eating. I may just extend my stay here until the sunshine reappears, as promised, in a day or so.

Or maybe I should stay for the winter snowboarding season that, by all accounts, is about to start soon?

I must go now to rummage in the depths of my panniers to find that cag, thermal layer, snuggler and overshoes. I knew I brought them through the deserts of California for a reason.

Beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder

yep, i know that it's a truism to state that....but I've been struck as I wind my way down this country through high mountains, vast pine forests, granite valleys, giant sequioa forests, desert and scrubby hill how the locals are always at pains to say how beatiful their countryside is. Much of it is pretty. Much of it is, sell, frankly dry and scrubby. I find myself looking and the sage brush covered mountains and thinking......it's not as nice as Dartmoor or the ride down to Budleigh.

Don't get me wrong. I am appreciating what i am seeing. What I am also experiencing though is a deepening appreciation and love for my own home. I guess this enables me to be able to say that my own home is beautiful.

Today was supposed to be a short, easy ride. What I hate to do on a ride this is go backwards or down....so when i was told my intended campsite was back dosn the hill i was having none of it. I pressed on up the aptly-named 'Rim of the world highway' which clings to the mountains 6000ft above the plain where smogging LA sits.

I ended up climbing all day up to 6000ft and have made ut to Running Springs.

Motivating myself is getting a little difficult as i enter the last few hundred kilometers. It doesn't help that the end point, LA, is just below me on the plain.

Weather beginning to cool a little with rain forecast up at Big Bear at 7500ft tomorrow, it sounds like i need to be in the UK if i want hot weather!

Beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder

yep, i know that it's a truism to state that....but I've been struck as I wind my way down this country through high mountains, vast pine forests, granite valleys, giant sequioa forests, desert and scrubby hill how the locals are always at pains to say how beatiful their countryside is. Much of it is pretty. Much of it is, sell, frankly dry and scrubby. I find myself looking and the sage brush covered mountains and thinking......it's not as nice as Dartmoor or the ride down to Budleigh.

Don't get me wrong. I am appreciating what i am seeing. What I am also experiencing though is a deepening appreciation and love for my own home. I guess this enables me to be able to say that my own home is beautiful.

Today was supposed to be a short, easy ride. What I hate to do on a ride this is go backwards or down....so when i was told my intended campsite was back dosn the hill i was having none of it. I pressed on up the aptly-named 'Rim of the world highway' which clings to the mountains 6000ft above the plain where smogging LA sits.

I ended up climbing all day up to 6000ft and have made ut to Running Springs.

Motivating myself is getting a little difficult as i enter the last few hundred kilometers. It doesn't help that the end point, LA, is just below me on the plain.

Weather beginning to cool a little with rain forecast up at Big Bear at 7500ft tomorrow, it sounds like i need to be in the UK if i want hot weather!

Beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder

yep, i know that it's a truism to state that....but I've been struck as I wind my way down this country through high mountains, vast pine forests, granite valleys, giant sequioa forests, desert and scrubby hill how the locals are always at pains to say how beatiful their countryside is. Much of it is pretty. Much of it is, sell, frankly dry and scrubby. I find myself looking and the sage brush covered mountains and thinking......it's not as nice as Dartmoor or the ride down to Budleigh.

Don't get me wrong. I am appreciating what i am seeing. What I am also experiencing though is a deepening appreciation and love for my own home. I guess this enables me to be able to say that my own home is beautiful.

Today was supposed to be a short, easy ride. What I hate to do on a ride this is go backwards or down....so when i was told my intended campsite was back dosn the hill i was having none of it. I pressed on up the aptly-named 'Rim of the world highway' which clings to the mountains 6000ft above the plain where smogging LA sits.

I ended up climbing all day up to 6000ft and have made ut to Running Springs.

Motivating myself is getting a little difficult as i enter the last few hundred kilometers. It doesn't help that the end point, LA, is just below me on the plain.

Weather beginning to cool a little with rain forecast up at Big Bear at 7500ft tomorrow, it sounds like i need to be in the UK if i want hot weather!

USA......land of the Big Mac and Burger King.....

well, actually no. Until I rode into Palmdale today I don't think I'd actually come across a Macdonalds. I've spent the last few weeks popping into diners which are single, family-owned and quaint. I find it heartnening that this is so in corporate America.

What's also interesting is that one can pitch up at one of these diners at half past five in the morning and they are full of people having breakfast. The Americans seem to get up early and going out for breakfast.

Started cycling in the dark to get a headstart on the heat. Speediest 80km of the tour so far as we sped across the edge of the Mojave desert beside the San Andreas rift into Palmdale. All the signs starting to be in Spanish. A bit claustrophobic being in a city the size of Exeter.

Oiled and tightened the bike in my hotel room. A bit too hot to be camping...which is probably why there are no campsites.

Up into the mountains again tomorrow: the coolness a reward for the climb.

USA......land of the Big Mac and Burger King.....

well, actually no. Until I rode into Palmdale today I don't think I'd actually come across a Macdonalds. I've spent the last few weeks popping into diners which are single, family-owned and quaint. I find it heartnening that this is so in corporate America.

What's also interesting is that one can pitch up at one of these diners at half past five in the morning and they are full of people having breakfast. The Americans seem to get up early and going out for breakfast.

Started cycling in the dark to get a headstart on the heat. Speediest 80km of the tour so far as we sped across the edge of the Mojave desert beside the San Andreas rift into Palmdale. All the signs starting to be in Spanish. A bit claustrophobic being in a city the size of Exeter.

Oiled and tightened the bike in my hotel room. A bit too hot to be camping...which is probably why there are no campsites.

Up into the mountains again tomorrow: the coolness a reward for the climb.

USA......land of the Big Mac and Burger King.....

well, actually no. Until I rode into Palmdale today I don't think I'd actually come across a Macdonalds. I've spent the last few weeks popping into diners which are single, family-owned and quaint. I find it heartnening that this is so in corporate America.

What's also interesting is that one can pitch up at one of these diners at half past five in the morning and they are full of people having breakfast. The Americans seem to get up early and going out for breakfast.

Started cycling in the dark to get a headstart on the heat. Speediest 80km of the tour so far as we sped across the edge of the Mojave desert beside the San Andreas rift into Palmdale. All the signs starting to be in Spanish. A bit claustrophobic being in a city the size of Exeter.

Oiled and tightened the bike in my hotel room. A bit too hot to be camping...which is probably why there are no campsites.

Up into the mountains again tomorrow: the coolness a reward for the climb.

Some may thnik this is cheating.......

....but I can assure you it's not. John, my very kind host for the past two days, and I set off in the dark this morning from his home in Kernville , California to beat the heat and the traffic of the day. we climbed three nasty little summits, with the grade peaking out at 13%. I carried ALL my stuff, I can assure you but then at midday as the temperature moved into the nineties John's wife, Linda, kindly met us in the car and drove us home again! That's nice isn't it.

Tomorrow Linda will drive us up to where we left off today and we'll continue the route.

We needed to do this because the 60 miles or so from here south had nowhere to camp or stay and the land was privately owned.

I've managed to upload some more photos onto the Sky drive so have a look for the link to the right hand side of the blog page and you should be able to see these. Apologies that some are not aligned properly nor annotated but they'll give you a feel for what I've been staring at from my bike for the last few weeks.

Morning Mike, watch out for that blackwidow spider

I'd just woken to the sound of coyote howling at the moon. It was pitch dark, 5:30am and the warning came to me from behind a head torch as I pootled off to the toilet block. Needless to say that my morning ablutions didn;t take long and were conducted very carefully.

The warning came from Steve, a fellow tourer who'd pitched up at the campsite at Piedra the night before with the greeting "you must Mike be the British cyclist". In fact that's how I've been greeted a number of times recently. Steve, from San Diego, was really good company, filling me in on some of the politics and culture of the US as we rode the hard hard mountain up to Grant Grove Village to see the giant sequoia. It was good to ride with someone again. Whilst I took a rest day Steve headed off and John, from Kernville had pressed on a day earlier too. This meant that they primed every other cyclist in California to look out for me , hence the familiar greeting whenever I met a fellow cyclist.

I went to see the General. He was not particularly tall compared to the rest but with a girth to make any American proud. He's possibly 3000 years old I think. That is enough to cut one down to size and get every thing in proportion. Imagine a tree, in this case General Sherman, being that old. These giant sequoia are magnificent. Last night I pitched my tent at the feet a one of these giants at a place called Camp Nelson.

Guess what? I saw a bear, I really did, really, really honestly. I know you'll not believe me after the bovine mistake earlier in the trip. There was no doubting it this time. He looked kinda cuddly and smaller than I'd imagined but he really was an all American Californian black bear. Fortunately this was in broad daylight and I was in my bike. I might form a different opinion if I'd me him in the middle of the night when in my tent.

Today has been a lovely day. A climb of 2500 feet to reach the top of the mountain pass at 7500 feet, lovely and cool, giant trees surrounding me, clear blue Californian sky and then a big descent into the dry hills, alongside the kern river and into Kernville where I am staying with John and Linda. They invited me into their home after John and I cycled together near Yosemite. Isn;t that kind. And what a treat it is to sit here with a bed to sleep on tonight and a barbeque in the offing :)

It's the closest thing to being a modern day cowboy....

...that's what Larry told me in Yosemite yesterday as we chatted at the foot of Half Dome. "You can ride where you want and please yourself". I kinda agree with some of Larry's sentiment. There's a freedom to being able to wander across the massive continent. I can't quite wander over the prairies following cattle though since there are 'no respassing' signs on any private land and the wild, untamed land is not what my bike's kitted out for.

Life seems to have taken on a dream-like quality. I've lost track of the days and everything has boiled down to the simple necessities: water, somewhere to camp, food, the next milestone along the road. There's something very basic and fundamental about it all that is liberating. I realise of course that this is all a little false since Biddy is at home still dealing with all the 'stuff' that needs sorting just to exist in the world. I hope though that I can hold onto this.

Yosemite was indeed breathtaking. It made me want to hold my breath and whisper it was so beautiful and dramatic (both of which are a little tricky when you're at 9000feet and trying to drag body and bike up the pass....). An impressive gem. I am sure if I'd walked along the trails into the mountains I'd soon be shot of the crowds there.

I cycled out of the Yosemite valley this morning as the sun rose and tipped El Capitan with an orange, early-morning sunrise. Looking up at the 3000 foot wall I could just make out a couple of climbing tents affixed to the wall a couple of thousand feet up.

I've pressed onto North Fork today so that I can get a shower (somewhat overdue again) and connect back to the world. At the lower altitudes it's hot as I move into Southern California.

The last four days I've cycled with Harrold, a Californian retired sherrif. He, unlike me, has been able to upload his photos so if you want to see what we've been seeing these last few days check out his web site here www.crazyguyonabike.com/spandoman

John, a retired fireman from Southern California cycled with us yesterday and he and I bumped into each other again this morning. He is doing the Sirerra cascades route (pronounced "rowt" here...) so he and I will probably see a lot more of each other.

Spirits high. Traffic is busy enough to demand constant concentration. Legs bearing up remarkably well.

have a nice day.....

yes, I realise that it's just something that Americas say, like we might say cheerio or cheers but after five weeks of being wished a nicd day it still makes md smile and feel better

I reckon there's more to it than z mere automatic polite farewell though. I think it captures some of the sunny, positive outlook that Americans have. Not for them the negative, cynical and destructive approach that we seem to rejoice in in the UK.

I need to issue a correction about Diary Milk. The day after i bemoaned the absence of the food of gods - Diary Milk, i stubled across some for sale. I quickly bought a couple of big bars and, because of the heat, HAD to eat them quickly in one, mouth stretching scoff. I've seen no more for sale. It was just one of those God-given little gifts that have kept me going. What i said about Hershey bars though David HG stands.

Over the last few days i've repeatedly come across ntices tellinb me to be lbear aware'. They are here and active, i am assured. So, food, suncream, soap, mossy cream all gets wrapped in my air tight bag and hunb in a tree at night. This doesn't stop me tnougn from wakinb most nights at any little snuffle, crackle or pad in the night.

The landscaoe has changed. I've left the Cascades and moved into the Sierra Nevada mountains. Gone are the one-off 'strato volcanoes'. I'm amongst older mountains, jagged edges iron-ore tinged. I pulled my bike and body over Monitor Pass 8400ft this morning. Up there it was very quiet, the air was cool and clean, the view was blue-tinged. The lonb passes with 30km of climb are hard......but they are aften fol.owed by 30km of descent

I fear that the 'treat' of a cooked breakfast this morning at a cafe has possibly contributed to severe tummy upset this evdninb fortunately i'm in a caravsn with a toilet this evening rather than in a basuc campsute with a longdrop 100m away. Small blessings.

I'm in Bridgeport, California. Heading for Yosemite in a day or so.

The sun is setting on a spectacular vista of a wide plain with high, snow tipped mountains.

Beats going to work.

I met up with Harrold a touring cyclist from California on a two week ridd. It was good tl have some company for a change.

Thanks to you for your encouragement.