Big Sur on Highway 1

An early start and a long day, but not before one of the more interesting breakfasts we've had in many a long day. All delivered to the door: fruit juice, yogurt and granola, coffee and hard boiled egg. You had to choose from an eclectic set of options the night before.

Set off for Santa Cruz by way of the Big Sur a dramatic coastal drive squeezed between the ocean and the mountains. Plenty of places to stop and plenty of places to visit. In the end we felt we were chasing our tails it get to the aquarium at Monterey, which is exactly what you don't want to do on the Big Sur. So we decided to save the aquarium for tomorrow.

Much of the journey was accompanied by low cloud but as this view shows, that lifted in the afternoon only to come down again as we approached Santa Cruz.

I tried to find Carmel by the Sea but only succeeded in finding an entrance to a 17 mile scenic drive around the Monterey Peninsula, which was OK as I wanted to do the drive anyway. Fairly picturesque in places, the best part of the drive was around the coast. Lots of gold courses and expensive houses around the Drive too.

Then finally it was on to Santa Cruz. We were a little apprehensive approaching the hotel as the neighbourhood was very different to the previous two places. However, the hotel is nice enough and we enjoyed pizza and salad at a nearby Italian restaurant.