On the list of 50 things to do before you die is to bike the Pacific Coast Highway. With a limited time constraint to travel the world in one year, here is the Goonies’ attempt to drive the Pacific Coast Highway in style instead.

Day 1

After blitzing San Francisco in 3 days it was time to complete the Pacific Coast Highway. With no pre-arrangements, the Goonies decided to make car hire reservations on the day we check out. The idea behind this is an desperate attempt to snap up a convertible enabling us to complete the Pacific Coast Highway in style (This madness / in-genius idea was never questioned). Unfortunately for us it was Friday, thus the weekend meaning finding any suitable car rental was going to be mission impossible. After numerous rejections we managed to secure a Ford Edge 4×4 but paying well over the odds and me being the solo driver to save on cost.

In Shelia Number 2 (Ford Edge) we immediately drove to our first chosen destination, Santa Cruz. Here the weather was absolutely scorching so was decided to forget about all our responsibilities and hit the beach to soak up the sun. After many hours in the sun and the team making a reading chair in the sand, reality hits home and the quest to secure tonight’s accommodations begins. With no availability in Santa Cruz we explored the next town. The same story occurred over and over again with no availability in each hotel we tried. This got the team worried as it was very snug and cosy as we had to share a medium size SUV between 5 people. In the fourth town we searched (Wastonville) we hit jackpot securing accommodation in an Economy Inn.

Day 2

After having a relatively relaxing day in Santa Cruz, the Goonies pressed on to explore the area called the Big Sur on the Pacific Coast Highway. The first port of call is Monterey Bay where we drove down the Cannery Row which was made famous as it was once the capital of the sardine canning industry. From Monterey Bay opens the gates to one of America’s most scenic drive simply called the ‘17 Mile Drive’. It is home to many points of interest such as the Lone Cypress (very old tree clinging onto a rock), Spanish Bay and a few golf courses (Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill) which is host to some famous golfing tournament (Golf is not my cup of tea). Despite being one of America’s most scenic drive we found it rather disappointing but this could be partly due to the weather as it was pure overcast making the day feel more miserable than it really was.

At lunchtime we stopped at Safeway as we wanted something cheap and quick so we could make more progress along the Pacific Coast highway. Here we probably encounter one of the largest sandwich (aka manwich) we ever had. Infact the sandwich was so big that it took us until the next day to finish.

With lunch (dinner + breakfast) sorted, we completed the ocean drive around Big Sur to Morro Bay. For me this was probably the best part of the Pacific Coast Highway drive. From a drivers point of view the roads were absolutely amazing with uphills, downhills, bends all over the place as you cruise around cliff edges and with the power of Shelia number 2, it was always going to be a winning combination. For the passenger, the views were truly beautiful and something that everyone should try to experience once. Looking down the cliff edge of the continuously windy roads and seeing the sun shine on the never ending Pacific Ocean is enough of a reason to travel to America just to drive down the Pacific Coast Highway.

In the evening we stopped of at Morro Bay visiting Morro Rock, a quick night cap at Otter Rock Cafe and retiring early for our final day on the Pacific Coast Highway.

Day 3

On the final day of our Pacific Coast Highway road trip we pressed on hard to ensure that we completed most of the Pacific Coast Highway to get us closer to Los Angeles. Our first stop of the day was to Guadalupe, used to film some scenes from the film ‘The Beach’. With silky undisturbed sand and barely another sole in sight you can see why Guadalupe was used.

Next stop Santa Barbara for some seafood and spot of sunbathing. However, on the way the Goonies (possibly more me) got caught for our first felony. We got caught speeding and had to post bail so that we could continue on our way. (See next post for full details). At Santa Barbara we still managed to get a lovely seafood lunch at a restaurant on the pier and even had plenty of time to lounge about on the beach despite it not being very warm. Santa Barbara itself was a very nice place with very clean beaches, vast stretches of palm trees and the feeling that everyone who lived there was pretty wealthy.

After spending the whole afternoon in Santa Barbara, the group decided to drive on further so that we had less of a drive in the morning to get to LA. We just stopped of in a town called Ventura as it was only about 40 miles away from the hostel we was staying at in LA.

Next stop LA and considerably poorer