This has got to rate as one of my favourite things we have ever done. Granted, at some points I thought I wasn’t going to make and and wanted to never see a bike again in my life, but at the end of the cycle the views and the amount we saw in one day more than made up for it.
A friend of ours, when he saw on Facebook we were in San Francisco, recommended that we cycle over the Golden Gate bridge. And because it sounded like a great idea we decided thats exactly what we would do. I found a cycle shop on Haight Street, which is an area we wanted to check out anyway so we decided to go from there. We stopped off in Alamo square to get a picture in front of the painted ladies which is where a clip from the full house trailer was filmed. Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDP7__2F1YE The houses are really gorgeous and our bus journey to get there took us through some amazing neighbourhoods I would love to live in if I got the chance! We then took a walk down Haight and Ashbury streets which are filled with great independent shops and have a real hippie vibe to them. We were just sad we didn’t have more time to explore.
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| Painted Ladies |
Anyway we got our bikes and then started our cycle which started through Golden Gate park. This park is massive, and pretty cool with loads of interesting buildings some beautiful lakes and even a waterfall. And added bonus was that most of it was downhill so it was an easy start to the cycle. If I knew what was coming up ahead I would’ve appreciated the downhill more!
We stopped off for lunch and the Beach Chalet restaurant, which had great views of the beach and it’s own brewery on site. After some burgers and beer it was back on the bike for the first of many hills. The first hill was a sneaky one, as just as you thought you were finished you turn the corner to see you are only halfway there! But after conquering that hill it was downhill onto the coastal path which has some amazing views of the Golden Gate bridge. So you kind of forget about your sore legs for a while. We then carryied on cycling through some pretty brutal up hills, where we had to get off the bike quite a bit, but the views definitely helped as well as the thought that any uphill must have a downhill! On our way down towards the bridge you drive through the neighbourhood of Sea Cliff where we found some kids selling some lemonade along the road. I don’t know if it was the uphills, or the fact that it was like a scene straight out of the movies, but it was the best tasting lemonade I’ve ever had :)
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| This is just the start |
It was hard to believe we had seen so much and we hadn’t even been over the bridge yet. Cycling over makes it more apparent how big and impressive the bridge actually is. It’s pretty incredible to think it was built in 1937 and is still just as amazing today. After coming off the other side of the bridge you go pretty much downhill all the way to Sausalito. This is definitely worth a visit, it made me feel like we had stepped into a small seaside town straight out of a movie. I said to Jeremy if we ever won the lottery I’d like to buy a house there. It reminded me a little of Camps bay with the houses hugging the coastline, but a lot more quaint.
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| Sausalito |
After wondering around for a while, we caught the ferry back to Fisherman’s wharf to drop off our bikes. By this time it was pretty late, as one of the ferries had broken down on the way to Sausalito and we had been waiting about 2 hours for one to pick us up. We headed back to our flat for some home cooked dinner, which tasted almost gourmet after all the restaurant food we have been enjoying.
All in all we both loved San Francisco, and it’s a city I could easily see myself living in, and in some ways reminds me a lot of Cape Town. As I’m writing this I am sitting in the sunshine outside our Airstream trailer in Napa with a glass of delicious wine, so I’m going to sign off so that I can enjoy it before the sun sets!
