WE REACH THE PACIFIC OCEAN!

On Good Friday April 14th  Mike, Bonnie and I treated ourselves to breakfast at the excellent Howard's Station Café in Occidental.  As its name suggests, the café was formerly the station which was named after the landowner 'Dutch Bill' Howard, an odd misnomer for a Dane who was actually called Christopher Folkmann.  He gave the right for the Pacific coast narrow gauge railway to come through here, and in return received  a life time rail pass.
I tucked into an amazing eggs Benedict with wild salmon, and Mike had a large omelette, before Mike drove me into Sebastopol for an interview with a local radio station.
Later on Mike and I were back in Occidental, having ridden the 7 miles from Sebastopol..

Photo of Mike and I riding past Howard Station Café taken by local resident Clay Lynch.
Elizabeth had a stable and a small paddock waiting for the horses.

I had chosen this route as it followed virtually the only quiet road I could find leading down to the coast to the north of San Francisco.  It came out at a small place called Salmon Creek, just to the north of Bodega Bay, where Hitchcock's iconic film 'The Birds' was set.  We drove over for a recce, and to leave the trailer in a convenient spot.  I was amazed when we came over the brow of the hill into Bodega Bay to see the bay view that is so familiar from the film.  It was a must to have a seafood dinner in The Tides restaurant overlooking the bay, which was used as a location for the film - here is a clip from the movie...

 ...though it has now been expanded into an unrecognisable hotel complex....

 I kept a wary eye on these.....

In front of the house that doubled up as the schoolhouse in the film. It is actually located a little further inland at Bodega, and not right on the coast the film scenes would suggest.

The next day Easter Saturday April 15th was THE DAY, and Mike and I treated ourselves to another Howard Station Café breakfast before setting off along Coleman Park Rd to the coast.

Is that the Pacific Ocean I can see in the distance behind Mike and Mo?...

 This unusual optical illusion of white lines painted across the road apparently fools cattle who are accustomed to cattle grids!...

 We reach the Pacific Ocean!  Salmon Creek beach stretches away to Mussel Point on Bodega Head.. 

 ...but we had to ride a little way south before we found somewhere to scramble down the cliff face to the beach, having received permission from a passing patrolman......

 Denise Gilseth kindly provided a bottle of champers, and we discovered Lady has a taste for the high life - here she is tucking into her second glass!....