Seven hundred feet up, cycling to Sausalito, a cocktail.... or three.

We stepped down from the trolley car at the bottom end of Hyde and decided to walk the rest of the way to Blazing Saddles (www.blazingsaddles.com) where we were picking up the push bikes which we had hired for the day.   The bottom end of Hyde is quite grim and we passed the usual stream of unfortunate down-and-outs, some pushing shopping trollies full of dirty bags or boxes and others just sitting on the side-walk, leaning with their backs against the wall.  Sometimes they sat in small groups and some just lay on the side-walk alone.  The shops along this stretch of Hyde are closed down or look about to close down. As we walk, Janet tells me that reading the local paper yesterday at breakfast it said that some American cities are paying their homeless to move to San Francisco, giving them a rail ticket and moving them on their way.  It's almost, at times, like walking among the living dead.

About a half mile along Hyde things start to change, the houses get larger and smarter and the restaurants more expensive.  It's a long and fairly steep hill which in the heat is harder still but the walk is worth the effort because at the very top, before the road begins the long slide down to Fisherman's Wharf, the views out across San Francisco to the Bay Harbour bridge one way and to the city park the other way are quite something.  It's also a good stop to get a few pictures of the cables car making their slow and stately way up the hill.  

At the hire shop the system is polished and professional.  We get a crash course on the bikes we have hired (Janet goes for an electric bike, I stick with the old-fashioned pedal and sweat type) and then a short video which shows us the different routes we can take.  Our plan is to ride along the water front, up the hill at Mason, along the cycle path and up and over Golden Gate Bridge. From there we will cycle into Sausalito which takes about 40 minutes from the bridge then onto Tubiron - another hour and a quarter which takes us to the ferry which will bring us back across the bay.  I love the sense of freedom a bike gives you and am always surprised by the amount of distance you can cover in a relatively short space of time.  This cycle route is very popular, especially the part to Sausalito which is a small and nicely kept town with a long water front loaded with restaurants and cafes and from which, if a good or long lunch dampens the enthusiasm for the second stretch of the route, the ferry can also be caught. We, though, are determined to cycle to the finish. 

Though the day had started off clear, by the time we get to the Golden Gate Bridge the fog had already rolled in. Though its famous views were obscured we stopped and propping the bikes up against the metal railing leaned over the barrier and looked down to the water. It is a very long way down, the water is fast moving and today is a dull gunmetal grey. The fog horn blows and echoes eerily.  Looking down to the swirling water far below is mesmerising and I recall that the GGB is the suicide capital of the United States.  On average one person a week jumps to their death from here. Few survive.  I wonder for a moment what must go through someone's mind as they fall the long seven hundred feet before hitting the water with, I expect, a great big smack.  I understand the need for the free-phone crisis lines which are dotted at regular and obvious intervals along the length of the bridge.

Over chicken tacos and a glass of wine in Sausalito, sitting in the sun and watching the steady stream of cyclists pass I too consider just staying on to browse the shops and then to take the ferry back. But this is the first real exercise of the holiday and so steeling my resolve I head back to the bike and are soon again on the road. The cycle lane from Sausalito takes you up towards Mill State Park where the giant Californian redwoods begin and then back around the bay to almost exactly opposite Sausalito again. It passes through pretty countryside with gentle hills on one side and the bay on the other. Mostly it is level going but there are several points where a long increasing gradient forces most people to get off and push. Getting up on my peddles and selecting the lowest gear I gamely struggled up most of the hills but twice they beat me and I get off and push like the rest.  Janet, on her electric bike sedately took every hill in her stride.  In all we cycled eighteen miles.  It felt like fifty eight.

Later, having had a good lunch, we decide to skip dinner and opt instead for cocktails, ending up in Flore Cafe at the intersection of Castro and 17th.  It's quite busy and the music is good. About eleven o'clock we gently weave our way back to the guest house where we sit for a while in the garden and chat with two of the other guests. I know words are coming out of my mouth but even I know they aren't making any sense so I excuse myself and head for bed.  In the morning I have a slight headache.  Three cocktails and no dinner is not a good combination.