Friday 24th Why oh why did no one warn us about route 1. Simply the worst! Went to Carmel this orning which was nice although you cannot swim on the beach there. The beach is absolutely beautiful but apparently the currents and rip tides are deadly so everyone uses this lovely mega strip of beach to walk their dogs. Carmel itself is beautiful and quaint but a bit artsy fartsy so we only did the beach but it was a lovely walk and the paddle was great with enormous crashing very noisy waves.

Looked at the map and decided to head for Big Sur or somewhere along the `senic` coast for tonight and tomorrow. Started to get worried after we left Carmel and didnt find another beach for ages. You could see the sea from the car and admire the beaches but you couldnt stop or get down to them. We stopped at Big Sur for lunch, a wonderful place on the river, they actually put chairs in the creek so you could sit with your feet in the icy water. Robin and I explored the creek and went down the rapids!! (Exageration, but we were playing in our world) Then back in the car for ages and ages. It was the most frustrating drive ever, would not recommend it to anyone absolutely awful with windy cliff road and no where to get down to the beaches. How frustrating to have all these wonderful places and not be able to reach them. Having read books set in Monteray, Carmet and Big Sur I must say they were all lovely but the drive between them awful. Worse than death valley cause the expectations were more.