April 25th – April 30th Calexico CA to San Diego CA

DAY 57: Monday 25th April 2022 – Calexico CA to Ocotillo CA
Distance: 54km
Elevation gain: 250m
Accomodation: Jackson’s Hideaway RV Park

We soon got through the small town of Calexico and followed the very pleasant CA98 road all day, heading West with the mountains in Mexico away on our left hand side. Initially this was through very green farmland but we soon reached the final very hot, empty desert section of the ride. This turned out to be the perfect day of desert riding that we had been waiting for – beautiful scenery, a light breeze and relatively little traffic on acroad stretching out into the desert ahead. It was hot though, with the temperature well over 30C by late morning. We saw a fair few solar farms and wind turbines along the way – from our experience this place has plenty of the weather conditions needed for both! Struggling with the heat we were happy to reach the country’s most overpriced Chevron gas station for cold drinks just before we reached Ocotillo. Tonight we are camping at a fantastic RV park that is so welcoming to cyclists (Horspitality RV Park in Wickenburg AZ take note!) We have a fantastic campsite with access to an air-conditioned rec room, cooking facilities, a big fridge, laundry for $1 and (most importantly of all!) unlimited ice.

First part of the day through green valleys with the mountains of Mexico in the background (and the border fence inbetween)

A great road to cycle on for most of the day

Later in the day, our final section of hot and empty desert

Just over 100 to go – unfortunately that’s miles not kilometres!

A lovely campsite tonight ( apart from the temperature which was approaching 100F)

DAY 58: Tuesday 26th April 2022 – Ocotillo CA to Boulevard CA
Distance: 44km
Elevation gain: 1160m
Accomodation: Backcountry Inn Motel

Today was relatively short but tough as we finally left the flat desert valley behind and began the ascent into the last mountain range that separates us from San Diego and the Pacific Ocean. The only road west from Ocotillo is Interstate 8, so we had no choice but to cycle yet again on on interstate shoulder. Ignoring the “no bicycles” sign at the on ramp (we’re still not 100% sure of the legality of cycling on interstates, but believe it is allowed if there is no other route available) we followed I8 for 20km uphill. The traffic was much lighter than the horrific I10 earlier in the trip, and the westbound and eastbound carriageways followed entirely separate routes through the mountains which at least served to reduce the traffic noise slightly. We passed two “cyclists must leave at the next exit” signs (given there was a sign saying that we weren’t allowed on in the first place, I struggle to understand the logic of this) before joining the lovely “Historic US80 route” into Jacumba CA. Jacumba a tiny town, but pleasant enough. It’s most dominant feature is the huge Mexican border fence towering behind it. I’m still wondering if this is the fence that Mr Trump and friends felt wasn’t big or tall enough, and exactly how high they felt the needed to make it – seriously, it is huge! Jacumba had a small shop run by a slightly harrassed looking guy who was trying to operate a sandwich making counter at one end and serve customers at a till at the other end. So many businesses that we have seen on this trip, from motels to shops, seem ridiculously understaffed with one person doing 2 or 3 people’s jobs that I can’t help but think allowing a few immigrants through that big fence and giving them gainful employment might benefit everyone. Anyway, we were happy to eventually get snacks and cold drinks to refresh ourselves before another couple of big hills. The road for the rest of the day was fantastic with little traffic and lovely scenery. Matbe we have spent too long in the desert, but we were disproportionately happy to be cycling through green fields and trees and an afternoon temperature only just over 20C. We have a good value motel for the night run by a slightly quirky guy. After a discussion about today being the anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster and much searching around for TV remote controls, he finally got us checked in and we are enjoying a beer on a pleasant, cool evening at last!

Slightly scary cycling along the shoulder of busy Interstate 8

The very pleasant Historic US80 road up out of Jacumba – the view slightly spoiled by the ugly border fence on our left!

Trees and beautiful flowering cacti made for a pretty landscape to cycle through and a welcome change from the hot arid desert in the valley below

The final hill of the day into the small town of Boulevard CA

DAY 59: Wednesday 27th April 2022 – Boulevard CA to Pine Valley CA
Distance: 35km
Elevation gain: 580m
Accomodation: Pine Valley Inn Motel

A nice day’s cycling today along Historic US80. Interstate 8 runs parallel a few km away, so the road was almost entirely traffic free. The scenery was beautiful with rocky mountains, green fields and trees and a wonderful change after so long in the desert. The road was hilly though and tough on the legs after yesterday’s big hill climb. There was a long ascent out of Boulevard followed by a great descent through lovely scenery. We had a coffee break at the bottom to fortify ourselves for the 2nd big ascent which was even steeper.The GPS elevation profile got this one totally wrong and it was longer and higher than we were expecting which is always a touch demoralising. We passed through a border control checkpoint where the guy on duty told me I was “nearly there” – I’m not sure where “there” was – I assumed he meant the top of the hill, but if it was then he was unduly optomistic. We eventually reached the top and crossed I8 before a nice final 3km down into the town of Pine Valley. When we were back in the desert in Ocotillo a few days ago and made a reservation at the motel in town, I pictured a verdant green valley, with huge pine tŕees surrounded by mountains, and it didn’t dissapoint – it really is a beautiful little place. The guy running the motel was very friendly and we like the place so much (and need a bit of a rest) that we have decided to stay an extra night before the final push into San Diego.

Flowers and green hills have replaced barren empty land as we get closer to the Pacific Ocean

On the fantastic Historic US80 road – lovely scenery, no traffic but still some big hills

Final descent of the day into Pine Valley CA

Home for tonight at the Pine Valley Inn Motel

DAY 60: Thursday 28th April 2022 – Rest Day in Pine Valley CA
Distance: 0
Elevation gain: 0
Accomodation: Pine Valley Inn Motel

A relaxing rest day today before the final push (not literally hopefully, as we are expecting a huge downhill!) to the coast. We didn’t do very much apart from eat lots of food from the local grocery store – fully justified as we had lots of calories to replace. Pine Valley is a very pretty little town, surrounded by green hills and trees which are still something of a novelty to us. We popped out for a little explore and a coffee at Major’s Diner, but that was about as energetic as it got!

The local grocery store – pretty much the furthest we ventured on a well earned rest day!

DAY 61: Friday 29th April 2022 – Pine Valley CA to Santee CA
Distance: 53km
Elevation gain: 310m (and 1310m of descent!)
Accomodation: Rodeway Inn Motel

Our long awaited downhill day to the coast started (almost inevitably) with a 4km uphill, although for once the top wasn’t as high ot as far as the GPS elevation profile predicted (we were definitely due). The downhill then finally started in earnest. The scenery was lovely as the road dropped down out of the mountains towards the coast. The road gradually got busier, but had a good shoulder or cycle lane (in this context, a cycle lane is exactly the same as a shoulder but someone has gone to the trouble of putting up a sign that says “cycle lane” or even very occasionally painting a picture of a bike on the shoulder). We had one final 5km stint on I8 when the other roads finally ran out, but being downhill, at least it was over quickly. We left I8 to join a road running parallel into Alpine CA, but not before negotiating a nightmare set of roadworks where the road was being resurfaced. We soon arrived in Alpine and stopped for breakfast at a nice little cafe. Alpine is a pretty town, and looks like quite a touristy place. We continued downhill on increasingly busy roads, although they mostly had a reasonable cycle lane. It was not the most pleasant cycling (apart from the fact it was downhill) as the drivers were the most impatient lot that we have come across so far. We witnessed a couple of “road rage” incidents with one driver yelling at another at traffic lights – I thought Californians were supposed to be chilled and relaxed? We managed to join a traffic free multi-use trail for a few km towards the end of the day which took us very close to our motel for the night. Popping out for supplies, I witnessed one final “rage” incident of the day as a guy in a car had an absolute meltdown at another guy for not pushing his trolley across the pedestrian crossing in the Vons supermarket car park quick enough – what is it with people here? Maybe it’s a big city thing or a Friday afternoon thing, or maybe people here are just a bit crazy – who knows?

Breakfast stop for coffee and ham & cheese croissant in a proper nice little cafe for once!

A lovely traffic free trail for the last few km into Santee made a pleasant change from busy city roads

DAY 60: Saturday 30th April 2022 – Santee CA to Ocean Beach, San Diego CA
Distance: 35km
Elevation gain: 210m
Accomodation: Ocean Villa Inn

The final day of the ride! Leaving the motel, we started off negotiating some busy roads, but the traffic was much lighter than yesterday and even the drivers seemed to have got over their Friday afternoon insanity. The Southern Tier route map did a pretty good job of steering us via the least scary roads and there were generally good cycle lanes – we even saw plenty of other cyclists out and about for once. There were still a few uphills that we weren’t expecting though. Progress was pretty slow as it always is in the city. The route twisted and turned a lot – right turns were OK, but every left turn was impossible to cross 3 lanes of traffic to get into the left turn lane so we ended up getting off and pushing over 2 pedestrian crossings to get to where we needed to be – this may explain why 35km took us the better part of 5 hours today! There were a few really nice traffic free sections though and the last 7 or 8km was on a nice cycle path with the San Diego River estuary on our right and (unfortunately) our old nemesis Interstate 8 on our left, slightly spoiling the ambiance. The cycle path ended at the beach and the Pacific Ocean – we’ve made it! We just about had the energy for a couple of end of trip photos with the beach and ocean in the background. We don’t go in for this strange practice that most cycle tourists seem to have of dipping various parts of their bike and/or themselves into the water upon reaching the coast, so went and checked into our motel that in a masterpiece of planning (for once) was just a few hundred metres away from the end of the route. The Ocean Villa Motel is a lovely little place in a great location, right on the beach. It’s costing us a budget-busting $400 for 3 nights, but given the location right on the beach and the fact that it is on a busy weekend, that is actually pretty good value. We’ve got 2 full days here to hopefully explore a little of San Diego before starting the long journey back to the UK.