Day One : Lost... lost... and err... lost again

Now England has a proud tradition of producing some of the world's greatest explorers... Drake, Cook, Livingstone, Scott to name but a few. However, the name of Tony is unlikely ever to be added to the list. 'Lost in San Francisco' would make a good name for a film and certainly describes our day. A short diversion so that we could ride over the golden gate bridge, which even on a rainy day is an incredible sight, turned into three hours of 'err.. does anyone have a clue where we are' as we got lost trying to get back to the bike shop from whence we started as one of the BMWs was actually a bag of spanners in disguise. The only thing to add is that most of the locals dont have a bloody clue where anywhere is either.

Excitement initially abounded as we collected the bikes and at this point I should note that after months of merciless ridicule over his choice to ride the American equivalent of an Austin Allegro, Andy seems to be having the last laugh as our BMWs appear to have had slightly more than 'one careful owner' whereas his Harley is a beaut (as is Pete's armchair-on-two-wheels Honda Gold Wing). Unfortunately, gloating in a grown man is an unattractive quality and I am sure that at some point I will document that all too familiar sight of a Harley broken down by the roadside.

A simple gentle loosener along the Pacific Coast Highway to Monterey turned into a seven hour trip, though riding along some beautiful roads, some of which we liked so much we went on twice (ok, maybe we should have brought a map). 

The evening passed with peaceful exploration of Monterey's museums and art galleries. Tomorrow we go to Pismo Beach. One road, A to B, what could possibly go wrong....