South Mission Beach Park to La Jolla Cove-Feb. 19th-7.7 miles
Video at normal speed on Youtube channel SUENORD1 (https://youtu.be/vXwz3_6mvW8)
I arrived in San Diego on Saturday evening. I went to Clairemont Mesa to camp in my van, because I once lived there for a year, when I was working for Scripp’s Institute of Oceanography. That was 45 years ago, but the residential area hadn’t changed very much.
It was supposed to be overcast on Sunday, but I drove down to South Mission Beach, where the parking was free and there were restrooms and water fountains. At about 10 am, the sun broke through the overcast, so I unfolded my bicycle and headed up the bicycle path, which continued Northwards to the end of the beach several miles to the North. The whole area was well-maintained, and more importantly, level!
There were a lot of people on all kinds of muscle- and battery-powered vehicles, as well as joggers (who generally trotted past me as if I were standing still). This is not a route for any bikers in a hurry, and I assume that the bike path is almost totally impassible during the summer. There were small businesses and rental apartments along long stretches of the bicycle/jogging path. Very entertaining and neat.
Eventually, I came to the end of the beach and continued towards La Jolla Cove. Most of the time, I stayed fairly closed to the coastline, but for a short period I followed La Jolla Boulevard. The bicycle route in La Jolla was laid out with the more serious exercise bikers in mind. I will make a map of my route when I get back to Norway. With a little planning, you should be able to stay closer to the beach. There are some hills in this portion of the route, and I walked up a couple of them, but they weren’t too difficult. I walk up almost all inclines with my little 20″ bike, though. Filming is my priority, and I am 69 years old, which conveys some privileges.
I learned to scuba dive at La Jolla Cove, but I wouldn’t have recognized it without a map. The surrounding area has been revamped entirely. It has been landscaped so that a colony of birds and another of seals can be approached by tourists armed with cameras without disturbing the animals at all. There are sidewalks overlooking the cove, restrooms and drinking fountains. There were also hoards of tourists, and I can’t even imagine what it looks like in the summertime.
I went uphill a couple of blocks, and caught a bus about 2/3 of the way back to South Mission Beach. The busses don’t come very often, but like those in Monterey, they have bicycle racks on the front. You squeeze the bars on the racks to tip them down, turn the bike so that the front wheel faces the middle of the road, and raise a lever that secures the front wheel. I biked the last bit back to my van, since it was a nice sunny day by that time. Also fried my face and arms, since my yellow jacket was too warm! I drove back to Clairemont Mesa to camp again, after wandering in wonder through Walmart.
