Marin Headlands and Point Reyes

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Fuel stop near Fairview

   The hills behind Hayward rise steeply from the flat bay plain, and Fairview sits right on top of them, a semi-rural community of ranches, winding lanes and houses with long views across San Francisco Bay. On a clear day, you can see the bridges, the city skyline and the Peninsula hills beyond. It is a peaceful spot above one of the busiest urban areas in the country.

   Read the complete Fuel stop near Fairview write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Next is San Francisco Bay Area return.

2. 2. Near Winters, on the way back

   West of Winters, the Sacramento Valley ends abruptly at the Vaca Mountains, and Putah Creek cuts a narrow canyon through them up to Monticello Dam and Lake Berryessa. This spot lies in that rugged, dry country a short way above Winters, where the valley floor of orchards and fields gives way to steep hills of oak, grey pine and golden grass, burned brown by summer and green after the winter rains.

   Read the complete Near Winters, on the way back write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   San Francisco Bay Area return comes up about 123 km into the recorded legs. Next is Food stop in Kenwood.

3. 3. Food stop in Kenwood

   Kenwood sits in the Valley of the Moon, the name Jack London gave to the Sonoma Valley, where he built his ranch and his ill-fated dream house, Wolf House, which burned before he could move in. The ruins and his grave lie in Jack London State Historic Park in nearby Glen Ellen, and the valley around them remains one of the most beautiful in California, with vineyards, oak woodland and the Mayacamas Mountains rising to the east.

   Read the complete Food stop in Kenwood write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   A break here. Next is Marin Headlands and Point Reyes photo pull-off.

4. 4. Bolinas

   Bolinas does not want to be found, and it has made that clear for decades. Locals have a long tradition of removing the road sign that points to the town from Highway 1, so you may have to watch for the unmarked turnoff at the end of Bolinas Lagoon. The reward is a small, eccentric, salt-weathered village at the tip of a mesa on the Marin coast, with a few streets of old wooden buildings, a beach, surfers and an atmosphere that feels decades removed from the Bay Area just over the hill.

   Read the complete Bolinas write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Marin Headlands and Point Reyes photo pull-off, about halfway. Next is Marin Headlands and Point Reyes checkpoint 8.

5. 5. Near Daly City

   South of San Francisco's city limits, the land runs out abruptly. Daly City's houses, the ones with the colourful matching boxes that inspired the song Little Boxes, cover the hills right up to the edge of high, crumbling sea cliffs, and below them the Pacific pounds a long empty beach.

   Read the complete Near Daly City write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Marin Headlands and Point Reyes checkpoint 8. That is the ride. Next is Marin Headlands and Point Reyes scenic road.

6. 6. Half Moon Bay

   Half Moon Bay is where the Peninsula's mountains finally meet the Pacific. The town sits on a wide coastal plain, backed by the green flank of the Santa Cruz Mountains and fronted by a long crescent of sand, and it feels like a different state from the busy bay side only twenty minutes away over Highway 92. Fog arrives most summer afternoons, so mornings are your best bet for sun.

   Read the complete Half Moon Bay write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Marin Headlands and Point Reyes scenic road comes up about 384 km into the recorded legs. Next is High point near Portola Valley.

7. 7. High point near Portola Valley

   Planning note

   You top out here; the road stops climbing. Next is Back to Marin Headlands.

8. 8. Back to Marin Headlands

   That tells you something about how this ride ends: after a long day on the coast the route finishes on the far side of the water, among the suburbs that fill the shelf between the bay and the dry brown ridges behind. Fairview and Castro Valley are a few minutes away, Hayward a little further, and the whole district sits directly on the Hayward Fault, which is a fact most locals have made peace with.

   Read the complete Marin Headlands write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Back to Marin Headlands. That is the ride.