Day 1 Full Day – Golden Gate Bridge – USA West Coast Driveathon 2016

We were walking towards the Golden Gate Bridge and on the way we went past the Palace of Fine Arts and took a few photos.

We saw several people cycling on rental bicycles and asked a group of girls where they rented them from and they were further back down the sea front to the East. The girl was from Twickenham near London visiting.
We then walked over to the Fort near Golden Gate Bridge took a few photos from there then came back and walked over to a bicycle shop near there which did not rent bicycles. The shop staff told us to go up to the Sports Basement Rental Shop. When we came out we had the map in our hands and a guy who was travelling told us of some good places to go and some places to not go because of the ICP and an area called Tenderloin which is where many tourists get abducted or robbed. So made it clear to avoid this area.
We rented the bicycles for $32 i think it was and burrowed a D lock to lock the bikes up together.
We discussed that the bikes could be returned to three different locations. Back to where we hired them from and the other location that was useful for us was Bryant Street.
This allowed us to cycle upto the Golden Gate Bridge and over it to the other side. Very busy bridge with many people walking and cycling so you have to take care and make sure your walking or cycling on the correct part of the pavement and remember to pass head on cyclists on the right hand side.
We then decided to cycle back over the Golden Gate Bridge and turned left at the otherside to go underneath to come out on the west side which allowed us to cycle to ####
We cycled on the west coast down which was a nice view with some up and down hill riding which was fun.

We cycled through a park next to a lake at #### it was nice and there were stepping stones and a waterfall at the end. Ryan cheered me on and encouraged me to cycle over the stepping stones I made it until the last stepping stone and my front wheel fell into the water and got stuck between the stepping stones and almost launched me off. Im sure that will be a funny video to watch!
So close to making it over and to coming off lol.

We cycled through this park with a huga garden area and loads of people were having a BBQ loads of food and drinks and it looked like a great atmosphere.
We cycled on through the woods near a Boat House.
The next plan was to make our way to the Twin Peaks which we went up and down many roads and some were very hard work to cycle we made it up 90% of the route and collected a huge freshly made roll like they make at Subway but stuffed full of filling the guy had go force it in! It was the small one and it was so filling! I cant imagine what the medium or large one would be like! That was roughly $5.99 or so each.
A really friendly guy served us and I saw an ADT service engineer in the queue also although I didnt speak to him.
We decided to stop and eat our rolls at the next bench but we never actually found a bench. We made our way to a huge water reservoir near the Twin Peaks and decided to sit in the shade as we were beginning to burn.

Stuffed ourselves with the “small” rolls. Then cycled up the road to the Twin Peaks. The best view I have ever seen anywhere you can see for miles in all directions and you can see Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge and so much of the city. You can see the long straight Market Street which I believe was the main route into the city many years ago before it expanded in size.
We went up both peeks and took many photos and videos.
Ryan decided the route to take to get down from this extremely high view point and we cycled down.. Well rolled down at some amazing speeds with no peddling required. Hard to believe we cycled all the way up there!
Many of the cycle lanes merge in with the car routes so you have to pay attention. Most of the time it was easier to come off the road and onto the pedestrian crossing to cross roads.
We came all the way down Market Street and followed the signs for Route 101. We then headed down Valencia Street and visited Clarion Alley.
Clarion Alley is a road that has walls and garages the whole way along covered in graffiti. Some really crazy designs.
There was a lady that was totally off her face talking about Cocaine to herself. Ive never seen someone so destroyed from drugs. Such a shame and completely in a different world.
Several people chilling out down that road. That area didnt feel that safe as there were many homeless people near by and dodgy looking people. All was fine thou.
We made our way over to the Sports Basement to drop off our bicycles that we rented before 21:00 and made it with loads of time to spare.
Dropped the bikes off and it was so easy to do and the people in the shop were very friendly and helpful. No problems at all.
We then made our way to a pub called ####
as we really needed and deserved a refreshing drink. We had a Colorado Coors bottled beer and it was the most refreshing drink I have ever had maybe because we really earnt it with all the cycling and such a hectic day amd actually tasted good! The bar lady recommend us to goto hate Street where so many famous people have been and its suppose to be a Hippy area I think she said.

We then decided to make our way to a overhead powered bus. Walked quite a few blocks to find a bus stop.
We waited at the bus stop and passed many people sleeping in tents on the street and with all their belongings under tarpaulins and in trollies. Reminded me of the game GTA. unbelievable to see that that is actually true.
We waited at a bus stop and there was a guy drinking alcohol sat there and we saw our bus and as we were getting on I was getting my money ready to jump on and pay and he said “Get on the back”..” Dont pay”.. “We dont pay, get on the bus and go straight to the back and sit down. As we jumped on he said “Welcome to San Fran” we said “thanks”. We didnt pay or have a travel card to scan. The bus continued on the route and we both burst out laughing about it. We decided to move from the back to some seats a few further forwards.
Some black girls and guys got on the bus and did exactly the same and sat on the back seats. Talking like a gansta would. “Alright Cuz” absolutely hilarious. We continued to use this saying the day after as it was hilarious.
We then got dropped off near Hayte Street and walked around for a while. We saw a huge pickup truck with extended and raised suspension and some guy was taking his girlfriend out in it. It was really cool and huge! We hunted for somewhere nice to eat for some time and then we found a place called #### and it had a really long queue so we thought it must be good food. We were in the queue and started chatting to a guy called Jacob. A really friendly guy telling him what we are upto and what we have been upto and our plans. His friend David joined the queue later on and we spoke to them about work and everything else. Such friendly guys and we found out they work for Google. Developing Android apps. They said it was a brilliant place to work and really sold it to us!
They recommend we should try their favourite drink they sell at this place called a Butchers Lemonade. It was a strong flavoured lemon drink with plenty of alcohol in it because I really felt the first drink! I had a beef brisket burger as they recommended the beef brisket.
Really friendly staff working there too. Jacob and David asked if we wanted to join them for the meal. So we sure did and chatted about so many things and had a really good laugh.
The place was so busy and had a grwat atmosphere and they made us feel really welcome. We decided to have another Butchers Lemonade and that really did hit me hard. They must have quite a bit of alcohol in them I think they were $8 each for a pint.
We then all finished and we went our separate ways. I think Ryan added them as Facebook friends.
We then left and started to walk and try to find a overhead powered bus again. We jumped on one and went to the back again for free using the drunk guys tip. We then jumped off to get a different bus on a different route and on the way we met some dude with a suitcase who seemed friendly and looked like he was maybe homeless and living out of this suitcase. He greeted us in the street and said “I know a place where all the English girls go that come here you want me to show you” I asked where it was and he said up there we have to get the bus and ill show you. We didnt trust him as he couldn’t actually state the name of the place or tell us where it was. He just kept saying “it’s where all the English girls go, french girls, German girls and Polish girls go.”
Questioned him where this was and he wouldn’t say. He said let’s go there, ill take you both there. “You like English girls?”, “Yes”, “Then lets go!” he said all we have to do is buy him a drink when we get there and we thought no chance are we going. He really was keen on getting us there. Ryan said to me on the sly “Shall we run?!” I said “Yeah” we said we dont have any money to get him a drink and he said “Just give me $2” Ryan said we dont have any cash we only have a card. The guy replied saying something like “thats good then we can get loads of drinks.” I burst out laughing and gradually walked off on the sly hoping Ryan was going to follow suit or run with me. In the end we both went off and I think we jogged for a bit as he was really keen to follow us for a little while with his suitcase. We were laughing so hard and running it was hilarious! We then couldn’t see him so we went to another bus stop and there was a lady waiting there. Possibly Chinese I think if I remember correctly. She saw Ryan with his map out and said “Your tourists?!”
She said something like” Tourists arnt safe here” and some other stuff ill have to find out what it was from Ryan but its like she was warning us in such a way it kind of made me think it was a threat too. So we just got on the back of the bus for free again. She was talking to the bus driver about things and us I think. The bus dropped off quite a few people and then me and Ryan fell asleep leaning on the seats in front of us. We just woke up then we pulled up and the bus driver said this is the last stop. So we got off not too far from the San Remo Hotel near Fishermans Wharf.

Golden Gate