Friday 6 June – San Francisco “on the edge”

At breakfast we meet two lovely young girls from San Paulo, Brazil – Natasha and Talita. We end up exchanging email addresses, just in case they ever come to England – or we ever visit San Paulo! Reg has his “oatmeal” (porridge) and I have my bagel with cream cheese and jam – this is the set breakfast at this hostel.

Now and again we do exchange email addresses, but know it is unlikely we will ever meet these people again. However, Yumiko, who is Japanese American, whom we met in Charlottesville earlier in our trip, lives near San Francisco, and has kindly offered to take us out in her car for the day, to show us some of the sights around the periphery and along the coast from San Francisco – places we might not easily get to otherwise.

It's lovely to see Yumiko again, and we have lots to talk about in the car. Our first stop is a view of the Golden Gate Bridge – though, as is usual, this magnificent structure is half-shrouded in sea-mist. I haven't said yet that the weather in San Francisco is much cooler than we are used to – and, where we are today, much windier! Fleeces or cardigans are often needed in the day, especially in outlying areas, and definitely need to be worn in the evenings, wherever you are in the city.

The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco's most famous landmark, is a suspension bridge spanning the 1 mile wide, 3 mile long Golden Gate Strait, the sea between San Francisco bay and the Pacific Ocean. The bridge isn't in fact golden, it's “International Orange”, and is famous for being that colour; it takes 5,000 gallons a year of this rustproof paint to keep the bridge in good condition. A few other snippets of information about the bridge – it took 13 years to plan, 5 years to build, and had claimed 11 lives by the time it was completed in 1937. It has 80,000 miles of cable incorporated into it's 27,572 suspension strands. There have been over 1,000 suicide attempts from the bridge.

We take lots of photos, but Yumiko is hoping that the mist will lift later in the day so that our pictures will be clearer. We tell Yumiko that we didn't have time to see the giant redwood trees in the Mariposa forest near Yosemite; Yumiko asks if we'd like to go to Muir Wood, a local conservation site where there are beautiful “coast redwoods.” When we arrive at the site we discover some special event must be going on there, as it's very difficult to park; we have about a mile to walk to the woods from our car.

When we get there I'm glad to see a little café and Yumiko and I enjoy a coffee while Reg has his usual green tea. We then wander around the forest paths, enjoying the beauty and majesty of these beautiful trees in such a peaceful, tranquil setting. There are many plants to look at too, and Reg takes some lovely photos. It's good to spend some time in a setting like this, as it was in Yosemite, as much of our travelling involves touring cities and towns.

After Muir Woods we visit Muir Beach, a beach with soft sands which looks a bit like an English cove, encircled by cliffs, and as cold and windy as it often is on an English beach! The water is very cold and Yumiko tells us it's not safe for swimming, as there are strong undercurrents. People have a view of Californian beaches as being hot and sunny, with warm water from the Pacific ocean – but here it's chilly and windy, and there are currents from Alaska which cool the water.

As we drive away from the beach, we discover what looks like an English pub - “The Pelican Inn”, and we decide to lunch there. It's just like a really old, authentic English public house, right down to the bubbled beer glasses with handles, and the real ale on offer! We can have English pub lunches like fish and chips, shepherd's pie, bangers and mash, stew, or “cheese platter” (a sort of ploughman's, but with crackers instead of bread). Yumiko and I choose the cheese platter, which comes with Cheddar, Stilton and a soft cheese which tastes like Camembert; delicious! Reg chooses the stew, but although it's tasty, it could be a bit hotter.

The barmaid/waitress is keen to tell us a little of the history of the inn. It was opened in 1979, and was built by Englishman who came from an long line of publicans, and is steeped in history – in the restaurant is a long table which, we are told, was made in the 1600's; the whole pub looks like a 16^th century building. There was initially, we are told, much local opposition to the pub being built, and it took the owner several years to get planning permission. Now, local people use it all the time and even have their own beer glasses hanging up over the bar!

Yumiko takes us to a place called “Land's End”, where we can take a cliff path, and have more wonderful views of the Golden Gate Bridge; the sea mist has lifted and our photos are much clearer. We tell Yumiko about our “Land's End”, and that it is the Southernmost tip of England. Yumiko takes us to Ocean Beach, and then for a tour of some of the classier residential areas of San Francisco, where some of the houses are stunning – and huge!

It's good to have the chance to meet Yumiko's husband, Andy, when we pick him up from where he works as a budget analyst in San Francisco. We are driven back to our hostel, where we say our goodbyes, promising to keep in touch. Yumiko and Andy will visit us in England one day in the future!

We've had a brilliant day, and surprisingly have caught the sun, despite it being cloudy and windy for much of the time. We've done lots of walking, which has been good for us – now we're exhausted! We're so grateful to Yumiko for giving up her time to show us the area around San Francisco.

After a rest, we nip to the Indian restaurant around the corner for a curry. We both order chicken biryani – but it's much hotter than a similar dish in English curry houses!

Tomorrow is our penultimate day in San Francisco – and we have to move hostel, as there was “no room at the inn” for our last 2 nights in this popular city.