Leaving Santa Rosalita we still had 18km of cruisy coastal riding before heading inland at the ‘The Wall’ which is the last of the Seven Sisters surf breaks.
The little used trail inland started out as rough sand and progressed to a rough stoney trail before hitting the highway and some smooth riding to the truckstop town of Rosarito and our best breakfast feed to date at Mauricio’s Restaurant. It was topped off with a piece of cake celebrating the owners daughters birthday. It is all about timing!
The track through the mountains to the Mission San Fransisco San Borja was beautiful after the starkness of the coastal strip. We were back into serious cirios, cardon cactus and mesquite tree vegetation, riding thru red mesas and cone shaped mountains with the sun behind us and on a predominantly good track. Magic conditions.
We arrived at the Mission just as the sun was dropping behind the hills and were met by Angel, a descendant of the indigenous Cochimi Indian people of this area. His family is the last remaining in the area and they have taken on the huge task of restoring the Mission buildings originally built in 1770’s.
We slept in a thatched roof, stone walled building with concrete benches and a large mattress and Angel kindly provided wood for us to get a fire going for our essential hot cuppas. He was happy to hang out around the fire and in the morning gave us an informative tour thru the Mission church and associated rooms. We were all touched by his genuineness and generosity of time.
The other draw card here was the warm thermal pool a few minutes walk away, which when plugged filled up to a comfortable depth.
We had a latish start to carry on our journey east to the Sea of Cortez. The expected ‘easy’ ride of 50km became more demanding because of strong head winds and some rough terrain from the category 1 hurricane damage in June 2022.
At a high point we stopped for food and discovered Alan’s front wheel was leaking sealant near a small dent in the rim and the tyre was losing pressure. We cracked the seal and with some vigorous pumping managed to ‘pop’ the tyre back on. We spun the wheel whilst packing up before charging down the hill hoping to ensure a good seal of sealant thru centrifugal action. It worked and we dodged the bullet of having to insert an inner tube (2 times lucky now).
The problem with using inner tubes is that any puncture due to a prickle/goat head or cactus spline will cause a deflating puncture but with the tubeless system the liquid sealant in the tyre finds the hole and blocks it as it dries – problem solved.
We eventually made it to the highway for a final 23km on the blacktop, dropping 400m to the Sea of Cortez and the small town of Bahia de Los Angeles (Bay of Ángels).
Our first stop was a pollo assado Saturday pop up stall run by the entertaining Brisa. Half a tasty roasted chicken, 2 serves of pasta salad and a beer set us back $11. The Motel Princess was a short climb above town and advertised as being cycle friendly. It is owned and run by an older ex-pat from the UK and his hardworking Mexican wife. Bec and Roel were already ensconsed in their comfy rooms. Our room at the front had a great view over the bay and town. After 6 days moving forward we were happy to call it home for 3 nights.
Being on the coast meant seafood was big on the menu. On our second evening we were treated to a seafood extravaganza at a flash restaurant on the waterfront with locals Brisa and hubby Mario who Bec had befriended at the pop up chicken stall.
We shared plates of marinated octopus, shrimp, and ceviche with guacamole and corn taco shell whilst watching the sun go down on Angel island across the bay. It was a very entertaining evening learning about the good life on the Bahia. We had to leave money in the car as they very generously refused to let us pay.
Our second day off was spent eating some more, resting some more and getting ready to swap the good life of the Bahia for the good life on the road.
