|
|
Bicycling the Pacific Coast:
Book Review
Bicycling the Pacific Coast was first published in 1998, and has been updated for this most recent edition which came out in 2005. It's a comprehensive and fully-indexed 272-page book that covers every mile of the 1987.3 mile Pacific Coast Bicycle Route between Vancouver and the Mexico border.And when we say every mile, we mean it. The book is divided into 42 do-able days, averaging 52 miles a day, and every section comes with a detailed mileage log telling you exactly what you need to know in order to make the trip. After 2.4 miles you come to a small town with a grocery store. After 10 miles you reach a residential street which forks and you take the left fork. After 15 miles there are rest rooms. After 21.5 miles there's a bike shop. It really is that detailed. Bicycling the Pacific Coast isn't just a mile-by-mile guide to the PCH, though. It's also a travel guide, listing the attractions you'll see on the way, and the diversions that are worth making. Plenty of practical, personal information too, like this about the Oceano County Campground near the Pismo Dune Reserve: 'Keep valuables, touring bags, and food stored well out of reach of the flock of marauding ducks and thieving raccoons.' The information is so detailed that you're in no doubt about the fact that the authors have pedaled the whole route themselves, and kept the book thoroughly up-to-date. Even so, it's now almost four years since the author's last trip, so you will want to double-check some of the important information in advance, especially if you're relying on campsites or hostels for overnight stops. The authors don't pull any punches on which stages of the Pacific Coast Highway are the worst, where there's absolutely no option but to ride along a busy highway. But their routes keep that to the absolute minimum, and they're in no doubt at all that the Pacific Coast Bicycle Route is 'the best long-distance tour in the country' along 'the world's most scenic coastline.' And this book will be indispensable for anyone planning to make that Pacific Coast journey.
Bicycling the Pacific Coast
A Complete Route Guide, Canada to Mexico
By Vicky Spring and Tom Kirkendall
(The Mountaineers Books, 4th Edition, 2005, $16.95)
The book is also available at Amazon USA, as a Kindle edition,
at Amazon UK, in bookstores, and at other online booksellers.
Go from Bicycling the Pacific Coast Book Review
to main Cycling the Pacific Coast Highway page
|
|
Popular Pages
The most popular pages on Pacific Coast Highway Travel right now are:
Drive the Pacific Coast Highway
Whale Watching in California
Where to Stay on the PCH
Pacific Coast Highway Maps
PCH Hotels Guide
To help you in choosing your Pacific Coast Highway hotel, guesthouse, inn, bed-and-breakfast, resort, motel or other accommodations, we've prepared our Pacific Coast Highway Hotels Guide ebook. In it we do mini-reviews of accommodations along the Highway, from Seattle to San Diego, through Washington, Oregon, and California.
For the 2011 edition we added new hotels, including a special 50-hotel section covering California’s wine country of Napa, Sonoma, and Paso Robles - by far the most popular diversion from the PCH drive. In all there are over 200 hotels listed, complete with 8 pages of color maps showing the towns where our recommended hotels can be found. There are both alphabetical and geographical indexes, helping you plan your journey.
We also include color photos of all the hotels that are our Personal Favorites. Here's the link to
read more about our ebook guide to Pacific Coast Highway hotels
Or you can buy it here for $2.99:
KINDLE EDITION
The Hotels Guide is also available but without the maps and color photos in the US Kindle Store for $4.99 and in the UK Kindle Store at a price based on the US price.
NOOK EDITION
The guide is also available at Barnes and Noble for the Nook.
PAPERBACK EDITION
If you want a printed edition without color photos and with only black and white maps, it costs $8.99 at the Amazon US store.
We've also published our PCH Hotels Guide as an app in the Apple Store.
You can buy it here and
read about it here.
|
