.jpg)
There are some great driving roads around the world.
One of them that I have always wanted to drive is the Highway 1 in California that runs along the coast from Los Angeles to San Francisco.
So on a recent trip to the USA I thought it was time to cross it off my list, the only unfortunate thing was that in the months leading up to our trip there were some major landslides in the area so our route was changed slightly from our original plan to follow the coast road all the way north.
Our vehicle of choice for this road trip was a Cadillac XTS, something we don’t currently get in Australia. It was the perfect car for the drive as there was plenty of space on board and was fully loaded with all leather, cruise, cooled seats, sat nav and great stereo system with Apple CarPlay and Satellite radio, which is a cool feature on its own.
Our start point for our drive on Highway 1 was Santa Monica Pier, we hit the road early in order to beat traffic.
The morning light was just stunning as we headed through Malibu, so we stopped for some photos at the Pier. We then headed up towards Oxnard again stopping to look at the scenery a couple of times as the views were spectacular.
From Oxnard we headed through Ventura to Santa Barbara, a pretty seaside town with a great pier that stretches out into the water, with tall mountains surrounding the town.
From Santa Barbara we headed inland on the 154 to drive some Canyons, which lead to some great twisty roads that climbed up into the hills through the Cachuma Lake area.
We re-join the 1 when it becomes the 101 at Pismo Beach, on our drive up to the next stop at Morro Bay, unfortunately the town was covered in fog when we arrived so we couldn’t see much of the coastline.
It is from here we are forced to head inland as the road is closed further up and this is the last chance to head inland and still get to our next stop of Monterey without having to backtrack.
So we head inland to the 101 and experience freeways USA style, which consist of long straight wide freeways, we pass vineyards and oil derricks along the way.
Once we reach Monterey/Carmel, we turn and head south down on Highway 1 towards Big Sur. The coastline here is nothing I have ever experienced, you want to stop every mile to get out and take photos it is just so breathtaking.
The highlight along this route is the Bixby Creek Bridge, an arch bridge and one of the most photographed in California, from there the road climbs up and down through the hills before you heading into the forest and ending up at the road closure at Big Sur.
The only option from there is to return back along Cabrillo highway to Monterey and Carmel.
But the benefit of that is that you can then explore the town of Monterey and Cannery Row before hitting up the scenic 17 mile drive, whilst its not a real drivers drive of twists and turns it is a extremely photogenic drive with lots to see and check out including Pebble Beach Golf Course. The roads end in the scenic town by the sea of Carmel.
This is where our drive on Highway 1 finished, but there are lots of it to explore if you continue to head north.
Joel Strickland love all things automotive. You can follow him on line @joelstrickphoto on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
