Stanfords Blog

Christopher Somerville works from home as a writer and journalist, looking out across a wide and stunning view that takes in much of north-east Bristol and over to the hills near Bath. So although he lives in and enjoys the city there’s always a view to the hills and the landscape which provides the inspiration for his many books and newspaper articles.

He says, “Bristol is an excellent place for a walker to live – 40 minutes travel in any direction takes you to a diversity of countryside; from Somerset Levels to the Welsh Hills, and from the greatest light show on earth (yes, the sunset over the Bristol Channel) to the pretty villages and valleys of the Cotswolds.”

Here is the first in a series of walks he will be compiling for Stanfords’ readers to follow in the Southwest each month. Continue reading Walk of the month: Southstoke and Cam Valley, Somerset

I visited San Francisco in 2001, during my first visit into the US, when it was the final stop during our cross-country drive all the way from Florida. It was a bit of a crazy trip, on a ludicrously low budget, and the route was the result of a compromise among all five of us. Someone wanted to visit New Orleans, another person wanted to see the Grand Canyon and someone else Las Vegas. For my part, I wanted to visit San Francisco. So we went.

And that’s how, after 10 days and well over 5000 km of driving, we finally approached the famous city. Luckily (and totally unplanned), we approached it via the impressive Bay Bridge which offers one of the best vistas of the downtown SF. The Bay Bridge, connecting SF with Oakland, is a real marvel of engineering and an attraction in itself, especially for anyone interested in engineering and impressive constructions, like me. The bridge consists of two major crossings connecting each shore with Yerba Buena Island, a natural outcrop located mid-bay that is part of the city of San Francisco. The Western crossing lies between Yerba Buena and the rest of San Francisco and it is composed of two complete suspension spans connected at a center anchorage. It is also a double-decked bridge and, driving into SF, you travel on the top deck which guarantees some really splendid views.

We were driving in the late afternoon, just a short time before sunset, so the view was as good as you can get. Especially amazing was the fog from the Pacific rolling over the hills and approaching the city. It looked like a massive wave trying to engulf it.

Entering San Francisco via Bay Bridge you drive right into the center, literally on the rooftops of the buildings. It feels crazy. Our plan was to spend the night camping north of the Golden Gate so we had to leave the freeway and cross the city on the way to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was evening rush hour and driving and navigating was a nightmare. As a geographer and map enthusiast, I was responsible for the navigation. I was trying to follow our progress and plan the route on a tiny inset map of downtown SF in our USA road atlas, but it wasn’t easy and I still feel sorry for my driver friend who had to follow my messy and usually late instructions. Fortunately we reached the world famous bridge without a scratch or getting seriously lost.

The Golden Gate Bridge is one of the icons of San Francisco, California and probably even the whole USA. For me, crossing it was probably the climax of our journey, which in itself wasn’t short of landmarks by any means. However, it was getting dark and we had to find some campground, so there was no time for admiring the views. Using the same battered road atlas, we were trying to locate campsites in the Muir Woods National Monument when we got lost. The seriously hilly Marin County lies just north of San Francisco, right across the Golden Gate Bridge, and is covered by a really chaotic web of narrow and curvy roads leading to many of the most expensive houses in America. I still don’t know how we finally managed to find the campsite in total darkness.

When we got up the following morning we had the chance to experience the famous dense fog which so often appears in the Bay Area. I have to say that our forest campsite looked really magical in such circumstances, with rays of light beaming between the massive trees and illuminating fog in some really crazy ways.

Soon we were crossing the Golden Gate again on the way back into San Francisco. Opened in 1937, it is in my opinion still one of the most beautiful bridges in the world. Actually, I think it is probably one of the most beautiful man-made structures ever built. I know it sounds a bit exaggerated but I really love this bridge and so will you once you see it yourself, especially on a beautiful sunny day.

A short time later, after leaving the car in some ugly parking structure, we finally started our exploration of the city. And what a fantastic city it is. You simply can’t beat its location. Surrounded by water on three sides, it contains around 50 hills within the city limits. It is also the second-most densely populated large city in the United States after New York City. And for all that we had only one day.

With such a short time available the best option was simply to walk around without much plan, to immerse ourselves in this eclectic and diverse city. It turned out to be a great idea and I had a really good day.

But San Francisco has so much more to offer. Right next to Chinatown, in a neighbourhood called Financial District, is located one of the most iconic skyscrapers in the US, the Transamerica Pyramid. Built in 1972, this 260-meter building is also the tallest in San Francisco. Don’t worry, you won’t miss it due to its four-sided pyramid shape, which is in fact so unique that it was only recently that the Shard building in London adopted a similar design.

Heading north, I entered another interesting neighbourhood, the North Beach, which has historically been home to a large Italian population. Nowadays, due to white flight, and gentrification, the neighbourhood has seen its native Italian American population rapidly shrink but it still retains an Italian character with many Italian restaurants, cafes, and bakeries that line Columbus Avenue and Washington Square. Here I also visited a lovely small bookshop, full of maps and travel books, but it was so long ago that I can’t remember its name or location. I was trying to find it on the internet, but to no avail. Maybe it closed like many other small independent bookshops? That would be sad.

We kept walking around the city for hours. Other points on our route included some of the San Francisco piers, right next to the spectacular Ferry Building, located at the Embarcadero, which offers great views of The Bay Bridge, and later a steep climb to Russian Hill. And I really mean steep. It is so steep that one-block section of Lombard Street consists of eight tight hairpin turns. They are necessary to reduce the hill’s natural 27% gradient to somehow more of a manageable angle. In general, walking in San Francisco involves a lot of climbing due to all these hills. Many streets are so steep that they even have steps rather than simply walkways.

By the end of the day we were all exhausted. All this climbing really got into our legs and it was time for us to leave. We left the spectacular city of San Francisco less than 24 hours after initially crossing the Bay Bridge and started our 5000 km long drive back to Florida.

And if you ask if it was worth driving around 10000km in total to see it, I can definitely and loudly say yes.

Browse our collection of maps, guides and travel literature:

> USA travel guides

> USA road maps and atlases

> Travel literature inspired by the USA

Before you go to the USA it makes sense to do a bit of homework and planning. Remember, it is a huge country: for example the distance from New York City to Los Angeles is 500km greater than the one from Lisbon to Moscow. So you should know what your priorities and also your limits are.

Are you interested in nature or maybe in the cities? Do you like big, cosmopolitan places like New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago, or maybe small charming colonial towns like Charlestown and Savannah? Do you prefer lying on the beach or maybe hiking in the mountains? The tropics or the Arctic? America has it all.

First thing you have to decide is how much time you have and what your budget is. If you only have a week and a few hundred bucks, it doesn’t really make sense to drive from coast to coast. It is of course perfectly doable but you will feel more like a long distance truck driver than a tourist. Also, as you will have to stick to the main highways, your experience will be limited to the fast food chains, and gas stations. Is it really what you want? In my opinion, 10 days, or even better 2 weeks, is the absolute minimum for a cross country trip.

Let’s say your choice is a cross-country trip. The planning doesn’t end here, however. There are of course countless routes you can choose. Many people do the classic cross-country trip from NYC to LA or San Fran. That way you can experience the big cities of both coasts as well as the American hinterland. You can for example travel from NYC to Chicago and then follow the famous (if a bit overrated) route 66. Or you can head in the direction of Denver and cross the magnificent Rocky Mountains in Colorado. Another option is heading even further north towards Montana or Wyoming to visit the Yellowstone National Park. While planning you should also consider the weather. If you travel in the winter, choosing a southern route, from Florida to southern California, might be the best option. That way you avoid the risk of being stuck in cold and miserable weather further north and you might even experience New Orleans during the Mardi Gras. However, if you happen to go during the heat of summer the northern route from New England towards Seattle might be a more tempting idea. Myself, I would always avoid the sweltering humid south in the summer.

Crossing the continent is obviously a fantastic idea. But by no means is this the only option for the great American experience. There are a few other fascinating routes, most obviously the coasts. The west coast offers absolutely amazing scenery and it is probably one of the most scenic drives on earth. And not only the famous Big Sur in California but also most of the Californian coast north of San Francisco as well as, my favourite, the Oregon coast. East coast might be not as spectacular (apart from Maine) but it offers a rich colonial history. Think of Boston, NYC, Philadelphia, Savannah, Charleston and many more historic places. One more interesting north-south route is obviously the Mississippi River. It offers a great mix of spectacular scenery (especially in its northern half) and cultural sites. Big cities like Minneapolis, Saint Louis, Memphis and New Orleans as well as small interesting towns like Vicksburg, Natchez or Hannibal all line the river.

All the routes mentioned above require flying in and out of the different airports or lengthy backtracking. For those who don’t want to do either, choosing a particular region of the US and doing a loop around it might be a better option. It simplifies logistics as well as makes the trip significantly cheaper (avoiding drop-off fees on your car rental). There are few distinctive regions begging for a specific trip. The most obvious ones are Florida, California, South-western USA and New England. My other favourite options include the Carolinas with Georgia, the Great Lakes, the Great Plains or the Pacific Northwest, which is probably my absolute favourite part of the USA.

Once you choose where to go, do a bit of researching what you really want to see there and how much time you need for it. I usually do the region-specific trips. In such cases, I choose some highlights and use online route planners to check how long it will take me just to drive between them. That way I know that I won’t overstretch myself trying to cover too much ground and that I won’t be budgeting too much time for some closely located sites. Google Maps or Map Quest are the most obvious route planners but there are many more. At this point I usually start looking for flights. Each of the regions mentioned above has at least one large hub airport which offers cheaper fares and sometimes even direct routes from Europe. But this is a subject for another chapter.

Browse our collection of maps, guides and travel literature:

> USA travel guides

> USA road maps and atlases

> Travel literature inspired by the USA

Author: Gregor Swiderek

Our cycling trip began with an overnight ferry from Portsmouth to St Malo, and after this sleepy start, we began in earnest – cycling off the ferry onto French soil where we’d spend the following week pedalling past the beautiful coastline, canals and villages of north-east Britanny.

But that early morning start in St Malo took us by surprise – believing we were invincible, we suddenly realised that we had taken a wrong turning at a roundabout and were heading north rather than our intended south. So, for the remainder of our trip, we decided we would make full use of a map and the IGN cycling map for this area was a godsend, helping us to plot our route each day and plan where we would pitch our tents and buy our food and locally produced cider.

Leaving St Malo, we headed due south to follow the course of the Ille et Rance Canal, visiting the grey, yet pretty Dinan and small towns such as Tinténiac and Hédé, where we set up camp alongside a lock-keeper’s cottage. The next day, heading north-east through forests and agricultural land, we reached the hilly town of Combourg, which had a resplendent palace and fine French cuisine.

After refuelling in Combourg, we headed in the direction of Mont St Michel. Prior to our arrival, the steep slopes downhill allowed us to rest our legs and take in the magnificent views of Mont St Michel in the distance. The place is beautiful, full of history and definitely worth a visit – but I wouldn’t recommend taking your bike there, unless you want to push it all the way up to the cathedral, through groups of British schoolchildren, along the steep, narrow streets of the island.

The remainder of our cycling adventure followed the coastline back to the ferry terminal, taking in Dol-de-Bretagne (where there is a hill-top belvédère, or viewpoint, from where you can take in the sights of the surrounding villages and countryside), Cancale (excellent beaches and seafood) and St Malo, which is definitely worth visiting for its port atmosphere, old streets and shops and restaurants. You could even try the town’s specialist absinthe bar, if you really want to derange your senses.

For a trip to this area of France, I would definitely recommend referring to the Rough Guide to Brittany & Normandy and the Rennes-Granville IGN 1:100,000 road map.

Browse our collection of maps & guides:

> France travel guides

> France road maps and atlases

> Travel literature inspired by France

Author: Tim Cleary