The Rock

Posted on 11 Mar 2014 by WH

A glorious morning in Napa Valley greeted many of the team before they headed back to San Francisco for the day, with the organised, military rows of vines covering the rolling green hills like vast ranks on parade, standing to attention and soaking up precious sunlight before the bountiful grapes appear in a few months' time.

A visit to the giant Redwoods in the morning just outside San Francisco proved to be worlds away from the trees at Sequoia National Park where it was almost knee-deep in snow and subsequently very chilly. Several of the team also spotted a rare glimpse of the fabled Sasquatch - however the mythcial creature appeared to have let himself go a bit and to have secured sponsorship from Sharp's brewery.

Back once again over the Golden Gate Bridge and into town it was time to moor the vessels near pier 33. Pier 33 goes to one place and one place only: Alcatraz.

Alcatraz Island is only a mile off shore and a short ride on the ferry. A variety of military buildings dating back to the 1850's surround the outside of 'The Rock' and the infamous jailhouse itself is a traverse uphill to the top of the island. Although the last inmates left in 1963, the cell block remains somewhere you can feel a claustrophobic, uncomfortable presence, despite it having been empty for half a century. The enthusiastic park rangers (yes, park rangers: the island is now a national park and haven for seabirds as opposed to jailbirds) provide excellently eloquent tales and anecdotes from the dark days of the rock and an audio tour dictated by former inmates guides you around the rest of the prison.

Alcatraz is an absolute must for anyone visiting San Francisco Bay. It really is a brilliantly educational and fun afternoon out for all. After the group was granted parole (albeit one young Scot was almost incarcerated by dint of failing to work out when and where to get the only boat back), it was time for the shrimpshank redemption at a nearby eatery where we were in full view of this fire which has made the news back in Britain. The plume was enormous.

Meanwhile the Heavenly group had been having a superb day on the slopes. They woke to glorious sunshine and an open gondola, then rode it up through the clouds to the enormous variety of runs on both the Nevada (cold but good snow) and California (sunny but occasional lift queues) sides. Some recently purchased walkie talkies proved useful in helping members of the group find each other... some of the time. Unfortunately they didn't prevent a bit of wasted time as all five people went to a closed lodge at which they (lacking knowledge of the closure) had agreed to meet. No matter - they found each other a short shuttle bus ride away and were soon back on the mountain. Some of the lifts and a few of the trickiest runs were closed because of high winds, but there was more than enough terrain for them to have a whale of a time in what amounted to excellent snow conditions on the piste. There followed a pleasant après-ski interlude at Fire & Ice where a couple of the team were introduced to Hot Buttered Rum, before a smoother passage back to Plymouth, with no snow chain fitting to worry about and an excellent dinner at the Independent in Placerville, including the best steak so far on tour.

A return to Shenadoah Inn for an early night was once again on the cards for everyone as the final leg of range time awaited on Wednesday morning, starting with a "Palma" style team practice in preparation for the big match on Friday.

LIGHTS OUT.