Our one and only proper rest day came on Day 14/17. Some may say that's a bit late. You would be correct. Given our time again, we would not rush so much. In fact, we had long chats whilst on the bike saying that it would be better to do 4 days and then a break, another at day 10 and then split Day 13 (116 miles with 8,235 ft elevation that nearly broke us) over 2 days.
Nonetheless, we arrived at our very expensive, and rather disappointing (we won't dwell on that) motel in the town of Cambria at 8:40 pm after a very long and very hilly day and were very much looking forward to our rest day.
We had booked 2 tours at the totally bonkers Hearst Castle quite a long time in advance and we were really looking forward to it. San Simeon (where the Castle is actually located) was about 7 miles up the road and we were absolutely not getting on our bikes to get there. We managed to time it perfectly with the infrequent local buses taking us to and from with minutes to spare at either end.
Will had visited Hearst Castle about 30 years ago, with his family. He had insisted this should be the 'thing' we did with our rest day.
As a result, he was slightly nervous, hoping it was as impressive as he remembered, and that Lisa would enjoy it more than a day in a pool/hot tub/on a sun-lounger, wine in hand.
For those of you who don't know the story (and for whom wikipedia is an untouched realm), William Randolph Hearst was the prototype media mogul: the original Rupert Murdoch, and the man on whom Orson Welles' 'Citizen Kane' was loosely based.
His heyday was in the inter-war period, and he died in 1951. He was both fabulously wealthy and hugely influential - often referred to as the 'kingmaker' of the presidents and senators of his day. It was reckoned that every third person in the USA read a paper owned by Hearst.
Make of that what you will - particularly in the present-day context of 'Main Stream Media', conspiracy theories, and the advent of social media, opening the floodgates to every person on the planet being able to tell their story their way.
The focus of the tours at the Castle, and indeed all the information available therein, was squarely on what he did with his money. And what he did was build the most lavish house imaginable.
One of Orson Welles' chief criticisms of Hearst was that he was a fanatical collector.
It's a curious criticism - we reflected that it would be nice to know what you liked, and to have the means to collect it.
He was also criticised for 'plundering Europe' in order to fit and furnish his Castle. Ceilings, panelling, tables, doors, windows... But none of that is at all new. In England, country houses were frequently put up for sale in their entirety as the money wheel went round and families needed to liquidate. Plenty of ceilings and panelling in current National Trust houses started life elsewhere. As for 'plundering Europe' - well the Europeans have been plundering each other and indeed the world for centuries!
What impressed us was how well his architect, Julia Morgan, incorporated all his collections into one house. It was like a perfectly rendered boutique hotel, with each room or set of rooms reflecting a different era, culture or style.
And, as it happened, this was exactly the right simile - because what Hearst loved to do was entertain. He'd invite the Hollywood A-list of his day (plus politicians, writers, sports-stars etc) up to his Castle for lavish parties - and they all came.
We thought about all of this as we walked round, and came to the conclusion that if you're going to be fabulously wealthy, then there's probably not much better you can do than spend all your money (which he did!) on a huge employment programme for local labourers and craftsmen, and throw lavish parties for people to enjoy and remember for the next 80 years.
A bit like King Ludwig's fantastical palaces in Bavaria - people thought he was crazy at the time, but it made him happy, and people are still visiting them today in their millions, being awestruck by their beauty. So who's crazy?
We loved it. We took far too many photos. We've tried to slim it down a bit...
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