Day 25

We woke this morning to a ringing telephone. My phone battery had died during the night, so no alarm clock this morning and heavy blackout curtains meant no natural light in the room. It was 11.05 of an 11am checkout, and we had to rush to gather everything together and leave. Fortunately, there had been no free breakfast at this motel, so we had to eat breakfast bars on the go. We were headed for Walmart, to pick up some shopping and food for the night. Like Asda, only much bigger, food was the smallest department at Walmart. Cheap US prices for things made it a good place to shop for small items, but the meat selection was rubbish, and if we didn't find another supermarket in the afternoon we'd be having a vegetarian dinner.
Shopping done, we hit the road again, headed for Malibu.

Not only are the roads around LA busy and hectic at the best of times, but they are also hideously badly signposted. Our journey to Malibu should be pretty straightforward by the map, so we dont watch the gps dot on the phone. This is a mistake, as about 30 minutes later we worry about the road number changing, and find we are correct to be worrying, we have gone far past the turn off to Santa Monica (our gateway to Malibu). We come off the highway at the next available exit, and loop around to head back. This doesn't help at all, as there most of the overhead roadsigns are covered over and we quickly find ourselves stuck in a lane taking us completely the wrong direction with too much traffic to pull over. We stop, tensions are running high and time is ticking on. A few loops around, and we are back onto the road we need. We'll now be approaching Malibu from a different direction and find ourselves back on Highway 101, which we'd followed for so much of the northern west coast. Obviously aimed at tourists, this is much better signed, but Malibu doesn't even get a mention and we have to cross a range of hills before dropping back onto the coast road and seeing the first signs of the rich Malibu shoreline.

When we finally arrive in Malibu, its not what we expected. The main road runs through, with a few small shopping complexes off to the sides. WE park up in Malibu State Beach car park, and I head to the closest shopping area to buy meat for the night. After 30 minutes of walking around designer shops and car parks, i realise there is no supermarket here either. I'll have to keep my fingers crossed for finding one further down the road. Back at the car, the walk to the beach from the car park takes you around the perimeter of a fenced and covered area - what seems like a building site. Its a long walk and takes 10 minutes to get down to a small wind swept bluff. There is a small lagoon, and locks of rocks - but still no beachside boulevard or chicks in bikinis playing beach volleyball. A few surfers out in the waves prove that there is local life here, and the grumpy looking lifeguard looms over the beach from a tower on the far end.Its a big disappointment, and we head on. We have a campsite chosen for the night, close enough to the beach that we'll be able to chill out with a glass of wine as the sun sets. Its only a few miles down the road, and as we go we come across another area of Malibu, more along the lines of what we were expecting but still not there. There is a car park to the side of the highway, with a paved walking path and a wall, before a short strip of beach leading out to the sea. The large waves and empty beach told the tale - November was in full flow even don South.

We carried on, and spotted a sign for a supermarket. Having parked up, there was more covered fences between the carpark and the building with a sign indicating it is a supermarket - bad sign! I walk around, and discover - the supermarket is still being rebuilt. Do people here eat anything?!? We carry on the road, and its looking less likely than ever that we'll get meat for dinner. Soon - that becomes a distant concern.

We arrive at the State campground, and find out they are full. Its a public holiday weekend, Veterans Day is coming up on Monday so people are out for the weekend. The kind of camping we are doing is rare (almost unheard of out here) because we are actually camping in a tent. Most of the campsites are just large car parks because camping here means driving in a coach sized RV or camper van.Cheats. Even for our small required footprint, there isnt any room for us here, and we're directed down the road to another state campground. Arriving here, the story is the same again. Luckily there is another campsite just up the road, but now the fuel light has come on. Our extended journey out here has used up more fuel than anticipated and we dont know if we carry on whether there will be a petrol station - after all they dont eat so why would they use petrol either.

Risking it, we carry on. This final campground looks promising. Its all beachside, and there is acres of room, There are even empty car park spaces for the coaches to camp up. However, the state employee at the gate dashes our hopes. They are also fully booked for the night, the empty spaces are for 5 reservations which haven't yet arrived. A small army could have actually camped on the unused area here, but this atendant has a proper attitude and we leave. We park at the side of the road to consider our options. Looking at where the sea level is and where the state campground goes to, we figure we can just find a nice spot on the beach to set up camp but will have to find somewhere to park the car as there is no parking near the beach on the main road from sunset till sunrise.

We head back towards Malibu, and eventually find a spot. We're able to park the car on a side road, and there are even portaloos set up on the roadside parking spots for any calls of nature in the night. We head down to the beach, as the sun is getting perilously close to the horizon.

Sitting in the fading light, drinking wine, we are able to forget about the stress of the afternoon. We've had such terrible luck today its been tough. Sunset on the beach makes up for it though, and we could be in the middle of nowhere. The pounding waves drown out the sound of the road, directly above us and although there is a small group of people 100m down the beach from us, we;re sat in a little rock alcove and can see just sea the sea and the horizon in front of us. Perfect.

Once the sun has set, we have to get back up and on with things. We know we don't have a lot of daylight left, so head back to the car to get the tent, firewood and dinner stuff for the night. We've come up with a compromise on dinner, and are adding bacon bits into our vegetable and noodle dish. With the hunt for a campsite, there was no way to find where the hidden supermarket might be, and although catching a fish straight from the water was a tempting idea, it would take far too long! While Clare cooks up dinner, somehow keeping the sand out of the pan - I try and light the fire with the gusting wind not helping at all. Eventually, the fire is crackling away, dinner is nearly ready and its fully dark out. We sit and eat, and listen to the waves. They are only about 10m away from us, further than they appeared to be from the state campsite we saw earlier, but we do start to wonder when high tide was/will be?

After dinner we start getting the tent set up, tucked as far back against the rock as possible to avoid any stray waves that might pop up. We have an evacuation plan in place incase the tide rises in the night, and I'm fully satisfied we'll be fine. With all the wood burnt the fire dies down and we head into the tent for a game of cards. Its pretty awkward to get sit up and play and there is a lot of shuffling around to stay comfortable in the cosy little tent. Finally its time for sleep and we settle down for the night, sleeping to the sound of crashing waves and nothing else.