#9 Goonies and wine
New Year’s Eve, and I woke in my cabin bedroom having gone to bed in the darkness with a vague sense of proximity the sea, to find I was right on the cliff edge, with my balcony looking down over Timber Cove.
After breakfast I went for a wonder around the headland upon which the resort was perched. Looking around me I was reminded of the north Cornwall coast. The scale, the landscape and the sounds were all very reminiscent of the route from St Ives down to Sennen Cove, a drive I have completed more times than I could recall, and one which surely gives the route from San Francisco up the northern California coast a run for its money in terms of rugged beauty. Perhaps a different sort of beauty. I don’t think anywhere can compete with that part of the UK in the bleakness stakes, but beautiful, nonetheless.
Benjamin Bufano’s obelisk overlooking Timber Cove Resort
Hopping from rock to grassy outpost on the cliff edge was a massive bird. I am not very good when it comes to identifying winged beasts but it was some type of raptor, from the size I think it must have been an eagle of sorts, but it didn’t hang around long enough for me to ask it, and I only had my camera phone with me. Dominating this rocky outpost stands a 93ft tall obelisk depicting Madonna and child, by Italian artist and pacifist Benjamino Bufano, who settled in San Francisco in 1917. Were I better informed, I would tell you lots of profound and thought-provoking nuggets of information like how the missile-like form of the work contrasts with the peaceful mosaic imagery adorning the structure, but the only thing I remember is that the contractors tasked with erecting it managed to put the head on backwards, so the artist had to climb up and paint a new face on it.
Residence at Fort Ross
Just a few minutes from Timber Cove is a former fortified Russian settlement, the excellently named Fort Ross. I was loosely aware that Russia had occupied parts of north America, but I thought their involvement was limited to Alaska, all the way up the top. As I learned here, they had actually occupied much of the Pacific coast, including what is now Washington, Oregon, and much of California too. There are reminders throughout California in the names of course, the Russian River, which I had crossed yesterday, and nearby towns like Moscow and Sebastopol.
If it’s possible to be excited by timber joinery, then I was. It’s amazing to see how precisely these buildings were constructed in the absence of sliding compound mitre saws and laser levels, and how well they have lasted.
The Goonies (1985)
A few miles further south was another filming location on the tick-list. The Goonies is pretty much the film of my childhood, and still bears repeats today.
Goat Rock beach 2019, no Goonies anywhere
Fans of the film will recall the closing moments (spoilers, but who hasn’t seen The Goonies?) where the adventurers are gathered by the shore having escaped the cave, stand recounting their tale to local journalists when One-Eyed Willy’s galleon sails around the headland and off into the sunset. I had researched (Googled it) many years ago, thinking it looked like a lovely place to visit, and knowing it was close by I went to take a look. Goat Rock beach is the location in question, a large pebble cove with lots of rocky outcrops. It didn’t take me long to find the spot from the film. Regrettably there were no pirate ships or hoards of jewels to be seen, so I spent some time walking around and enjoying the sights and sounds of water on rocks before moving on.
Church and Road (Ansel Adams, 1953)
Just a little while on from here is Bodega Bay, I planned to return here for a proper look around, this area being the location for many of the scenes from Hitchcock’s classic horror The Birds. For now though I was just passing through. A few miles inland, and en-route to my destination for the evening I found the distinctive schoolhouse from the film. Now a private house, it looks exactly like it did in the film from nearly 60 years earlier. Predating The Birds, is Ansel Adam’s photograph Church and Road. I’ve long been an admirer of his pictures, and Church and Road is one of his most well-known images. As my luck would have it, the very same church stands adjacent to the old schoolhouse, and also makes an appearance in Hitchcock’s film.
I drove further inland, through the small town of Occidental, where the Howard Station Café provided an excellent lunch. As I continued the terrain changed quickly as the sunlight moved behind the thick tree cover. I was in redwood forest territory, and despite the sunny weather, it was much darker and cooler for a good thirty minutes as I navigated the windy road snaking its way through the forest.
As quickly as the forests had appeared, they were gone, and the landscape had changed again. As I followed the route along the path of the Russian River, there were no more steep forest lined valleys, this was a flat and rich flood plain, put to almost exclusive use for the production of grapes. This was definitely wine country. Every few hundred yards was a new vineyard, offering its tasting sessions. Sessions which, the cynic in me assumes culminate in tourists walking away with lighter wallets and crates of booze on order. The temptation was easily resisted as they were all closed, this being New Year’s Eve, and tourists thin on the ground.
Madrona Manor, Healdsburg
Before long I had reached my destination, a pretty Victorian-era mansion house, working as a small hotel and restaurant. I checked in and unpacked before spending a bit of time deciding where to bed the following day. I wanted to go back and explore Bodega Bay, and there were a few nice places to stay in the area, so tomorrow was booked for the Bodega Bay Lodge.
Before long, it was time for dinner. It being New Year’s Eve, there were quite a few tables booked for large families and couples who had decided to ring in the new year here. The room was decorated for the occasion too, and I was informed there would later be a band playing and ‘group’ entertainments arranged, and I ought to attend because, in the words of the waiter, ‘it would be fun’. Whilst I would certainly enjoy the band, experience had taught me that things described as ‘fun’ generally aren’t. See ‘fun-sized’ Mars Bars for example. If I was not on my own, there is a chance I could have been persuaded to engage in the festivities, but travelling solo and surrounded by so many families and couples I felt a bit out of place, so I managed to escape before any of the organised fun materialised, bah humbug and so on.
The first day of 2020 saw me check out of the hotel, but I left my car in the car park to take a walk into the town of Healdsburg and have a look around. As expected, most of the shops, cafés and bars were closed, but come midday, they started to open as I was exploring the town. I treated myself to some cufflinks and a t-shirt by way of a reminder of my visit from a little clothes shop, then I sat down to eat in a bar hiding amongst the shops before walking back up to the hotel.
I took my time and went the long way around, enjoying the picturesque route though the redwood forests and back out to the coast before checking in to Bodega Bay Lodge and planning the final days of my trip.
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