Highway 101

The fact that I never go to casinos, play poker or gamble in any form now is less a question of moral fibre than it is the result of a lifetime spent on the losing end. I am hopelesly unlucky at the table.

At car rental companies, however, things are very different. South America aside, I have always been given an upgrade, often 2 levels up. This time, a Chevrolet two-door wheelchair that I booked from "Enterprise rent-a-car" turned out to be a silver Jeep Wrangler four-door SUV. It didn't have 4x4 but for goodness sake, we're in California.

While on the subject of car rentals, a tip. One way drop-offs in USA are far cheaper if done within a state - in my case, San Diego to San Francisco. Once you cross a state, the branch where you hired the car from will never see it again, which is why they charge quite a lot. Try avoid Avis or Hertz unless you absolutely have to - or don't care about money. Enterprise rent-a-car were cheap, fast, efficient and friendly. Go with them.

The 7-lane Highway 5 took me back to Irvine (where Paul dropped me off), then the 405 to Santa Monica. I'm not a fan of LA or any of its peripheral beach districts, including Venice, Santa Monica, and the nice-sounding but truly dismal Malibu. This stretch for me, then, was an unavoidable fly-by, the sooner I was out of it the better.

Once past Santa Monica, Highway 1 officially begins. The first two hours are unremarkable. Don't even bother stopping at Oxnard, Santa Barbara or any place along the early stretch. I made this mistake and ended up in another time warp. Stick to Highway 1, because where you want to be, in the fastest possible time, is on the Pacific Coast Highway, the 101.

There is an air force base on a coastal corner where the 1 turns inland and somewhere along the way morphs into the 101. As the road elevates and houses disappear, the Pacific breeze strengthens and you get your first taste of what, finally, can be called scenery.

The drive recommended by Paul (and my trusted Daily Telegraph travel section) starts at Morrow Bay, which is where I stopped for the night, some 300 miles north of where I set off.