I started this ride where I intended to finish it ... opposite the Coronado Ferry on San Diego's Embarcadero
I planned to ride clockwise round the Bay ... passing the dock and industrial areas first and finishing in Coronado ... before completing the loop by ferry.
On the Embarcadero you can view a wide range of vessels ... from the 19thC sailing ship Star of India, through steam boats, a Russian submarine and modern cruise liners.
Also on display are numerous modern sculptures.
The harbourside is also home to the massive aircraft carrier the USS Midway which is now a floating museum.
Opposite the Medway the Port of San Diego have obtained on loan Seward Johnson's sculpture Unconditional Surrender.
The 25-foot high sculpture is reminiscent of Eisenstadt's photo of a sailor and a nurse kissing in Times Square on VJ Day.
Turning southwestward I faced the massive hotels adjacent to the waterfront and the Convention Centre.
Alongside new apartment blocks are springing up within a stone's throw of San Diego's lively Gaslamp Quarter.
I passed alongside Seaport Village which houses an eclectic mix of colourful tourist shops and restaurants.
Alongside the waterfront the bike route shares its path with walkers and joggers ... so it's appropriate to dawdle and admire the sights.
I looped around northern arm of Embarcadero Marina Park which encloses the Marina.
This park provides views of the Marina and across the Bay to Coronado as well as being a popular venue for walks and picnics.
A second loop took me round Embarcadero Marina Park South ... which provides more views of San Diego's iconic skyline.
On the way round I passed a group of fire fighters ... who were fitting in a bout of exercise.
The cycle route then squeezes its way between the massive Convention Centre and the waterfront. This gave me the opportunity to inspect the stream of lorries delivering goods to the back entrance.
I emerged at the southern end of the Centre opposite Petco Park ... the home of San Diego Padres' baseball team.
From here the route leaves tourist San Diego and heads south through the dock, industrial and military areas adjacent to the waterside.
I was accompanied by the clangs of the trolley buses which run alongside Harbor Drive.
I passed the Ebel Clock Tower sited alongside the Gaslamp/Convention Center trolley bus station ... after which the road climbs gently to cross over dock-side railway sidings.
Ahead I could see the bight blue underside of the San Diego/Coronado Bay Bridge.
The area around the bridge ... Chicano Park ... was the site of community action in 1970 by Mexican-Americans after a period when developments such as Highway 5 and the bridge infrastructure had been driven through their neighbourhood.
The Park contains dozens of brightly painted murals and is now recognised as an official historic site.
One of the old fish processing factories alongside Harbor Drive was covered with murals of colourful seascapes.
I then passed under the Bay Bridge ... and the cycle lane turns to cross railway lines.
Not long after the cycle lane disappears and you have to take your chances with the traffic.
Unfortunately the signs for the Bay Route Bikeway also disappeared so I chose to zig-zag through the back-roads of Chula Vista to avoid the traffic.
Further on I returned to the coast and passed one of the military establishments where I was warned not to take photographs by a friendly guard.
The Bay then becomes decidedly more industrial ... with a big oil-fired generating plant ... followed by a salt works.
The works contained an enormous pile of salt which was glistening in the sunshine.
The route passed the large salt pans ... and then turned away from industry to cross Otay River Marsh.
The quiet of the marsh is a welcome change from the noise of the traffic.
At the southern end of South Bay I turned to cross a few blocks of Imperial Beach before joining an off-road bike path.
This path was originally the route of the track of the old Coronado Branch of the San Diego & Arizona Eastern railroad. This quiet route now provides an excellent vantage point over the wildlife refuge at the southern end of the bay.
Where the path meets the Ocean is sited a giant cage ... colloquially called a Dinosaur Cage.
The cage is the remains of a 1960s radio direction finding system which was part of a network used to track submarines.
San Diego Bay is separated from the Pacific by a narrow stretch of sand which runs 12 kilometres from Imperial Beach, through the gated community of Coronado Cays and past Silver Strand Beach to Coronado itself.
As you travel northward San Diego's skyline gradually becomes more prominent ... rising above the Bay Bridge.
Approaching Coronado the iconic red roofs of the hotel come into view from behind a clutch of palms.
The Hotel del Coronado was constructed in 1888 and was the location where the future Edward VIII first met Wallis Simpson.
For most people however the hotel is more memorable as a location in Some Like It Hot where it was cinematically transferred to Miami.
After exploring the hotel grounds ... I didn't think that they would welcome a cyclist inside ... I continued round the Bay and back under the Bay Bridge.
The bridge has a bend in the middle which rather spoils its otherwise elegant lines.
All I had to do now to complete my circuit was to find my way the ferry for the trip back to the City.
The ferry runs hourly and I had plenty of time to have a leisurely coffee alongside the terminal.
I got into conversation with a local resident, Peter Falstrup, who regularly cycles around Coronado. It turned out that he had once lived not far from me in Devon and had rowed for Cambridge against Oxford in the Boat Race.
The ferry returns to San Diego via a short stop at North Island Naval Station ... so for security reasons the Captain held my bike while I showed him the contents of my bike bag.
As all was well the ferry set off back to the city.
Now I had the difficult task of choosing the next coffee stop ...
Kirby James
