House Sitting in Hermosa

It’s been 4 months since our last house sit adventure, but this weekend we’re back in the saddle again. We headed down to Hermosa again last night, and vowed to “seize the day” each morning, by walking along the beach to make the most of this lovely California location.

The cats we’re looking after have grown so much since our New Year visit. It didn’t take them long to befriend us again, and it was like we’d never been away – I think it might be “cupboard-love”!

We planned to walk to Hermosa Pier; find a place to have a coffee, and then wander back – all in all, about a 2 mile round trip.

There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the beach was so peaceful, so we decided to continue to the end of Hermosa Beach and keep going until we reach the next Pier along the coastline – Redondo.

Whereas Hermosa is a sleepy beach town, with a small pedestrian pier, Redondo has a marina with sports fishing boats, and a large pier with restaurants and shops.

[important] Read about our New Years House sit in Hermosa Beach and view some fabulous sunset photos of Hermosa Beach Pier [/important]

It took us about 45 minutes to reach the marina, where the pedestrian walkway split off into multiple routes, and we got lost in the maze of the jetty and pier.

We hunted around for an open coffee shop, but no luck. It seemed like the obvious place to have one, but everywhere was shut up tight this early in the morning.

There’s something a little bit sad about a deserted pier – even the clowns couldn’t cheer it up.

We eventually made it out of the maze of walkways around the pier, and asked a couple of runners where to head-to for coffee, and they gave us directions to “Sacks on the Beach” in Redondo Village.

It was a bit of a hike to get there, and when I checked my Fitbit step tracker, our “quick morning stroll” had led us 5 miles. So coffee was expanded to include a much deserved breakfast.

In all the years we’ve lived in Los Angeles, neither of us had been to this part of the beach-cities area, and I’m not sure we’d make a special effort to come here again.

But the saving grace was the delicious breakfast; the views; and a salty, ocean breeze pushing us back home.

By the time we made it back to Hermosa Pier, the beach was filling up with a Volley Ball Tournament, and the “Strand”, which is the bike path adjacent to the beach, was a hive of activity.

The Beach Tennis Association were plotted up next along the beach, and their games were already in full swing. (I’ve gone this far in my life without even realizing that Beach Tennis was an actual sport!) It looked like the spectators were planning on getting comfy for the duration. The furniture of choice was inflatable couches! May look like a good idea – but would they make you all hot and sweaty?

As we walked the last couple of miles back “home”, it was like listening to a radio being tuned. We heard flashes of conversation that became louder as people got closer, and then faded as they walked by. Californian accents were interspersed with a melee of international languages. Fragments of banal conversations were book-ended by snippets of an intriguing sound-bites that tempted me to turn on my heels and follow – just so I could hear the end of the story.

The static between these conversations was the sound of waves smashing the sand and crawling up the beach.