I’ve often heard and read of the redwood forests of California. Today I got to hike in them. Well in one of them, Muir Woods. The first mile or so is along the river bank. These magnificent trees are enormous, up to 360 feet high, and higher in other places, I’m told. Despite a clear sunny day, not a lot of light gets down to ground level and it’s quite cool. As we leave the main trail and begin to climb, we warm up. It’s a beautiful hiking trail, on a soft turfy path, winding upwards through the trees. Many of them carry the marks of charring. When I meet a ranger, I ask him about this and says there was burning here in the 1980s and that the bark has not yet fully recovered.

After a little over an hour, we emerge onto a clear shoulder of Mount Tamalpais and into glorious sunshine and stunning views that stretch for miles to the south, as far as San Francisco and Ocean Beach. Half a mile on, there is a car park and forestry office, where a friendly ranger gives us bottles of water and wishes us well for our hike.

The downward trek is in open country, in the sunshine and we get back to the car about 5 o’clock. A short drive, though we went wrong twice, to Sausalito for dinner overlooking the bay, it really is a beautiful spot, and on to the airport for a flight to Boston.