California - it's a trip

Go Feedback: Mark Roddendrives the breathtaking Pacific Highway – with The Thrills on full blast

RULE NUMBER ONE when you plan to drive on a major Californian road: keep an eye out for the Highway Patrol.

We were picked out by a keen-eyed police officer for going a little over the 65 mile an hour speed limit and he didn’t hesitate to hand out a ticket.

Perhaps it was the fact we were listening to the music of Dublin band The Thrills that had caused us to momentarily lose track of our speed.

Because when you are driving on the Pacific Coast Highway, songs such as Big Surand Santa Cruz (You're Not That Far)suddenly have a lot more relevance.

The mention of a great American road trip will have most people thinking of Route 66 – the famous highway that connected the east and west of the country. But a drive along State Route 1 – also known as the Pacific Coast Highway – is another spectacular experience.

Often referred to as PCH or simply “The One” by locals, it’s a lengthy artery that joins Los Angeles and San Francisco. Winding its way alongside the breathtaking Pacific Ocean, it takes in some of the most beautiful scenery that California has to offer. While there may be quicker ways to get between the two cities, none is anywhere near as enchanting.

We started out in Long Beach, about 20 miles south of downtown Los Angeles, and beat the infamous early morning traffic by setting off at dawn.

Beginning on Route 101, our first stop on the coast was two hours away in Santa Barbara, nicknamed the American Riviera. Numerous celebrities have houses – or in Oprah Winfrey’s case, mansions – in the area.

As well as its beaches and mountains, Santa Barbara has plenty to offer wine enthusiasts. Fans of Sidewayscan visit wineries in the Santa Ynez Valley, 45 minutes north of the city, where the Oscar-nominated film was set.

Like many visitors to California we were on the lookout for celebrities and it didn't take long to find one. When we stopped off at a popular café in Santa Barbara, Christopher Lloyd of Back to the Futurefame was next to us tucking into an early-morning breakfast.

Another couple of hours down the road, roughly halfway between LA and San Francisco, is Hearst Castle. Situated above a bay in San Simeon, it was built in 1919 at the behest of newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst.

It's easy to see how this enormous site inspired the Xanadu estate of Charles Foster Kane, as depicted in the classic Orson Welles film Citizen Kane. Tours of the 165-room home, which is packed with artworks from around the world, are conducted throughout the day.

On our way there, we had to double-take when we saw zebra grazing behind a fence next to the highway.

They are a legacy of Hearst’s decision to build the world’s largest private zoo on the grounds of his castle, which he probably used to impress the many major players from Hollywood and politics who attended parties there in the 1930s.

The zebra weren’t the only unusual animals we saw. A little further up the road, on a beach below the PCH, was a group of fascinating, if ungainly, Elephant seals.

On the next stretch of the trip, the speed limits drop to 30 and 40 miles an hour as cars weave their way along the Big Sur coastline. But as slow as the driving was, the next few hours were extremely rewarding.

With the coast on one side, huge netting is in place on the other to prevent rock falls. It seems like it was a worthwhile investment too, as imposing boulders hang in the nets at various intervals. There are numerous viewing points along the Big Sur coastline, one of the most memorable being at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. There we stumbled upon McWay Falls, a waterfall that flows out onto a beautiful, peaceful cove at the mouth of the Pacific.

Further north, you can explore the area around Carmel, which includes the famous Pebble Beach Golf Club and 17-Mile Drive. Clint Eastwood was once mayor of the town, and by all accounts he’s still spotted there occasionally. Beyond it is Monterey, the one-time capital of California under the flags of both Spain and Mexico. It’s home to Cannery Row, the waterfront street where John Steinbeck’s novel of the same name was set, and is also a good location for whale watching.

San Francisco is only a couple of hours away but your journey need not end there. A few days later, on our way back to the city from a visit to the Napa Valley, we stopped off at Muir Woods National Monument, home to a forest of colossal redwood trees, some of which are 600 years old.

The Pacific Coast Highway is close to so many points of interest that you can take as long as you want to finish it. We managed it in about 13 hours – with several scenic pit stops along the way – but it is probably worth much more time than that. Best of all, the captivating view of the vast blue sea that accompanies you for much of the way means you will be reluctant to reach the journey’s end.

• Aer Lingus flies to San Francisco, LAX and Long Beach Airport (though not directly). aerlingus.com Air Canada flies Dublin to LAX via Toronto. aircanada.com Continental Airlines flies Dublin to LAX via Newark. continental.com. Fly and drive packages are also available. See flydriveusa.ie and touramerica.ie