This is a run I have tried to do every year for 5 or 6 years when our family goes to Santa Monica in March to attend the Kids’ Choice Awards (my wife works for Nickelodeon). Most years I have to get back to the hotel too early to stretch this run out to its proper length, but in 2019 I got to go as far as I wanted, and the run just got more and more beautiful as I went.

Just a few miles off the beach, with all its weird, sordid, appealing chaos, you can be high above the city and the ocean, surrounded by scrub trees with nothing but mountains and vegetation in view. It entails a lot of climbing, but if you’re up for it the rewards are immense.