Fort Ross ish to Mill Valley- 91 (plus bonus 7)

Oh my, what an adventure, day time and night time.

We experienced the 17 miles of hills to Jenner that Mike had covered (twice) to start the day off. It was a cool start but mild and rather jolly, as our spirits were high.

A lovely deep sleep helped, after yesterday's long day and super tasty cod sandwich for supper. Plus a nice dosage of happy hormones set the tone nicely.

The road hugged the coastline and it could only be classed as a hilly day, undulating just doesn't do it.

We stayed below the mist line for quite a while before a quick sprinkling as we darted through some low lying cloud.

Our two stop strategy worked well and we went a little off piste at 56miles to hunt another chai tea latte. The locals have taken a marked turn towards new-ageness. Gone are the oversize dungarees, long shot guns and rectangle beards. Hello silver haired yoga floaty ladies.

Some surfer sightings too, perhaps the first of many to come.

And what we thought could be a freshly discovered corpse on the cliffside (see blue bag) that my eagle eyed partner spotted:

It was all go go go!

The hills kept coming as we turned inland  toward San Fran and the good old legs kept turning.

The sun had got his best hat on again as the roads became more inhabited and we knew a change in tempo was fast approaching.

The maps are a bit of a nightmare to read as the font is so tiny and in busy places I envy those with their garmins to guide them. I had a human garmin instead who did a fantastic job of guiding us through. 

Somewhat nervous about L.A!

The area here is pretty affluent, like most of the areas the last couple days in fact. 

Before today we've been past some  rundown and ramshackle buildings, but never really rough though. People do keep a load of junk in their yards though. Either they can't be arsed to clear it or can't afford to tip it.

That was actually going to be my summary of it being Pierre's last day tomorrow.

So after arriving, at the end of a long tough day we decide to go and source an ipad. The Apple store isn't too far, we'll take our bikes. To cut a much longer, I still can't believe it, story short we found it and got home 4hours later. If anyone ever suggests cycling to get an ipad again one evening, remind me to say let's leave it til tomorrow :-) Good Night everyone!

Fort Bragg to Fort Ross/Jenner-78m

I still don't know where we are, is it Fort Ross or is it Jenner? 

There's been excitement in the near loss of one member of the group, who was awol until half an hour ago. Steve had gone so far as to call the Sheriff!

Orange Mike had missed the hotel turn off and was riding naked (with no Garmin! Dead battery) so had lost track of the mileage. A helpful local lady had then told him the hotel was 18m the other way, in Jenner. 

So, Mike's earnt himself a steak the size of a saddle tonight.

Before the day had even got started there had been more emergency action with Colin having to go to ER last night, very unwell. 

He's dosed up now and hopefully a couple days with the marvellously soothing Geoff, in the van, will see him back on the pedals again.

Steve might need a significant number of beers ce soir after all this work, piled on what was already felt a demanding day on the tarmac.

The route was far from flat, although started off deceivingly pleasant. Constant undulations as the route wiggled along the shoreline in and out, with each 'in' sending you charging down to a hairpin, requiring a slamming on of the anchors and then a turtle like crawl back up the other side. The men folk seemed to find the momentum to get back up the other side, me less so.

40miles in and the mist came down, our first encounter.

Then 15 dampish miles later, goodbye mist! Hello picnic in the sun!

Then 5miles later, agh, mist!

As luck would have it as we coasted into our hotel the sun was back shimmering on the water, time for a trip to the hot tub!

Leggett to Fort Bragg-48m

We started the morning with a trip to the drive-through (I can't bring myself to write thru) tree.

Which we sort of walked through :-)

Then it was time to descend out of Leggett, before climbing right back up again, before whizzing down, then ascending again. In the early morning sun, ahead of any cars it was a spectacular couple of hours to Westport. 

We got swept by the sweeper, much to his delight, aided on the downhills by his er heavier bike :-)

As we left the trees we were back on the coast again, evading the ever-unpopular sea mist. And getting acquainted with our new friend, Highway 1.

It's been such a switch off these last two weeks and 912miles, magical times for us.

On arriving at Fort Bragg, Steve and Geoff were busy with their meeting, on the terrace, overlooking the ocean, checking their beers still tasted ok. They seem to be having a whale of a time.

So we took a walk into town to sample some ice creams, which we need to do more of! 

People are unbelievably friendly here. Cars stop even when it's on green, to let us cross, a lady told me she loved my pink trainers in Safeway and another lady exclaimed 'wow, cute couple' as we strolled by!

Halloween is in all the shops, these guys have decided to dress up as The Birds (sorry about that, 8pm is late for me to be awake blogging haha).

Redcrest to Leggett-65miles

With polystyrene hat uneaten, just like a significant proportion of the humungous pizzas last night, Pierre's stomach lived on, to embrace another day in the land of the super-size!

A wonderful time was had by all staying at the cabins and we were all eager to be back on the road amongst the Giants.

Pierre and I went off the route to hunt out a tree with a 53 foot circumference.

As I stood waiting at one point, while he went on a further investigation, all I could hear was whistling in my ears. The sound of silence, deep in the forest. A rare experience indeed. Pierre might say the same thing :-)

Pierre put his helmet next to the trunk, to give some scale to the girth:

It was cool in the forest, so quite a contrast when we emerged out into the well-established heat of the day. Very nice.

My legs were nowhere today, luckily there were lots of excuses to stop and take photos or have yet another nature break.

Just when I was thinking there hadn't been any new wildlife spots today, this little chap caught my eye on the road, stealthily creeping his way along.

Tonight we are at Leggett, a remote little place, famous for it's drive through tree. And soon to be infamous for Geoff's fresh Chinook salmon on the barbie. 

Which, I must say was thoroughly nyum nyum nyum.

As George summarised quite a few nights back, food was great, company even better :-)

Arcata to Redcrest-60m

Amongst some of the menfolk, 3 in particular, there is a growing daily respect in relation to who has been able to eat the most. With the gauntlet thrown down last night (by the tallest one of the three), that the medium size french one wouldn't possibly be able to manage a 16inch pizza by himself tonight, the evening supper today amongst the redwoods promised to be most entertaining. Especially as the tall leader-ish one declared he would eat his polystyrene hat if the cheeky french one managed it.

After yesterday's soaking, to be shedding the layers again was an absolute joy.

We pottered our way around the large town of Eureka, with it's american style victorian buildings and bohemian shops.

Steve, in full on sweep mode.

Then the route threaded past the docks and out to farmland again, with the distant forest drawing us closer.

A wonderful coffee shop in Ferndale and I could indulge in another cinnamon swirl and my playmate made a start on a brownie that weighed about a kilo.

Then the arm warmers were off, Steve was singing and we joyfully made our way to the hills.

The Avenue of the Giants is a truly wonderous place indeed. I can see why the indians spoke of the spirits in the trees. We certainly all felt in awe of their grandeur.

Look at us here!

I hope you can get some sense of the scale. The men spoke of their wood being somewhat inferior :-)

After much marvelling (and filling our cleats with ferns), we coasted through the first five miles of the Avenue and arrived at Redcrest. 

This house under a tree is 2500 years old!

So now we are in full on holiday mode in our cabins amongst the forest. 

With a hot tub in the sun:

and later pizzas on the veranda:

After the rain there's always a rainbow :-)

Crescent City to Arcata-72m

In a month of cycling, waking to the sound of trucks smashing through heavily sodden roads is going to be inevitable.

Mantras for today included:

1. There's only one thing worse than cycling in this weather....not cycling in it.

2. You've been vanned twice in your cycling life, and always regretted it.

3. Nothing lasts forever.

4. You'll be in the bath before you can say chai tea latte.

5. You've been through worse in the Alps, Croatia and Norfolk!

6. And, in the immortal words of Phillip of the East 'we're here to cycle'.

So, with those words in mind and positive mental attitudes firmly in place, we were the first to set off into the torrential rain (every day so far, we've been the last to get going!) 

The route was really quite awesome today, regardless of the precipitation.

 We took in the first part of the Redwood Highway and truly marvelled at the giants towering over us. The most wonderous trees I've cycled under (not the big big one yet Paul).

When we were close to the coast the waves brutality added to the sense of crazy adventure. I was slightly less than enthusiastic when we encountered the 'british road' as Steve had fore-warned us of. But I managed to navigate the pot holes, with some encouragement from my team mate about my nice lines :-)

No stops today, in an attempt to retain some minimal body warmth, being soaked through. 

I got to flash my moons again, as some lucky holidaymakers chose to leave a resort just as I was taking a nature break. Not what they expected to see over the dashboard at 11am.

The sense of achievement as we honed in on destination Super 8 Motel was ace. George even shook Pierre's hand :-)

Understandably George and Monique took the van, after a little deliberation. George is 75 and they are an absolute inspiration. It sounds as though they've been on the road exploring the world together for the best part of four years. The epitomy of seizing the day.

Moira and Colin also vanned it, first thing, worried about trucks and wet downhills. 

Truck numbers were well down today and other road users were 99% of the time excellent today, giving us loads of extra room.

After thawing out in the shower: 

It was time to hunt and gather....

Us guys did good today.

P.s. Most creatures were too sensible to be out, to be spotted today. Of note though was our first sighting in Arcata of a very inebriated man reading a paper upside down drinking out of a brown paper bag at the bus stop!