Friday May 22, 2015

What a great day of riding. It is amazing what a day’s rest does for you. We started of following the coastal bike path to Cleone.

We crossed the rail bridge.  Ralf took this photo yesterday, but I thought I would use it today, as it is on the coastal bike path.

This is where the trail falls into the sea.

At this point Ralf discovered that he had lost his flag and cycled back 2 ks to find it.

After we left the small town of Cleone we started our first climb, not too steep but we knew it was going to be a long day of climbing and it was.

The fog came in from the sea and covered the coastal road and up through the wooded hills. We had our lights on for a while and of course were wearing our hi-vis jackets. I never was very keen on riding in the fog, but it made it very scenic.

After Westport and the first set of hills, I thought we had done the “big” climb. I asked Ralf if we had reached the top and he very quietly said no we have a little ways to go yet. I then realized we hadn’t even started the ‘big’ climb. 1,451 metres of climbing over about 10 kms, the grade never got steeper than 9% and we just kept peddling. When we eventually got to the top after a few false summits, we had a 4.5 mile 7% grade downhill. The funny thing was Ralf had to wait for me more times on the downhill than he did on the uphill. I don’t like going too fast especially on curvy roads.

As we were climbing through the great forestry area we heard the tell-tale signs of an air-horn and the chain saw. It was so sad that in this beautiful area they are logging.

We arrived at the very small Town of Leggett and noticed the signs for the “Drive-Thru Tree”. We had to make a detour and visit it.

It was such a nice area, picnic area, gift shop and of course the tree. It is purported to be over 2,400 years old.

We were hoping to have a good lunch in Leggett but nothing was open and we were told to go 2 miles down the road and there would be a place to eat and a small store. We had an ice-cream at the Chandalier tree and spent some time taking photos.

Across the road from the State Park campground was the store and cafe/restaurant. They had the best burger Ralf has eaten (so he said), that shows how hungry he was. I had a lovely salmon burger which was really good. We went across the road to the campsite and registered – $5.00 each hiker/biker. A nice site, but a little buggy – mossies abound.

We chatted to a young couple (Stephanie and David) who are cycling for Habitat for Humanity and met up with the Dutch couple that we saw on the road a couple of days ago (Froujke and Paul).

We are now definitely in Redwood Country.

Thursday May 21, 2015

An early rest day for us. We were woken up in the night, not by raccoons, but by an alarm clock going of in the room next to ours. Needless to say there was no one in the room and as it was past midnight, no one at the reception desk. We put ear plugs in and went back to sleep. I woke up at 7:30 am, feeling exhausted, although I felt as if I had slept well after the alarm incident. However, I am usually awake at 6:00 a.m. most days, so 7:30 was a little late for me. I was a little annoyed as we needed to get moving today as we had the biggest climb coming up and a long day to get to the State Park after Leggett. Plus the issue with going through the Avenue of the Giants during Memorial Day week-end.

After we went over to get our continental breakfast, Ralf asked me if I needed a rest day. I told him we couldn’t afford it – time-wise and financially we have to cut back on the motels. He took one look at me and said “you look like hell, you need a rest day”. I was going to argue with him, but I realized he was right and went back to bed. I woke up again at 11:30 a.m. I guess I needed some sleep.

The day started of as usual grey and a little foggy, by the time I got up again the sun was peaking out and the wind would have been behind us. We would have had a tail-wind to climb the hill, bugger.

I updated the blog today and Ralf went for a ride in the afternoon.

Across the road from the motel was a property that looked as if it was military land. Ralf discovered it was lumber company land.

Fort Bragg had three mills in its hey day. The last one left in 2002 leaving hundreds out of work. The City bought 95% of the land with the provision that the lumber company clean it up before the exchange. They didn’t and the land has been left.

Ralf cycled to crystal beach, but it wasn’t much to look at.

He discovered the museum with this huge slab of redwood. The height of the tree was 334 feet. It\’s estimated age is 1,753 years old.  It took a saw that was 22 feet long to cut it and it took 60 man hours to cut it down. Now that is sad, 60 hours to kill a 1,753 year old tree.

He showed it to me later, I particularly liked the timeline of this ancient tree.

Often when Ralf is out on his own, discovering the Town he will get chatting to people about their houses or businesses. He had spotted this tower from the road and discovered it was part of a Bed and Breakfast.

The owner who was working in the garden invited him in to view the tower which was an old water tower and has been converted into rooms for the B&B.

Of course, when Ralf spotted the old rail yard he had to go in and investigate.

The Skunk Rail Company is hoping to extend their line to Fort Bragg in the near future. It was called the skunk rail, because of the mixtures of coal for the locomotive and gas that they used to heat the carriages smelled so bad that the surrounding landowners knew when the train was coming because of the smell it created.

After dinner, we went for a walk around the Town together and had some ice-cream.  The historic downtown of Fort Bragg is quite nice.  If you stay on the main road you miss the nice old buildings of the downtown.  This is on the Main Street.

Wednesday May 20, 2015

A cool start to the day again. As we were about to leave the Manchester KOA, Ciara and Emily showed up on a school bus. Ciara has been having problems with her chain, and they managed to get a ride on the school bus. The kindness of strangers at work.

It was not a good days riding for me today. I was feeling cold, achy and I had left the legs at the campsite, basically no energy. I knew I had a 60 k ride to Fort Bragg or 70 k to the State Park and again another hilly ride. I am not sure why I had no energy, we have been eating well, it could be the cool, damp nights and the restless sleep for the past few nights or the fact that we have climbed over 3,225 metres over the last four days.

There are not many photos today, every time Ralf stopped to take photos I needed to carry on. I told him I just needed to keep peddling because otherwise I would not make the ride today. If I keep cycling then Ralf has to do double-quick time to catch up, which is harder on him.

We saw a few single-touring cyclists heading south and we only got a wave from them. Then we came across four cyclists chatting to each other. We crossed to join in the conversation. Two women were heading south and the Dutch couple were heading north with us. The Dutch couple have been on the road for eight months cycling around the US with a break in the Baja Peninsula to reset their American visa. The women were on a two-week trip down to San Francisco. While we were all comparing notes, one of the women commented on the fact that they were only doing two-weeks. I said “all cycle trips are important whether you are cycling to work, you are able to cycle for two weeks or two years they are all accomplishments. But, be warned after doing a few shorter trips they only get longer”. The women were going motel to motel, and mentioned that Fort Bragg had expensive motels, the one they stayed in would not allow them to bring the bikes into the room. Oh well, I thought, we will have to push it to the State Park, although I really wanted a motel room for a good nights sleep.

We all went our separate ways and Ralf and I got into Fort Bragg at about 1:30. I was knackered, the last few hills really knocked me down. We stopped in Safeway and while I was picking up lunch Ralf was calling motels for prices. He found the Ebb Tide Lodge for $65.00 including taxes. The rooms are a little tired, but clean and big white fluffy towels and friendly people. We often find that if the motel is owned by an Indian family we can get a deal. If they are the big chain motels, we may be able to get a discount, but more often than not we cannot.

I needed to get my bike checked out, the front chain ring was a little sluggish in changing. It was either an adjustment or a new chain. It was a new chain, brake pads and he cleaned the bike. Ralf needed a new chain as well. Fort Bragg Cyclery is a very good shop, reasonably priced and did all the work there and then. Really important for a touring cyclist to be able to get work done quickly.

We walked back up to Safeway and got something for dinner. An early night was in store for us.

As we looked at the maps for the next few days, we realized we have not planned this leg of the trip very well. We will be in the Avenue of the Giants (redwoods) during Memorial Day long week-end. I hope we can get into the State Parks, as I am sure all the other camping sites and motels will be full.

Tuesday May 19, 2015

Although this photo was taken a few days ago (Samuel State Park), and last night was not as cold as this night, we are often dressed like this when we are in the tent, it is cool and damp on the Northern Californian coastline.

A cool damp night at Salt Point, but we woke up to blue skies. It was a little chilly to start the day, but it was a lovely ride.

The profile on the ACA maps indicated rolling hills. Of course by the time you have gone up and down a few dozen times, it tends to take its toll on the legs, even if they are not steep hills.

We cycled through the pretty Town of Gualala, lots of little shops and restaurants. I wish we had managed to get here yesterday. However, beware if you visit this  Town there are dinosaurs about.

Along the route we saw a few cyclists, we thought it odd to have a club ride on a Tuesday. By the time we got to Point Arena we had seen over 50 riders and a couple of support vans. This was the Climate Ride. These cyclists have to raise $2800 and $100 registration to take part in this ride. The Climate not for profit organization hosts three rides and two hikes a year. You can choose from a variety of charities that it supports to donate the money you raise for these rides. The Climate Ride that these guys were taking part in was a three night, four day ride, that equates to spending $1,000 a day, Wow. That would keep us on the road for at least a month. There were approximately 160 cyclists. I got a big energy surge from them, as we were peddling up the hills with our loaded bikes, they would be cheering us on and shouting encouragement. We did the same to them when we were hurtling down the hills and they were struggling up them.

We stopped in Point Arena for lunch and to go into the library for the free internet. I was wondering whether to stop to update the blog or get to the campsite to get some laundry done. Fortunately, I had everything ready for the blog – photos sized etc. it took me about 45 minutes to update the blog and check on warmshowers. No warmshowers for a while.

There was a short, sharp hill out of Point Arena and few more hills to get to Manchester.

Tonight’s stop is at a KOA, which are usually expensive. This one has a biker/hiker rate $10.00 each. The camp site is excellent, flat and grassy with excellent facilities including a camp kitchen like in New Zealand/Australia.

As we arrived at the KOA we saw a young man cycling from the State Park, we told him that the KOA had biker/hiker rates, he opted to stop for the night. He was not very chatty, and stayed in his tent for most of the time. We didn’t even get to exchange names.

As we were having dinner another touring cyclist showed up – Neil. Neil is cycling from Seattle to San Francisco visiting craft breweries along the way. He was very chatty and sociable. I wonder who is having the most fun on their trip? Different strokes for different folks.

Part of the enjoyment of our trip has been meeting and chatting to people along the way. Neil, Ralf and I chatted to two brothers who had been coming to this camp-site with their Dad for the past 30 years. Now they were bringing their sons with them.

I had a look in the camp shop for something I could wear at night while camping. I found a pair of kids sweat pants for $7.50. They are light enough to carry in the pannier, but warm enough to wear in camp and to the restrooms. The only problem was I couldn’t get the elasticated cuff over my large calf muscles, I had to cut the elasticated cuff so they would fit.

Monday May 18, 2015

Another typical start to the day on the North Californian Coast – cool, overcast and a little windy.

It took me a while to warm up and I was considering switching jackets to my heavier one, but by the time we had gone up a couple of hills, I had warmed up.

Today was another hilly ride, with a couple of long climbs over 500 feet.

We followed the coastline almost all of the day, we did come inland briefly, but not for very long.

There were some areas of coast that the houses had fallen into the ocean. Very precarious living in this area.

Although we were hugging the coast, we were also seeing a lot of farming (small farms). Some of them had signs on them saying they were protected in perpetuity by the agricultural society of California.

Today we saw a lot of wild flowers, the yellow ones that I really like, a variety of lupins and sweetpeas, and red hot pokers all hanging on to scrubby pieces of soil. Ralf said he would take photos of them, but unfortunately there was no opportunity to stop when we saw a good showing of flowers. I am not sure when he got this shot for me.

We also saw an amazing sight, the first time ever of an Osprey with a fish in its talons. Of course, we were struggling up a hill and it only landed briefly on the tree before heading out again. Ralf and I said at the same time, “Did you see that?” No where to stop and of course no chance of a photo.

The deer that popped her head out to see if the coast was clear got a bit of a shock as we silently came up the hill she high-tailed it back into the woodland. Actually she probably heard me coming, breathing heavily on a hill and my heart pounding out of my chest.

Fort Ross has an Historic State Park which has a Russian Fort as part of the park.

As we crossed the road to take a photo, I noticed the windmill. As per our longstanding game of spotting windmills, I called it. Unfortunately I almost gave Ralf a heart-attack as he was crossing two lanes of traffic on a corner. He thought I was shouting about traffic, he had a few choice words to say to me about when and where to “call” windmills.

We stopped for lunch in Fort Ross. According to the ACA map the convenience store was closed, so we thought we might have to push it to Gualala, as we needed sauce for the pasta. Fortunately, the store was open and they had a small café and wi-fi. I checked email, sent a warmshowers request and checked to see where Janet and Stephen were. Hopefully tomorrow in Manchester, the KOA will have wi-fi and I can update the blog.

I was feeling a little tired today, but if I had known that this State Park did not have showers (only toilets with cold water) I would have pushed it to Gualala. We had already paid the $12.00 before we found this out!

As we were getting organized and setting up the tent, two young women arrived. Ciara and Emily are from Kingston and are heading north as well. They are basically doing the same amount of miles a day as we are but did not buy the ACA maps. After I showed them the maps they decided to get the two remaining maps sent to them.  They are taking a rest day tomorrow.  We will probably see them again, further up the coast.

Sunday May 17, 2015

We had robbers in the night. A masked ‘man’ stole our bread and was trying to get into the trail mix before Ralf scared him away with the flashlight and yelled at him. Yes, our first encounter with raccoons. We had, as usual, left our panniers on the bikes and had them covered with the yellow covers and the bike cover. The amazing thing with the raccoon was he did not damage the panniers. The raccoon had peeled back the yellow cover and UNZIPPED the pannier, honestly he unzipped the pannier. (The photo shows what the raccoon had to do to get into the pannier)!

He had eaten a loaf of bread before Ralf got out of the tent and scared him away. Ralf then took both panniers and put them in the food safe. Rocky was not happy and Ralf could hear him growling away at him from the trees.

Needless to say we will be using the food-safes that are provided at the camp-sites from now on.

It took us a while to get back to sleep after the encounter, but we both eventually slept until 6:30, when the rest of the campers started to wake up. Zips on tents make a lot of noise early in the morning.

After breakfast we were packed and away by 8:30 am.

It was a great ride today, very hilly, elevation gain of 954 metres and a couple of 12% grades which I managed to ride up. We left the campsite and followed the trail for about 10 kms, then we headed inland.

We followed Tomales Bay for about 25 kms which was very reminiscent of Scotland.

Cycling alongside a loch with rolling hills, even the weather was cool and overcast. The names of the Town\’s are also Scottish.

The North Coast of California is generally cool in the morning with overcast skies and then by noon the sun comes out and it is lovely. Today was no different. We came into Bodega Bay at about 12:30 and we were cool, we were tempted to find a motel, but they started at $160.00!! We decided to brave the cool temperatures and head to the Dunes State Park hiker/biker site ($10.00) and free hot showers. The site was sandy and hilly, but we managed to find a flat spot.

The sun came out, the wind died down and we had a lovely afternoon. I even managed to get some washing done.

We chatted to our “neighbour” who was on a regular site. He has done some travelling before he settled down. He had spent time on Tall Ships sailing around the world and had also cycled in Spain (Madrid to Barcelona). He didn’t enjoy the route he took in Spain – too hilly and not very friendly people in Southern Spain. We found the same thing when we were there. Northern Spain was great cycling, Andalucia was tough.

Ralf was going to cycle back into Town to get some beer, and go to the ATM. Our neighbour generously offered to drive him, “two and a half men on a beer run”.

Saturday May 16, 2015

It was sad to say goodbye to Leslie and Jerry but we had to be on the road today, as tomorrow there is a Bay to Breakers 10 kms race in San Francisco. Some of the roads we are taking are going to be closed tomorrow. As many as 50,000 people can turn up for this “party run”.

We had a great breakfast and were on the road by 9:00 am.

We meandered through the Golden Gate Bridge State Park and eventually found the access to the bridge for cyclists.

We had asked a few roadies to confirm we were on the right road to the bridge but they didn’t know the names of the streets to give us directions. One guy offered to guide us UP the hill, it was a short cut. We opted to take the route on the ACA map, we still had to climb a hill but I am sure not it would have been as steep as what he would have us go up. Some roadies just do not understand the weight we are carrying. We decided that when we get back to Barrie we will definitely know the names of streets in the City and be able to give good directions for cyclists who need to find their way around.

The area around the bridge was a busy area, with roadies, tourists on bikes and Ralf and I on our big wide touring bikes. The bridge had earthquake isolators installed – these types of isolators were invented in New Zealand in 1970.

We stopped to take a few photos and then we were on the bridge heading towards Sausalito.

The Marin County area was lovely, lots of off-road bike paths and on-road dedicated lanes. We saw hundreds of road bikes today. Some in big pelotons of 20 or more bikes and others in groups of twos and threes. It felt almost like a week-end in Spain.

Surprisingly the car drivers were very patient with all the cyclists.

I think we saw more bike shops today than we have seen in our total time in the States. Every Town we went through had two or three bike shops. We stopped in a couple, but they were all quite expensive.

We were taking a rest at the top of one hill, when two German touring cyclists came up the other side. They stopped to chat.

They had interesting shaped bikes, made in Denmark.

They started in Vancouver and were heading to Chile. It has been rather odd in California, most touring cyclists have not stopped and chatted. I always click out from my pedals and am slowing down ready for the chat, but they don’t stop. Sometimes there is a reason, often it is because of the hills, but more often than not we are surprised that they do not stop, only wave and shout a greeting.

The Towns were very pretty and had some nice restaurants and boutique type shops. I have decided I need some pyjamas (pj\’s) for camping, especially early in the morning or if I need to get up in the night. It can get quite chilly at night, and I am only wearing an oversized T.shirt. As we cycled through one of the Towns I spotted a shop with some pj\’s hanging outside on a nice rack and decided to check them out. I realized as we made the u-turn, that these pj\’s were ones that I could not afford. I did look at one pair that had bikes, the Eiffel tower and poodles on them. The shop assistant came out and informed me that they had lots more inside of smaller sizes. I asked how much for the pj\’s – $118.00. I smiled and said “maybe a little too expensive for camping” I wanted to say “are you crazy, 118 dollars for a pair of cotton pj\’s”. Her response was “you would be very glamorous camping”. I smiled and hopped on my bike and peddled away.

The sun came out in the afternoon and it was quite warm. We had a lovely baguette for lunch – ham and brie – tasty.

After we passed through Fairfax we were away from all the small towns and into the countryside and corridors of redwood trees. The sun glistening through the branches was a perfect end to the day.

We are staying at the Samuel Taylor State Park in another hiker/bike spot – $7.00 per person. Later in the day we were joined by four more cyclists (2 guys and a couple). They are doing a week-end ride from San Francisco and back. What a great idea to get the feel of bicycle touring.

Friday May 15, 2015

Another rest day in San Francisco. This one is a rest day. I updated the blog and Ralf went shopping for supplies with Jerry. A very quiet, relaxing day at our new-found friends house.

After lunch Ralf and Jerry went to play pool. I skyped Joy – she is doing well and keeps me up to date on all the family news. Dad is in Cyprus with my sister Wendy at the moment.

We have planned the route for the next couple of days and I am looking forward to moving on up the coast. The next map set (#3) takes us 663 kilometres (412 miles) up the coast almost into Oregon. As we head northwards, the temperatures will be a little cooler, but I think it is going to be a beautiful ride.

Thursday May 14, 2015

We had a nice lie-in and after breakfast we left to take the transit to downtown. San Francisco has several forms of public transit ranging from buses, light rail to old trolley cars (cable cars).

We were hoping to go to Alcatraz, but couldn’t get tickets. The earliest available tickets were for Tuesday, or we could get up at the crack of dawn to get the few daily tickets available.

What I didn\’t know about Alcatraz was it started its life as prison for confederate sympathizers.

It was converted to a penitentiary later in its history.

We decided to enjoy the downtown and take the old cable car to the top of one of the many hills in San Francisco.  First we walked back along the piers.

We might have been able to take the bike share, but once again I think you have to be a resident.

The old warehouse buildings have been converted, one of them had a variety of boutique style food outlets.

The downtown views from the waterfront were very interesting.

Of course there is always the other side of any big city.  We saw quite a few homeless people.

We took the trolley car (cable car) up California Street.

After we had taken the trolley car (cable car) we walked down the hill to China Town.

One of the interesting facts that Leslie told us about was the San Francisco Fountain.  On the anniversary of the 1906 earthquake, anyone that is still alive comes to this fountain. I am guessing that no-one comes here anymore. The cast iron fountain served as a meeting point during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and resulting fires, which is commemorated by a metal panel attached to the monument.

\”Commemorations of the earthquake, including a dwindling pool of survivors, are held every year at 5:12 a.m. on April 18 at the intersection\”.

We really enjoyed exploring, San Francisco.

Wednesday May 13, 2014

A great cycle ride today. The sun was out, the wind was at our backs and the hills were manageable until we hit Daly City. There were some interesting sights on the way to San Francisco.

Not sure why you would build a house here!

Of course if you need extra luggage space in your sports car, you can always get a matching trailer.

We went through another tunnel (1.5 kms). There was a wide shoulder and only a single lane for traffic. Even though it was a long tunnel, I felt relatively safe because of the wide shoulder. The tunnel itself was well lit and the cars did not race through as if they were Formula 1 cars.

On the other side of the hill, we noticed that the other entrance was reduced to one lane (no shoulder). I am glad I wasn’t heading southbound.

The hill at Daly City was a 12% grade. I walked the hill and Ralf of course managed to cycle all the way to the top, I still do not know how he does it.

When we got to Leslie and Jerry’s house, Leslie told us that a song was written about Daly City – “Little boxes, little boxes and they are all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same”. Who knew that we would see the \”little boxes\” made famous by this song.

We got to Leslie and Jerry’s house at around noon. They had soup ready for us and we were able to get settled in and have a shower.

They then offered to take us for a drive around the city. We got to see some great places, that we would not have seen without their insight on the City.

We really enjoyed driving through the San Francisco Golden Gate Park. Leslie’s favourite place is down by the fort and the view of the Golden Gate Bridge from here is fabulous.

We parked the car and had a short walk.

From the parking area we walked  to the Palace of Fine Arts Park, which is a favourite of both Jerry and Leslie’s.

I can understand why, we had a lovely walk around the park.

We spotted blue herons, there was a heronry with three babies clacking away. The most interesting bird was a Black Crown Night Heron.

This juvenile black crown night heron sat there while Ralf got closer and closer taking its photos. It only flew away when a small dog ran towards it.

The Palace and grounds were designed by Bernard Maybeck. Maybeck’s theory was “that as trees and plants grow so quickly in California, Californians are wasting their finest source of beauty if they do not combine landscape with building”.

He certainly knew what he was talking about with regards to the design and building of this lovely area.

After we had our walk, they drove us downtown and pointed out buildings and areas that we could visit tomorrow.

We were hungry when we got back to their house, we had stopped at Safeway to buy some wine for dinner and we had a lovely meal of salmon, veges and salad.  We had a great conversation with them.  We are staying with a really nice couple.

A lovely sunset to finish of a great day.