Wednesday May 27, 2015

We were going to have a lie-in, but as usual I was awake at 6:30. We were up and had left the motel at 8:30. It was a cold ride and hilly. The climb started almost immediately and it was a long climb, 477 metres over a 15 kms stretch. There was even road-works half-way up the hill. The traffic guys let us go through on our own and we peddled as fast as we could. The roadworks area was about a mile long, but they couldn’t keep the downhill traffic waiting that long. A works truck guided the traffic through, very slowly, while we were still peddling up the hill.

It was a very long hill and we had three false summits. Which meant we had a short downhill and then climbed again, a short downhill and then climbed again. I said to Ralf, we will know when we are at the top because there will be sign for the trucks indicating the downhill grade. I was right, we eventually saw the sign and had a very fast, cold downhill.

We got into Crescent City cold to the bone and had a second breakfast and then called Katie our warmshowers host. She met us at the church hall and showed us where to put our stuff. The church provides a big kitchen, with a shelf in the fridge and a shelf in the pantry for cyclists. Other cyclists have left food in the pantry that we could use. Most of the food was soups and noodles, with a few tins of beans. There was also four packages of freeze-dried meals. The church even provides towels for the shower and a small toiletry selection. Katie told us we would be sharing the room with two young guys from Mexico. The community room is big, with eight to ten round tables, two sofas and a TV.

The shower was hot and powerful, we were soon warm again. I finally got to update the blog with a fast internet connection and Ralf went for a ride around the Town.

Crescent City was hit by a Tsunami in 1964. There were eight deaths, and the flood waters were 20 feet deep. Buildings were knocked of their foundations and a fire from the oil storage tankers burned for five days.

All along this coast line we have noticed the Tsunami warning signs. When we go towards the coast there will be a sign that indicates that you are entering a Tsunami Hazard area and when we cycle back up into the hills the sign will indicate that you are leaving the Tsunami Hazard area.

The lighthouse can be accessed during low tide. Katie called the Chamber of Commerce for information on the tide. Low tide was between 10:00 am and 3:00 pm.

Ralf had time to get out to the lighthouse, he opted to take photos from this side of the causeway, as he had other things he wanted to get done like grocery shopping, going to the outdoor store and to the bike shop.

If it wasn\’t for the blue on the boat and the colour of the dock, you would swear this was a black&white photo.  No just another grey day on the Pacific Coast.

Ralf said this was the scariest looking mermaid he had ever seen.  If he saw anything like this when he was diving he would give up diving.

The ladies arrived to get the dinner and tables prepped for tomorrow, the church provides a dinner on the last Thursday of the month and often feed up to 50 people who need help.

The temperature has dropped below 10 degrees and is very damp. I am so glad we are inside tonight.

Andreas and Emilio arrived mid-afternoon. Two young Mexican guys in their early 20’s. They bought their bikes and gear in Seattle and started to ride south! On their first day of riding they cycled 140 kms! They have very little experience of long distance biking and no experience of touring. They asked a million and one questions from what we eat to how much butt butter to use! We showed them our maps, and I was going to give them the one we have just finished – San Francisco to Crescent City, but they had maps on their phones they were using and took photos of the route from the ACA maps. We chatted about where we had stayed, the hiker/biker sites and the scenery and the distances we had cycled. We warned them about the two hills, the one they would have to cycle up tomorrow and the Leggett hill to Fort Bragg. They have 10 days to get to San Francisco, which they should have enough time, with a rest day.

They were most interested in riding techniques, how far we ride and how much we eat. We told them everything we know, we felt like Yoda – two old wise cyclists sharing our knowledge.

Ralf had bought salmon for dinner, it was lovely – salmon, baby potatoes and green beans. He also bought a dozen eggs, we will have omelet for breakfast.

Tuesday May 26, 2015

A good ride today, although it was chilly and foggy again. We passed Humbolt Lagoons State Park.

There was supposed to be a herd of Elk near this RV park, but we didn\’t see any.

We stopped in Orick for a cup of hot chocolate and a snack, a very run-down Town.

We opted not to \’call\’ these windmills (17).

The morning’s ride took us through the Robert Drury State Park. It was very pretty with redwoods again and we saw a few Elk.

The Robert Drury State Park is very similar to the Avenue of the Giants except it doesn’t have the roadside attractions and there is much less traffic.

It was a beautiful ride, although it was cool and foggy as we climbed through the forest.

We had decided that we were going to spring for another motel stay.

The amazing thing was as we came over the last hill the sun came out and there was blue sky, what a contrast. There was a difference of 10 degrees.

We were going to stay in Klamath but the motel was over $80.00.

We decided once again to carry on, we were told that there was another motel called Trees Inn and it was cheaper. We did have a good cheap lunch of chicken ceasar wraps, before heading down the road again.

Although the sun had come out we decided to stay at the motel, because it was going to be a cool night (any excuse). It was $70.00 and had recently been renovated. Across the road from the motel was a great museum with the largest collection of Indian artifacts.

Apparently this giant lumberjack (Paul Bunyan) waves his hand and talks.  They have someone in the store, watching as kids climb on him, and he speaks and tells them to get of his feet.  He was being renovated, while we were there, as a branch had come of a tree and snapped his arm off.

Although the motel was really nice, the internet was very slow and I was unable to connect and update the blog.

It was cool to watch two swallows make a nest.  The owners tried to prevent them building their nest by putting small nails up.  They used them as supports for the nest.

Tomorrow is going to be a very short ride to Crescent City, hopefully the internet at the church will be good.

Monday May 27, 2015

We left Robert’s place after making a lovely breakfast of omelets, we used our pans, as Robert has a no animal product policy with his pots and pans. He did allow us to eat our eggs but we had to cook them in our own pans. It reminded me of being at Daniel’s house with the kosher kitchen, only using one set of pots, cutlery etc for meat and another for dairy.

We headed out of Fortuna on the 101 and came of the highway in Eureka. The highway had a wide shoulder and as it was Memorial Day, the traffic was fairly light.

Eureka has a pretty downtown, with some very interesting buildings.

The private club was originally built by the Carson family a very rich lumber merchant.

The pink house was built for his son as a wedding present – it was originally pink – did he like his son, I wonder? I guess he must have done as the house was across the street from his own.

We found a coastal bike trail out of Arcata to McKinleyville which was very nice and again had some very interesting architecture along the route.

Don\’t allow the dog on the bench.

We followed the coastal bike trail all the way to Clam Beach State Park where we had planned on staying tonight.

We took one look at the state of the camping area and the toilets and decided to carry on. It was disgusting. There was no shower, a dirty long-drop toilet and some very “interesting” people already drunk set up at the site, for that the cost was $8.00 per person.

We carried on to Trinidad where there should have been camping options, there wasn’t. We discussed a motel, but there was none available in Trinidad.

We carried on towards Patrick’s Point where there was a hiker/biker camp site.

It was a lovely, winding road with little to no shoulders but very little traffic. As we cycled the weather got progressively colder. The sun had disappeared and the sea mist was rolling in. Along this route there were several motels/hotels and RV parks with cabins. One RV park wanted 129.00 for a cabin! A nice looking hotel wanted $100.00 for a room, too expensive for us, although both of us were getting cold at this point and were not relishing the idea of a cold night in the tent.

It looked as though we were going to have to camp, when we found the last motel along this road before the State Park – Patrick’s Point Inn $66.00 for a room. Patrick’s Point Inn is very old and tired, but the sheets are clean and so are the towels.

Sunday May 24, 215

A later start to the day. Although I was awake at 6:00, Ralf was sleeping soundly next to me. I knew we had a relatively short ride to Fortuna (warmshowers) and I wasn’t too worried about how long it took us to get there. I knew part of the route was going to be on the highway and the rest of the route was through the remaining area of the Avenue of the Giants.

We cycled another 35 kms through the Giants, it was so quiet this morning, very little traffic. I have often read that cycling through these redwood groves is like being in a cathedral. I am not sure I would describe it quite like that. It is quite dark in the groves, with the light filtering through the canopy, it is very peaceful.

The trees are so ancient, you feel very insignificant amongst them. They are described as immortal, they live so long and even after falling, they take so long to break down, that new trees grow on their decaying wood.

We connected to Highway 101, it was quiet today as it is Sunday and we had a good ride into Fortuna.

We had decided to cycle into the Town and have a second breakfast, then call Robert to let him know when we would arrive. It was a good second breakfast and then we headed uphill to Robert’s place!

As usual, Ralf has gone to get supplies and I am trying to update the blog and checking on warmshowers for the future.  I lost wi-fi connection and then chatted to Robert (the blog) didn\’t get updated today, sorry.

We made dinner for our host, we had a wonderful vegetarian dinner with veges, sticky rice and tofu, it was really good.

Saturday May 23, 2015

Another great day on the bike I thought it was supposed to be downhill all the way to Myers Flat, it wasn’t.

We left the campsite at 8:30 after saying our farewells to Stephanie & David and Froujke and Paul.

We had commented to Stephanie and David that it always took us a couple of hours to get ready in the morning and we have still not managed to cut the time down.  David said it always took them a long time too and was glad that even seasoned pros, took time to get moving.

Ralf was laughing at Stephanie and David’s tent site, it was such a mess and he thought it would take them more than a couple of hours to get going.

The sun was out and we had blue skies for most of the day. We took our leggings of for the first time in a week or more and it felt great.

We stopped at the various road-side attractions, of which there are many.

The gravity defying confusion hill;

the Grandfather Tree;

the log house tree;

we decided not to stop at the chimney tree or the Big Foot café.

We stopped at one intersection to grab a snack and an old hippy fella, told us about this well. “It is pure water, I used to drink it all the time but I have been away for a few weeks in Mexico”. We had a look at this well, which was a plastic tube coming out of the hillside!

We stopped in Garberville for lunch. Once again, Ralf sent me in to do the shopping as the area seemed a little run-down and there were a lot of vagrants around.

The route today took us through the Avenue of the Giants. The road runs parallel to Hwy 101 and runs through groves of redwoods. When you come up to a particular grove it is so beautiful, the trees crown the roads and the light is incredible. The trees are massive the camera cannot do justice to them.

I personally wished that there were no cars on this road or that the 101 wasn’t as close. You could still hear the hwy, even though the trees deadened the noise somewhat.

We were going to stay in Myers Flat, but I had misread where the state park campsite was and we had to cycle another 8 kms to Weott. It was worth it. It is a beautiful site.

Gnomes live here. We went to the Visitors Centre and read all the information.

We were the only cyclists here for a couple of hours, we had sat down for dinner, when they all started to arrive. First two male cyclists arrived, they set up on the other biker/hiker site. Two more guys arrived and set up on the wrong site, they had to move to our site. Two girls showed up and were setting up when one more guy (Mark) showed up and started chatting to us. Another two guys showed up and finally Froujke and Paul. We have seven tents with a total of 9 people on this little site, three Americans, two Dutch, one German, one Brit, and two Canadians – four heading north and five heading south.

After dinner Ralf and I had a little wander around the campsite, it is very neat to see all the tent sites amidst the redwoods and some in the trunk of a redwood.

It is 8:24 pm and Ralf is snoring gently next to me. I will have to wake him up so that he can get ready for bed!

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.