Day 15

Day 15

85 miles and 1,750m climbed! That’s over a mile vertically up….

This was the day we climbed the highest point of the western seaboard – leggett Hill. At approx 1,800’ it’s not that high, but it felt it, and getting to the bottom of the big climb involved many small climbs.

We started out reasonably early at 7.45am and made it to what we had hoped would be our breakfast stop after 23 miles (a fair proportion of it uphill), only to find it shut. With no alternative we continued on and found a likely café at about 30 miles – they provided us with a hot dog and crisps, which kept us going until we arrived at Leggett – a tiny place where the highway 101 and route 1 split. Route 1 heads to the coast via an epic climb (our route) whilst the 101 stays inland. By this time we were fully roasted – the sun was baking hot and we had been out in the worst of it for hours. We set ourselves up with cold drinks ice creams and fruit then set off up the highest point in the route.

As it happened it wasn’t so bad. I’d forgotten the actual height of the top and thought there was over 100m of climbing to do when I stared going downhill – massive bonus!!


After a thrilling (new top speed of 45.7 mph) and very very enjoyable decent for several miles




The remaining 35 miles of the day proved very tiring – all those climbs take their toll apparently – who knew? That and the fact that the sea mist was turning everything very cold – it was a relief for a while then we all got quite chilled.

By the time we arrived at Cleone and our destination Mackericher State Park we were all done in. Our usual evening of dinner and bed by 9pm was shifted by well over an hour and we found ourselves preparing dinner in the dark in a light shower.

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