West Coast 2018

61 miles This was intended to be a short day so we could surf at Santa Cruz. In the end we didn’t get to surf – but still had a great day. The morning started exceptionally cold – I was wearing my winter jacket and was still cold! The sea mist here puts the temperature into single figures as well as being very wet (not raining just misty like being in cloud/fog). We stared the day at a very slow pace – yesterday’s hills and slow pace through town alongside the very cold temperature was taking its toll. We stopped after 18 miles at a small town just inland from the coast – 2 miles inland and we got away from the sea  mist. It was lovely to sit in the sun! By the time we had finished our coffee and danish we set off back to the coast prepared for more freezing temperatures – but the mist had cleared and better still the northerly wind had picked up – that’s right we spent the rest of the morning being pushed to Santa Cruz! We ended up ticking along at 20 miles an hour or ...

We made it to San Fransisco!! After another cold start and a dozen or so miles we entered the northern metropolis of San Fransisco- they don’t see it like that though. Instead each area is identified very differently. Fairfax was the first built up area we came to and the route through it was lovely – as with Vancouver it seems to take us through the nicest parts of town. Maybe it’s all like that in Fairfax…. After what seemed a very long way after over 30 miles and more hills than we had hoped for we made it to the Golden Gate Bridge. I knew that it was a tourist attraction in its own right but oh dear me what a lot of people! It seemed that everyone visiting San Fransisco was determined to ride over the bridge – whether they could ride a bike or not. And the proportion who could ride was definitely in the minority. We’d decided to wait for our usual breakfast until we had arrived at the San Fransisco side of the bridge – which actually meant around 12pm. By the time ...

87 miles and 1,680 meters climbed – another very long day! We knew it was going to be a big day so set off fairly early (despite having been given a few lagers by some generous RV campers last night (it would have been rude to refuse). The morning was freezing - the choice to only have sandals to cycle in was severely tested. Simon and I couldn’t get our toes for two hours! Our breakfast stop, after 27 miles and almost 500m of ascent was at a posh hotel – Timber Cove. I don’t think they usually get cyclists rock up in their Lycra but they have us a great breakfast and after almost an hour regained feeling in our feeet. After breakfast ascended quite a way until we were above the cloud (sea mist hanging 200’ above the ocean). It was beautiful – especially when circled by eagles soaring on the thermals. As we approached Bodega Bay we were met by views of the ocean to which we have now become accustomed but are nevertheless awe inspiring. Bodega Bay proved a pleasant ...

£460 raised for Julia’s House so far. Thank you to all who have sponsored me - I am sure this money will help to make a massive difference to the short lives of those children and their families at Julia’s House. 60 miles - A perfect day! After a hard couple of days we thought we’d take it a bit easier today. Set off as usual at about 8am – it was freezing cold. Probably the coldest night so far, but as we got going the sun came out. We found our way to glass beach – famous for having glass that has been smoothed by the sea over the years. Unfortunately the tide was in – so we didn’t see the sea glass but the views were splendid nonetheless. Then came out treat for doing so well yesterday – we stopped at McDonald’s (after only 8 miles!) for one of their breakfast meals (empty calories but once in a while…). We are now following route 1. Unlike the 101 it isn’t a highway (like a trunk road in the UK) rather like a larger B road in the UK. The upside is there is not a huge ...

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 h...

78 miles and nearly 1,000m climbed – and halfway on our journey reached! What a difference the combination of good weather and beautiful scenery in quiet roads makes! The first few miles went quickly, speeding along the101 (well we might have got to 16mph). We duly had our Eureka moment: And shortly afterwards at Fernbridge we celebrated (with our usual ridiculously large breakfast) getting to our halfway point – we are now closer to Mexico than Canada. A few miles past Fernbridge we passed through a beautiful town called Ferndale. I didn’t take a photo because we knew I wouldn’t do it justice but it was exactly as you would imagine a Victorian American town to look like. It’s the sort of place that we (foreigners) would expect all US towns to look like in the same way that all visitors to the UK would expect every English town to look like Chester. 15 miles along the road we came to a town called Rio Dell which was having its fair – an obvious highlight of which was ...

70 miles and neatly 1,300m climbed – a big day! Set off at 7.45 (or for Simon mid afternoon) and were hit by a huge hill taking us to over 300m, which from sea level is quite a climb fully loaded. We stopped for breakfast after 20 miles at a tiny place – Klamath which had a very popular diner. We were called “boys” which made my day! After breakfast we passed through Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park – a beautiful quite road through Giant Redwood forests – those trees really are immense. It was bizarre – we have been cycling through forests for many many miles through Washington and Oregon, then suddenly when we cross into California it feels like  we’ve entered Brobdingnag. Over the past 800 miles we have seen many signs warning us that elk could be in the road and passed several town like Elk Meadows teasing us with the promise of a sighting of an elk or two but so far it has come to nought – until today when we saw three herds/groups/whatever the plural noun for elk ...