Mendocino to Gualala (80km) Coves with tight, steep switchbacks, headlands, rocks,  and crashing waves, interspersed with pasture and ranchland marked today’s ride. The mist swirled until mid-afternoon. We have now done the steepest ascent as well as the greatest ascent on this trip. That is not say there are not many more hills to come! We  crossed ...

We spent a relaxing day exploring Mendocino, the town, beach and headland. The Ford Museum had a small, but informative, exhibit about the Pomo People, but it was dominated by the stories and images of the Redwood lumber boom of the mid 1800’s. We discovered that scenes from East of Eden were filmed here and we ...

Westport to Mendocino (44km) This route is stunning – rugged headlands, crashing surf, the heady scent of pine and eucalyptus – but, (like the hike up Ometepe,) definitely not for the “faint of heart”. It is not just the gazillion hills, which make the trip more physically challenging than last year, but the narrow, winding, hilly, ...

Leggett to Westport (47km) The Leggett hill is “much maligned”, according to the authors of Bicycling the Pacific Coast. To avoid the heat, and still a little traumatized by yesterday’s scorcher, we started early for the climb. It is steep and long, but the road winds and is amongst the trees, so it was actually easier ...

Miranda to Leggett (64km) Each day has it’s particular challenges and today it was the heat. The Garmin showed 43C at one point! After we left the Avenue of the Giants, the road climbed and climbed, the trees became fewer and the temperature soared. We had lunch amongst the Redwoods of Richardson State Park, which was a ...

Eureka to Miranda (91km) Highway 101 with it’s wide shoulder  enabled us to speed through the farmland along the Humboldt River. On entering the Avenue of the Giants, we arrived at the community of Pepperwood which has a population of 50 but wonderful blackberry Popsicles!  We passed through the mighty redwoods for the rest of the ...

Trinidad to Eureka (45km) This morning the sun came out and the wind was blowing from the North West. It was a chilly 8 degrees C when we started but the early light was wonderful and again we had stunning views of the cliffs and seashore. In the afternoon our route into Eureka was along Arcata ...

Klamath to Trinidad (66km) At the Requa Inn, for dinner last night and for breakfast, we were seated with other guests. We had interesting and engaging conversations with a retired city planner and teacher from New Hampshire, an architect and kindergarden teacher from LA (that we may look up later) and a teacher and federal prosecutor ...

Brookings to Klamath (74km) Soon after we left Brookings we passed a State Penitentiary and were disquieted to hear the guards doing target practice. Then we cycled into California. The border was marked by an agriculture inspection station, but we were waved on our way. The easy morning’s ride along side roads took us through Smith River, ...

It serves us right for taking the north wind for granted! We awoke to grey skies, a cool 11C and light winds from the south. The forecast was for rain, although it stayed dry. After cycling in t-shirts almost since the beginning, we wore 3 layers today and were only warm when climbing. We had divided ...