Baywatch?!...

We allow ourselves a short day as we head back to San Francisco. Niles Canyon is an easy gradient through the hills, but a very narrow way through between the rock faces, with river, rail and road there was no room for a shoulder so a bit hairy in the fast traffic. It terminates at the historic railroad village of Niles, also famous as Charlie Chaplin lived here whilst he shot 5 of his films.
Next the bliss of a dedicated cycle route along the river, terminating in a wetland conservation area. Skeins of American White Pelicans cross the sky, Black Necked Stilts, tiptoe through the shallow water, and flocks of American Avocets sieve for food.


Great Egrets and Purple Herons stand like sentries, only up to their ankles in water.
At the northern end of prosperous Silicon Valley we find an historic 1920s hotel in Palo Alto with room in the massive lobby for our bikes.


It is like a museum, with the old switch board and public telephone booths still on display.
Cycling north we pass through a large mexican area, with adverts and signs mostly in Spanish. More bird watching on the Bay, with a very high tide and hundreds of Willets and Marbled Godwits. Forsters and Royal Terns crowd together on the beach, making it very easy for us to identify.


A few Black Turnstone mingle in the crowd, do we're lucky to spot them. We also get a lot of help from a local birder.


Tour miles to date: 1,889

Location:Pleasanton to San Mateo

Tacos and tomatoes...

Our last evening in Groveland we spend on the wooden balcony of the Hotel Charlotte in rocking chairs, looking down onto the one street. With raised timber sidewalks, this village is very quaint. We toast a very successful visit to Yosemite with a Californian Merlot.


It is a return trip then to take back the car and stay once more with Tom and Ann in Modesto. They educate us a bit more about Mexican food, thumbs up to tacos, corn tortillas and chilli, thumbs down to wet burritos.
Our return trip across the plain west is through groves of almonds and walnuts, then ripe tomatoes, lorries filled to the brim and overspilling onto the roadside. Tractors kick up dust as they drive between the trees , shaking the crop to the ground.



We pause for coffee at "Jimmys one stop". It had been busy last time we called in here with farm labourers playing dice on a Saturday. This mid week visit the owners have time to chat to us and turn out to be a lovely family from Yemen who have visited their homeland recently. The Yemen seems to have managed its Arab Spring with more dignity and mutual co- operation than it's neighbours. Their description of the capital, Aden, has encouraged us to add it to our to visit list.
The forecast is the temperature is to climb into 3 digits, and it certainly feels like it as we head up into the hills to a gruelling 1600ft. 2/3rds up we all feel faint so rest in a tiny bit of shade and pour water over our heads.




It is no wonder the next car stops to ask if we are alright - and took some persuading we always look this bad!
After nearly 1& 1/2 hours up hill it seemed like only minutes to whizz down to Livermore . A real ranching town (including shops that sell stetsons), and then back to Pleasanton. We picked up some essential supplies before returning to our Warmshowers hosts Bryan and Audrey






Tour miles to date: 1,836

Location:Yosemite to Pleasonton

Bikeless up the mountains...

With the help of Thomas and Ann, we hire a car and drive to Groveland, a little village within an easy drive of Yosemite. On the way we pass through cowboy country of scorched plains dotted with evergreen oak trees and a few cattle. Mike bravely drives 3000ft up a corkscrew road (it would have been terrible to cycle - very steep and no shoulder so we have made the right decision to use a car).
We are soon ensconced in a lovely traditional wooden hotel and visit the oldest saloon in California - full of locals and so authentic that we expect a fight to break out any time!


The drive to Yosemite winds us higher and higher through mountains covered in pines to around 6000ft, with lots of places to stop and gasp at the view under a cloudless sky. Especially brilliant is high Glacier Point Road with views of massive domes of rock.





Deer, chipmunks, ravens and ground squirrels abound. Back down on the valley floor we have neck-crooking views from under the cliffs.
Heading at dusk to the village store, we nearly walk into 3 young mule deer, gentle looking, with oversized ears.
On our 2nd day in Yosemite we take the higher Tioga Road, a former wagon route to a small silver mine. It winds up 35 miles to 10,000 ft, with spectacular views of great domes of granite, twisted trees and erratics (big round rocks left lying around by former glaciers).


Azure Tenaya Lake is crystal clear, and the local rivers are also so clear you can see to the bottom.


Nearby climbers look tiny,roped together as they scale sheer smooth rock faces. Although autumn is approaching the air is still warm at the very highest passes.
Yellow-bellied marmots scuttle about, but nothing is as quick as the tiny zipping chipmunks.

Location:Yosemite

Heading East!...

The weather is so mild we can sit out on the patio all evening with Bryan and Audrey. The forecast for tomorrow as we head inland is to peak at 94deg!



It turns out to be a fabulous ride, through vineyards heavy with black grapes, a gruelling hill through ranches which have not seen rain for ages with peppercorn trees giving a little shade.


A fabulous whizz down the other side past hundreds of wind turbines, then flat plains of farms growing everything we have seen in Spain; walnuts, almonds, tomatoes, grapefruit and olive groves.


Also real cowboy country straight out of the movies.
Thomas cycles out to meet us and we camp on their lawn in Modesto. Ann and Thomas take us to their favourite restaurant for some of the best seafood yet and next morning sort us out a hire car from the local airport (the only place open on a Sunday) for our side trip to Yosemite.


Tour miles to date: 1,775

Location:Pleasanton to Modesto

Endeavour rewarded...

A dawn chorus of barking sea-lions wakes us in the dunes campground, giving us the early start we need to make it to just north of the Golden Gate Bridge.
The San Andreas fault line is visible for much of the day as we cycle along the edge of the inlet to Point Reyes Station, the epicentre of the destructive Sam Francisco quake of 1906.
Most of the day we are amongst a strung out group of 38 American cyclists from Colorado, on a supported cycling "vacation".
The view of San Francisco, the island of Alcatraz, and the North Bay is truly awesome, stopping us in our tracks as we cycle along the front at Sausalito. We cannot believe our luck as our hosts' house has the best view in town, high up in a gorgeous garden, looking right across the bay to the the eastern road bridge. The sunrise, with a pink sky over the cityscape and Diablo Mountain, is unforgettable.
Winnie and Bruce help with advice on reaching the Golden Gate Bridge. We join the thousands of people who are collecting at vantage points all around the bay to watch as The Endeavour space shuttle, piggybacked on a jumbo jet, does a farewell flypast low over the bridge.


We take in iconic views of trams, and handsome old houses as we cycle past the historic piers to catch the ferry across the Bay to Oakland. It is an industrial area of busy concrete roads, but we are then soon up through the hills to Pleasanton. This little town lives up to its name, an oasis of boulevards and parks.


Tour miles to date: 1,714

Location:Bodega Bay to Pleasanton

"Muy Bravo"...

Mendocino is tiny tidy timber village on the seashore, famous for being the setting of the long running TV series "Murder She Wrote", full of Victorian, historic charm.


The winding road follows the coast under blue skys, with views of sea stacks and arches. The are only a few scattered houses and our destination, Point Arena, turns out to be another small town that is closing down. The RV site has turned into cheap housing, and both the towns motels are derelict. A lady pulls up her Ute as she sees us stumped and directs us 1 mile to a little fishing harbour where there is a posh hotel and restaurant. When the Maltese manageress hears our Brit accents, she gives us a generous discount for the only rooms left, the honeymoon suites! The jacuzzi is just what a cyclist needs!


Next morning, an undulating ride in scenery that is Mediterranean; rosemary, alovea and pines under a dark blue sky. We purchase bananas at Stewart Point in a beautifully maintained timber general store (1868), and the local sheriff was having his coffee break too! These chaps stop for cake as often as cyclists, so no wonder they are all rather rotund. Then the most memorable road of the trip, hugging the cliff 500 ft above above the surf for 20 miles with views of the coast north and south, sea stacks, beaches and seals. In some places there is a new barrier, others just a few blades of grass to stop a cyclist falling down the cliff! Exhilarating!
Camp is on the dunes at Bodega Bay after 64 wonderful miles.


Tour miles to date: 1,606

Location:Fort Bragg to Bodega Bat

Eel River...

No fog, endless sunshine, the hottest day yet. We mostly follow the beautiful meandering Eel River, sometimes on Hwy 101, often on the quiet old road, through lovely Miranda, where the waitress ran up the road after us, as I had left my coat behind!


Great bird watching too - Acorn Woodpecker, (with an acorn in its beak), Western Scrub Jay and Gambols Quail, as well as the ever present Turkey Vultures. We pick up provisions at Gaberville, at the only supermarket for miles, and with more than its fair share of vagrants, mostly men, in groups or begging.
We camp just before Leggett in another great State Park, and like old hands we make a camp fire in a lorry-hub firepit, and listen to the crickets, high above the River Eel. We put our food in the wooden bear-proof larder provided, but it was not squirrel-proof, and they sample our next days lunch!
It is a good job we had not decided instead to spend the night in Leggett, as we pass through the next morning to find it a sad collection of derelict, abandoned shops.
Todays ride is advertised as the biggest hill of the trip, on narrow Highway 1. Several well meaning locals try to put us off, to send us down the big dual carriageway instead. It is a good job we are stubborn as it is a fantastic ride, hardly any traffic, winding through forest for 25 miles to tiny seaside Westport. Many of the houses here are also derelict, but there is a typical old wooden general store where the locals collect on the verandah for a coffee.


A bit further on we watch 3 White-tailed Kites mobbing an American Kestrel.


White-tailed Kite.


American Kestrel.
The narrow road continues undulating through fields, then alongside dunes, covered with red and orange succulents. There is a dedicated cycle route the last few miles into Fort Bragg, including a long new wooden bridge over the estuary.


To our relief Fort Bragg has a long, bustling high street full of handsome 19thC wooden houses. We stay in a pretty blue b&b, set in a cottage garden, full of lavender.


Tour miles to date: 1,489

Location:Burlington Campground to Fort Bragg

Avenue of the Giants...

In the garden at Cutten, Annas Hummingbirds are on the feeder and Stellar Jays annoy the ducks and chickens. When Jerrin is not house sitting he is helping on his parents farm at Rio Dell and has lots of local knowledge. He warns about the poison oak plant growing in the forests, that causes blisters. He also confirms it is always foggy in the mornings!
We stop at Rio Dell for next days' lunch, a tiny village with a traditional old wooden general store. The shelves were fairly empty so we improvise sandwiches with fillings of apple, almonds, sardines, and some cheese and peanut butter from the bottom of my rucksack! As we eat in the sunshine, the local policeman arrives, as does a lady cowgirl on her horse.
Only a few miles on we find a big modern supermarket with Andy and Matt outside (the young cyclists we last saw at Bandon). We catch up with each others' news, then pedal on, passing a giant sawmill with stacks and stacks of red, black and yellow planks.
We are soon off the main road onto the old road now christened "The Avenue of the Giants", like cycling down the endless aisle of a cathedral.


We stop to meander between the trees, (avoiding the poison oak) and then camp at Burlington State Park, an idyllic spot right amongst the redwoods. We light a fire in the big metal fire ring provided beside our camp table - very romantic!


Tour miles to date: 1,444

Location:Eureka to Burlington Campground

Humboldt County...

The one street of Orick is lined with run-down scruffy trailer parks and closed motels. The first motel recommendation in our Lonely Planet guide has been demolished! The second is the last building, the Palm Motel, where the advertised swimming pool has not seen water for several years and someone has lobbed a brick through the word "rooms" in the lit sign. However, the owners are very welcoming and the rooms clean, with free wifi. They also own the only diner still operating in town. We are served such tender beef by a witty waitress (who claims to be a former super model). She demonstrates her very close encounter with a large bear, on her way to work.


It was at the road side eating blackberries.
We are used to the morning fog now which burns off soon, revealing a herd of elk by Humboldts lagoon. There is a relief from the wide Highway 101 as we take the old road. We hear the sea lions through the trees before we spot them. A rock just off the shore is covered with brown baby seals all barking like dogs.
There is a rail trail, which crosses the Mad River by a metal bridge.


This used to be made from enormous Redwoods until some bright spark sold it to Disneyland, to build a ride in their Florida Park! At the end although there is a back drop of forested mountains on one side and blue Humboldts bay on the other we are right by busy traffic for 5 miles into Eureka. First impressions are not good as there are vagrants congregating in the centre, but we head into the south suburbs of Cutten where we are hosted in a beautiful traditional house under fir trees.The hosts are actually away but have arranged for their student house sitter to look after us. Jerrin takes us to a Mexican restaurant. Ian has never been to a fast food establishment until this trip and this Mexican is a successful first too. Jerrin tells us there was a small earth quake last night, but we didn't notice it!


Tour miles to date: 1,393

Location:Orick to Eureka

Stacks and Giant Redwoods...

Gold Beach test their tsunami siren at 7 in the morning so we had an early start from our motel!
The road winds past deserted beaches, strewn with bleached logs.





Between two cliffs the highest bridge on Oregon at 345 ft gives us terrific ocean views. Just as we enter California, fog dims the view but clears as we veer inland to sunlit dairy farms. Our campsite is at Crescent City, under Redwood trees. The town itself is rather dreary, the centre having been destroyed by a tsunami on the 80s.
Fog envelopes is again next morning as we start the highest climb of the trip, 7 miles of ascent to 1200 ft, but at 200 ft we suddenly pop out of the mist as the sun streams through the giant redwood forest on either side. The swoop down the other side is "exciting" as we enter thick fog again, with no shoulder, chased by logging lorries. Character building!
Before the next climb is the beautiful wide sunny valley of the Klamath river and the tiny town of the same name. A Native Indian settlement, so the usual casino, but also a local store that cooks up mouth watering deep fried corn on the cob.
Signs along the road warn of wild elk and soon we come upon a few cars parked on the verge as the occupants photo a small elk herd including an enormous stag.
The second hill climb is fantastic, on the old quiet road so we can stop and admire the 1000 year old famous redwoods.


Down now to the one street town of Orick, our only accommodation option.


Tour miles to date: 1,345

Location:Gold Beach to Orick

Seven Devils...

Reedsport was a lumber town, but is now very run down with many empty houses and businesses. Bigger North Bend is a little more prosperous, but we have first to cycle a busy bridge, precariously balancing on a raised path.
Then on to the best ride of the trip so far, Seven Devils Road, up high through pine forests on the dunes, with views of the Pacific and inland to forested mountain, and tiny lakes.
Then down, across another busy bridge, with no hard shoulder, over the wide Coquille River to camp at our hosts in a marvellous rural big plot with uninterrupted wide views of the river and flood plain. Bryan takes us down to his jetty to pull up the crab pots. The 9 crabs are prepared by Nicole for our dinner, with salmon Bryan caught at the river mouth this morning. Two young cyclists arrive, also heading south, one just starting a round world trip, the other escaping the cold in her Alaskan home, heading for Texas.
We have seen little fishing boats at all the river entrances, catching the rising salmon. Apparently this bounty goes on until October. Early next morning they are already trailing lines, as we enter
the lovely old historic centre of Bandon. We order breakfast at a very popular cafe - Janet and I love granola, the men prefer breakfast butties. In walk the 2 young cyclists we had met in Shelton a week ago (a bit surprising as they had taken a "short cut" through Portland!!) It is great to catch up with their adventures. They spent the previous night on a local baseball pitch, woken at 5 by the sprinklers!
Today is the anniversary of 9/11 so there are many stars and stripes flags in front of people's houses.
The coast route today is stunning, frothy seas crashing onto miles of empty sandy beaches and sea stacks.


The coast-hugging road suddenly sweeps inland to go around Humbug Mountain. Then there are very wet fields that are apparently cranberry bogs, a high value crop.
Our last full day in Oregon - full of sun and sea - and California tomorrow!






Tour miles to date: 1,245

Location:Reedsport to Gold Beach

Wildlife...

The Perpetua coast road twists in and out of tiny bays.This is one of the most beautiful stretches of coast with views to the horizon as fog free! No logging lorries as it's a Sunday, instead lots of ENORMOUS camper vans towing big cars or boats - as long as buses. As if we aren't getting exercise enough, a keep-fit class took place at one of our stop-offs!


Black Oystercatchers are on the beach and Surf Scoters, surfing. After surviving a short uphill tunnel (that we had not expected), we are rewarded with brilliant views of a the seal lion colony entering caves in the cliffs under us, and we look down on turkey vultures landing on the rocks below.


Our Coffee stop almost betters our previous meeting with the sheriff, as we speak to a man dressed as a tree! The hunters out here are not satisfied with wearing camouflage - they have leaves and twigs stuck on them as well. After he had gone a deer came near our outside table - a close call. Lunch is a picnic by a peaceful river. Two little steam driven boats are puttering about on the water.


From lunchtime onwards we are in Oregon Dunes State Park, where enormous sand dunes, often covered in fir trees, line our route. As we enter Reedsport we cycle round a deer, unfortunately road kill.


Tour miles to date: 1,131

Location:Yachats to Reedsport

Boiling seas...

A fellow camper tells us the "pesky" racoons broke into their storage box last night, stealing all the dog food. We had hung the small amount of food we have in a tree as usual, with no probs. At breakfast, we spot a Golden-crowned Kinglet (like our Goldcrest) eating pine kernels in the tree alongside us.


First stop Saturday morning is Depoe Bay, advertising itself as the smallest harbour in the world. Standing on the bridge over the harbour entrance, we watch a fishing boat power out of the tiny gap in the rocks, and a harbour seal enjoying the jacuzzi affect of the crashing waves.
We pause at Boiler Bay viewpoint, where Pacific waves are crashing in, but there is no sign of the boiler that is all that remains of the wrecked freight schooner from 1910, that gives the bay its name. Using the restroom there, I encounter a distressed ample lady who, having found herself locked in the cubicle, had squeezed out under the door to escape!
The old road provides us with a cycle route for several miles so we enjoy peace from the busy Hwy 101 traffic, and some great views to the cliffs and surf below as we climb to 400 ft.
Newport has a spectacular bridge, but typical of many on this road, with no shoulder for us to cycle, so we're on the sidewalk to avoid the traffic!


We book into a motel at the little village of Yachats, the enormous rooms big enough to house the bikes as well as air the tents! After a five minute stroll to the bay we have seen the whole place and pick the very friendly locals' pub for dinner - the only choice, Rock fish and chips, is good cyclist fodder. Then we have a great laugh in the Karaoke (well, we join in the choruses with "Elvis", a 90 yr old "Sinatra" and "Emmy Lou Harris").
We have fallen in love with Yachats, the friendliest place, finding it hard to drag ourselves away next morning from breakfast at the Green Salmon.


Tour miles to date: 1,081

Location:Lincoln city to Yachats

Tunnel!!!...

The fog is very local, disappearing offshore as we leave town next morning. A friendly young Swiss Lady touring cyclist keeps pace with us most of the day. At a view point the mist rolls off the sea, up the cliff, forming plumes in the fir forest.


Cannon Beach is a charming seaside town of wooden houses with verandahs and flowery gardens.
Then the one tunnel of the trip, and it is uphill! The Swiss girl goes in front of the tandem as she has no rear light. Mike presses the button to warn the traffic (mostly lorries) that cyclists are in the tunnel (with no hard shoulder). This is ignored by a double length tanker doing at least 60mph, who passes us by inches. We all emerge in a state shock.
Wheeler is a tiny, tidy fishing port on a wide bay. We stare at a large herd of elk on the other bank. They all stare back, I don't think they have seen hi-vis humans before. We stop at a road side shack called Karla's at Rockaway Beach, selling the best ever smoked fish, so we sample the black cod, salmon and tuna. Karla is still there behind the counter, smoking and selling the fish herself, as she has for 40+ years.
At blue Tillamook Bay, brown pelicans dive, and we arrive at Dee and Mark's house in Bay City. Their well behaved 2 standard poodles and 2 Scottie dogs greet us. We are spoilt with 2 lovely rooms for the night.
Two BIG hills next day, both over 800ft. From a viewpoint on the second, we see a flock of Stellar Jays, with their distinctive vibrant blue backs and black headcrests.


Once we have seen the view of crashing surf from the first summit, we whizz down through acres of sand dunes, which look out of place with fir trees growing on them. We reach a wide sunny farmland valley, stuck in a '50s time warp. We join the Sheriff of Tillamook for coffee on the wooden verandah of a tiny, faded general store on a lonely cross road at Sandllake.


Lunch is at Pacific City, eating home-bottled tuna made by Dee, and watching the occasional 4x4 try and drive up the steep dunes onto the beach - not many make it at first attempt.


We camp in a state park at Lincoln City and eat in a massive busy fish restaurant right on the beach. We are a day ahead of our (Lonely Planet) schedule.


Tour miles to date: 1027

Location:Seaside to Lincoln City