Another great day

We started out today from Gualala under a sunny sky, and made good progress up California 1. We have run out of superlatives for describing the California coast: it is so beautiful, so varied, so rugged; so raw...

One moment you can be riding fast on wide sweeping corners along a windswept coast and within seconds be plunged into a dark forest with 10, 15 and 20 mph corners. We went through a series of pretty towns and houses sitting on cliff tops above the rocky coast line. There were rugged valleys running down to the coast and impossibly beautiful landforms.

Our first stop was in Ft Bragg, where we started a conversation with a local bloke almost as soon as we got off the bike. While we were talking his wife and little girl joined him, We introduced ourselves to Robert and Angelica and learned their daughter was named Ava. We all went into a cafe together and continued our conversation. Just before we left, we went out back to the bathroom and while waiting in line met Bill, an American who has travelled extensively in Australia on business. We eventually went back inside, said goodbye to Robert and Angelica and rode off. A few miles up the road I realised I hadn't paid for our coffee, so we did a quick about face and high-tailed it back to town to pay. When we got there the waitress said Robert had paid for us, and left. I was absolutely mortified. However, when I went back onto the footpath I saw them 50 metres up the road, and was able to catch up with them, apologise profusely and repay them. They were so nice about it...

We had an excellent ride up to Leggett, but unfortunately my helmet mounted video camera did not record it. Indeed, I have been having all sorts of problems with it. It has a "soft" switch to turn it on and off, and perform other functions according to how long it is held on. With the helmet on my head it I can not see if it is on or off and so I have missed recording some great rides. Another problem with it is that it sometimes seems to cut out and restart randomly. Our communicator continues to have hissy fits, and twice today had to be rebooted - for no apparent reason.

Our second stop was at Leggett, where we visited the Drive-through Tree, a giant living redwood with a tunnel cut through it. To our surprise, Bill ( who we had earlier met in Ft Bragg) arrived a minute or two after we arrived. The Drive-through Tree was an easy fit for our bike, but very snug for SUVs.

California 1 (a superb road) joins 101 at Leggett, and for a short time we found ourselves on a fast freeway, but that quickly reverted to a two lane road for a few miles and then back again to a freeway. We stopped in Garberville for lunch and a few miles later turned off 101 to ride the Avenue of Giants, a 20 mile corridor through a majestic redwood forest. For anyone with a botanical interest these are a privilege to ride through.  The floor in some areas probably get no sunlight.  The trunks are huge.

At the end of this road we turned off towards Honeydew on a narrow, windy and very rough road. It eventually improved as we got further towards Petrolia, but in climbing over a series of high ridges we found ourselves on steep roads with multiple 10 mph hairpin turns going both up and down. After a brief stop in Petrolia to stretch our legs, we pressed on to Ferndale. Initially we made good speed along the coast, but as we approached Cape Mendocino, we could see the road ahead of us climbing steeply up the headland. When we got there it was a scary climb up the steepest road we have ridden since Baldwin Street in New Zealand (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldwin_Street,_Dunedin), and unlike that, it had hairpin turns on the way up. From the high, grassy hilltops we saw the river valley below with the sun shimmering in the ocean on the other side.  The road deteriorated to a very rough and often pot-holed strip of tar winding up hill and down dale, so that the remaining trip into Ferndale was fairly hairy, not made easier by our being quite tired after 9 hours of travelling. The rough road ended abruptly onto the perfectly straight streets of Ferndale. The beautiful buildings would give it so much character if it was not so pristine. Elegant art galleries, shops and businesses, perfect gardens and lawns.

A friend we met last year at the metal artists Shindig in Ohio, Marc Davis has just moved to Ferndale and is setting up a gallery here. It was after 6 pm when we arrived at the gallery, not expecting anyone to be there,  when to our surprise Marc walked out and casually asked if we were looking for someone. After a quick look at the gallery (which is co-located with other galleries and an arts cooperative) we left Marc to deal with the result of a heater exploding and spraying his bedroom with glycol.

We had dinner in Ferndale before riding to nearby Fortuna to find a reasonably priced motel for the night.

A superb days riding. We frequently felt as if we were far from civilization. So much space, forest , grassland; so many rivers, valleys and hills.