107km out of 2271km so far

The last few nights by the coast have been very humid, as the wind brings the mist from the ocean. Me, Charlie and Erik had breakfast, dried out tents, packed up and headed south for a long day of cycling.

 

The route today was hugging the rough and hilly terrain of the coast. We went through dozens of hills all day long, some small ones, some big ones and some very exhausting. On every turn there was a hill to go up or down. At times the descent was through a windy road right next to a cliff overlooking the infinity of the ocean. I am so glad there is barely any traffic on Highway 1, letting us enjoy the magnificent view. It’s fascinating to look at a far away spot along the coast and know that soon enough I will be cycling there. Despite there are more residencies, this place still feels very remote and rugged, with barely any services and shops on the way. I don’t think I ever got signal on my phone all day long.

I noticed the vegetation changed a lot today. From the big rainforest trees, the land is now mostly covered by grass and shrubs. Every now and then, there is a patch of forest, with trees that belong to warmer climate. It’s nice to see these changes in the environment when traveling to the south.

 

Birds are always present as well. From exotic blue birds, flocks of small ones, migrating ducks, hawks and even vultures looking for a dead preys. All the big ones take advantage of the hot air currents by the coastal hills. They hover and fly above our bikes effortlessly.

After a long day we arrived at Jenner, the town next to the state park, as the sun was setting. We asked several people about where and how far south the state parks is, but each gave us a different answer. We were running out of day lights and it started getting cold. Luckily we were convinced to cycle for another 2miles and we found the campground, rather than stealth camp behind the rocks that another cars had suggested. Right by our tents, there were two families with babies and small kids, touring on bikes as well. Even if they are not covering such a long distances, it’s definitely a great effort.

79.6km out of 2164km so far

They say the pack moves as slow as the slowest member. That was the case with all five of us this morning, but that was ok as we stopped at Denny’s for a $4 breakfast with pancakes, eggs and other fried goods.

After all these calories I was feeling strong for a long ride, even though I knew we wouldn’t get that far, starting the day almost at noon. First short stop was at Mendocino, a very nice little town by the water.

We’ve gone through many road constructions along the way. There is usually a man with a sign regulating the traffic through the single lane road. Today there was a rather long section of construction, so there was a pilot car leading the traffic through the roadwork. They chose to put us right in front of all the other cars. I felt special!

We picked up some food supplies and headed to one of the many public accessible beaches to have our lunch stop. The beach was almost empty.

The rest of the route took us through some breathtaking scenery right by the cliffs. At times we were cycling right next to them and the view of the drop on my side was adding to the whole excitement of the ride. The weather was just perfect, with a constant sunshine, but not that warm to get hot on the bike. All these together with a mild tailwind, created the perfect conditions for cycling.

By that time we had lost Garry and Liz. It started getting darker, so we decided to call it a day at Manchester, at a very basic campground without showers. The location was nice though, close enough to the beach, but well protected behind the trees.