Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Day 16. Avenue of the Giants

It may have become apparent to anyone reading my blog that the last couple of updates have been a little lacking in the joys of Autumn and, quite frankly, the last one was most definitely tired and dull. I had thought about taking a couple of days rest in Eureka as I was certainly starting to feel the effects of being on the road for such a long time, and as I hadn't been taking my rest days as I had planned I was maybe owed a couple.



I decided about midway through yesterday that Eureka was not a place to take more than one rest day, and after I had made it from Klamath to Eureka the day before by mid afternoon. having almost a day and a half was plenty, especially in Eureka. After speaking with a number of friends yesterday it became quite obvious that maybe I should stop worrying about the fatigiue and get on with getting down to the Californian coast, as there are surely better places to stop for a day or two than the places I had been. It has to be said that the likes of Poulsbo, Shelton, Raymond, etc etc are not on anyones holiday destination list, and I would imagine Eureka comes pretty low as well.

Come to think of it, where I have ended up today is clearly not a holiday destination either, although we'll get to that in a minute.

What I did have after said discussions was a new found appreciation for what I am doing, and also what I am achieving. I was most buoyant when I awoke this morning, earlier than normal with the intention of getting out there and getting some proper mileage on the clock. The weatherman had predicted rain and snow for the morning in Eureka, and without fail I opened my motel room door to see a proper downpour in full effect. Ok, I thought, I'll give it 10 minutes, having got used to the fact the weather moves pretty quickly in these parts. I was right to do so. The rain passed within 10 minutes so I checked out and hit the road.

Today was the first day I have properly deviated from the long and laborious highway 101 since leaving Washington, apart from a short stretch coming out of Klamath, so I was mainly looking forward to breathing fresh air rather than exhaust fumes! Todays route took me through Loleta, Fernbridge, Ferndale, Rio Dell, Scotia, Staffford, Pepperwood, Redcrest, Weott, Myers Flat, Miranda, Phillipsville and into Garberville. I actually just had to look up half of those on the map again because most of them were so uneventful and completely unrememberable (if that's a word). The best of the lot was Ferndale, which incidentally is my second Ferndale of the trip, the first being my first stop on day one. Ferndale number 2 actually had a little bit of history, and some Victorian buildings that were all very nice. All the others had a slightly wild west look about them, and from Pepperwood to Myers Flat had all been pretty much destroyed in a flood that took place in 1964. I know this because I stopped somewhere along this part of the route for a coffee and the guy in the shop told me so (see vid).

I eventually made it to Garberville, which is the kind of place you don't stop in unless you have to, but I had to because I had alreaady been riding in the dark for about an hour by the time I arrived and didn't want to push it anymore. However, cycling along the Avenue of the Giants was very nice. It's the old highway 101 that existed before they built the new fangled freeway (info courtesy of the guy in the coffee place) that took all of the through traffic away from all the aforementioned towns. It is set in the middle of a Redwood forrest so is very pleasant on the eye.

I also saw a bit of wildlife, which is something that has been lacking on this trip, other than road kill, as a deer ran across the road right in front of me. For a moment I was slightly concerned it might be followed by a cougar or something similar, but fortunately was not.

I racked up 80.09 miles on the speedo, the best of the trip so far, and even having to fix punctures in both front and back wheel at the same time didn't dampen my spirits. I had obviously ridden over something nasty because there is now a gaping hole in my back tyre.

And apart from a 2 minute light hail, there was no bad weather. Probably the best day of the trip so far for views, not getting wet, or blown all over the place.

Tomorrow I have to climb the biggest peak of the trip, Leggett hill,  which rises to about 2000 ft. I bet you it rains, snows and is windy to boot!

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