I left Benbow around noon. The route took me directly south on the 101 and towards Leggett. It was very hot and some of the hills were very steep.
The road followed a river which cut through pine forests. A feature of the road was some spectacular bridges over the river.
Standish Hickey State Park
The guidebook that I was vaguely following recommended the Standish State Park as a place to stay. The state Parks are typically very good, however, they are often a long way from towns and places where you can buy food. This is a problem for me as I do not have space to carry food on the bike and I don’t have any cooking equipment.
This particular park was okay as it was opposite a shop which also sold cooked meals and cold beer.
I checked into the camping ground and after I pitched my tent and headed across to the store for a meal.
While I was eating a meal, I got into conversation with an older couple from Oregon who were riding an Indian motorcycle similar to a Harley Davidson. They said that they bought the Indian just because they “didn’t want to be the same as the Harley riders”.
Leggett Hill
Next morning, I headed into the small town of Leggett, where the 101 joins the Highway One, known locally as ‘The One’. This highway heads to the coast and follows it all the way south to San Francisco.
Leaving the town, the highway climbs steeply up the Leggett Hill. This one of the major climbs on the Pacific cycle route. It is a long and steady climb. Nearing the top, I saw a fellow cyclist coming the other way. We stopped for a chat. The other cyclist turned out to be a French women. She told me that she had ridden from San Francisco when she was struggling as she was “getting over an operation”. This had meant that she was forced to walk up any steep hills. On this day, she had “walked over 15 kilometers”.
The run down from the top of the hill to the coast was a great decent. Check out the GoPro on Flickr.
As I got closer to the coast, the temperature dropped dramatically from over 30 degrees centigrade to less than 15 degrees. The cause of this dramatic drop in temperature was a thick fog rolling in from the ocean.
Westport
I headed south along the coast until I came to a very small town called Westport, where I checked into an RV Park and camping ground. It was a very pleasant camping ground close to a river.
The wasn’t much to Westport, apart from the park and small store which sold take-way food and beer.
Continuing along the Coast
Next morning, I continued along the coast south towards Ft Bragg. This part of the coast, is also very spectacular, albeit the sky was dull due to the fog.
In Fort Bragg, I stopped briefly at a bike shop to pump up my tyres. The owner of the bike shop told me that business was good. This was pleasing, if somewhat surprising, to hear given that there didn’t seem to be many local cyclists on the road.
Fort Bragg
I had booked a motel online. It turned out to be quite a long way from the centre of town. Ft Bragg, like many towns that I encountered on the route, is strung out along the highway which passes through it.
After checking into the motel, I walked back into the ‘centre’ of the town to have a meal in the local brewery. It was a reasonable meal and a beer was excellent.
Leaving Fort Bragg
After leaving Ft Bragg, the road narrows considerably, as it hugs the coast. There are a long series of very steep climbs and descents, as the road leads down into the onto beaches, followed by sharp climbs to ridges above.
Manchester Beach
It was late in the afternoon, when I arrived in Manchester Beach. The only place to stay was an RV camping ground. This was also the first day of the Memorial Day weekend. This meant that the camping ground and all other accommodation along the coast to San Francisco was close or full to capacity.
I was able to get a pitch for my small tent, however, I had to pay the full price, of USD 40 for it.
I am sure that Manchester Beach, can be a nice place, however this week it was very gloomy with a constant high-level fog, which also kept the temperature very low. Notwithstanding, the gloomy weather, I decided to stay in Manchester Beach two nights. This was primarily due to risk of not being able to find any accommodation further south.
As it turned out, I had number of interesting conversations with people staying in the park. They seemed to be enjoying themselves despite the weather. As is one couple explained to me, Memorial Day “marks the beginning of the summer season and end of the winter and it had been a long and wet winter”.
Flickr Link
Benbow to Fort Bragg
Garmin Links
Benbow
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1758819097
Leggett
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1758819137
Westport
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1758819160
Fort Bragg
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1762336138
billrider2013 