We packed up from Manchester Beach in a coolish morning, looking forward to a break from the heat of the previous few days. But not before taking a walk along what should have been the beach, but was instead a thick fog, not unlike one of London’s finest. Because California… summer… who knew?
Anyway, off we went north planning to make the giant redwood forest that night. About 20 minutes in we hit a bit of a milestone when we ticked up 1000 miles on the road. I got the clock over on the gopro but haven’t edited it up yet. Anyway, it took us about another hour to find a Starbucks for decent coffee and a supermarket for supplies, and we pushed on.
After another hour we had to turn inland and found this amazing mountain range to ride over to a tiny backwood town called Leggit. A quick fuel stop was about all it could offer, so we found a late lunch further up the road. But we were back in the heat. It wasn’t fun. This was California hippie territory, think of Byron Bay hinterland and you wouldn’t be far wrong.
Finally after another sweaty and uncomfortable hour we turned onto the aptly named Avenue of the Giants. It was a 30 minute ride through an amazing forest of huge redwoods. I’ve attached a sample video below.
The first campground we tried wanted to charge stupid money for Lisa to sleep in her car, so we turned around and went back to a beautiful little spot we’d passed, right in the middle of the forest.
It was an experience to be remembered. I managed a few photos before dark, and we set up a riding shot the next morning. I don’t really know what else to say, the photos and video do such a better job than I could.
So I’ll leave it there and let you image how it was for us. The vid below was taken by Janelle, you can spot her bike by the small screen addition. And apparently mine is faster while hers is prettier. So Im told. Im not sure, but there’s no doubt she is the one getting all the attention whenever we stop. I suspect it’s because we’ve seen very few female riders here. Most seem content to grace the back seat of Harley Davidsons. Go figure.
Here’s the redwoods. Enjoy.
