Vamos! to Healdsburg, California

In which Sid and Doris take the JGG hill climbing through redwood forests and continue south into Californian wine territory.

The Eureka Inn is so much not-a-hotel that the breakfast offering is a doughnut in a bag and a paper cup of conference jug coffee. This will not sustain a crew on an epic voyage so Sid and Doris go down to the bagel cafe.

While Doris gets in line (thank you) Sid is sitting outside talking with a long time resident about the local economy.  She explains that cannabis is now a major industry but it is water hungry which is going to be difficult given California’s chronic water shortage. She also notes that when she first came to town it was cold and foggy most mornings. With climate change it is warmer with blue skies. We drive along the coast where there are Headlights On signs but not really needed today.

On her recommendation we take the Avenue of Giants through the redwood trees. We stop to look at the trees and find a character using a drone to get pictures. He might send us footage (do we say footage or bytes?) of the JGG settting off.

“S” has been studying the route intently [Helllo fan club! Both of you!!], so we leave  the 101, which is getting wider and faster, to go along Highway 1 along the Pacific coast.  A failure of map scale means that we have not understood quite how much work this involves.

The hill climbing requires a great amount of wheel twiddling and brake management because the chausee is very deformee.  Sid is pleased to stop in pretty Fort Bragg for lunch. But first things first – at the Skunk Railway depot what about this model railway layout with complex models of locos built for logging lines with tight curves and awkward gradients? The dude explaining some of this worked on the railway which adds charm, like his bib and braces.

Lunch is in a cafe that is themed for The Wizard of Oz and run by a Spanish speaking father and son team. We are surely a long way from Kansas. Oh dear, we are a long way from Kansas.

Along the coast are rocks covered in pelicans who are clearly feeding well. This is a hostile coast for sailing compared to the East coast.  Rocks, waves, cliffs, headlands, vicious currents, and harbours spaced 50-100 miles apart.

We are not so far from Healdsburg but now we need to get back over the redwood hills to the 101 inland. It takes a lot of concentration to keep the Ford up to traffic speed on the twiddly roads so as Doris slides to and fro across the bench front seat Sid uses the pull outs (laybys for our English readers) to let more competent traffic through. We watch the temperature gauge.  The land relents, the pickups give way to saloon cars, and we are into farm country, then vineyards and soon after the welcome smooth Tarmac of a freeway.

At some point we cross into Mendocino County and play the Willie Nelson single in the car, though before the sun sank west of the Mendocino County Line.

In Healdsburg we find the Calderwood Inn, which could be more welcoming. It has a zero service formula – if you arrive outside 3-5pm then your key is in a deposit box. And breakfast is provided half a mile away at their cafe.

Inside it is beautifully done out in William Morris wallpaper and Rosetti prints. But its website says it is a four star hotel and does not make plain the distance from B to B so Doris will tell future travellers what not to expect on Trip Advisor.

Still, we know the town from cycling here in 2018 so make our way along the no-longer-lush Foss Creek Pathway back into town.

The charming square is still here for beer and blog central, and happiness is restored. Cheers.