Sunday 1 July - Our first puncture!

Fort Bragg - Point Arena Cove

48 miles
4 hours and 1 minute in the saddle
37.5 mph max speed
11.9 mph max speed

Finally the nail that has been wedged in my tyre for the last 2000 miles (at least!) made it through to the inner tube and caused our first puncture. That meant that we didn't get started cycling till 11.30am. While we were extracting the 1" nail and changing the inner tube, Jeff, another cyclist came by and stopped for a chat and general entertainment that our misfortune provided. Soon after my tyre was fixed we met up with Jeff again in Mendocino and had lunch together on the sea front.

Mendocino is a very pretty and very touristy seaside resort perched on top of steep cliffs. In many ways the northern Californian coast is like Cornwall, but with constantly good weather. Mendocino has numerous B&Bs, bakeries and restaurants and is a nice place to stop over. We liked it so much we decided it would be a good place to stay the night, even if it would mean that we would only do an 11 mile day. Unfortunately the prices for rooms were astronomical and far beyond what our budget can stretch to, so we got back on our bikes and headed to Point Arena. It was a good decision. Tonight we are staying in a tiny fishing port where we can watch the fishermen haul up their catch of mainly wild salmon.