Pacific Coast Highway CALIFORNIA Avenue of the Giants, Eureka & Glass Beach

Hi everyone, how you doing? So we're just leaving Eureka which is on the 101 and we stayed at a place called Woodley Island last night. So we're at Woodley Island and it's a gorgeous place just opposite Eureka. When the tide comes in it rises up above this grass and area there. Yeah. It looks like the statue's actually fishing in the water. It's great. We stayed in a car park on the harbour and it was beautiful. We found it on eye over land. To Avenue of the Giants or something, aren't we? Gary, what are we doing? We're going to drive the Avenue of the Giants Scenic Highway which is a 31 mile route through the Humboldt Redwoods State Park in Northern California. It used to be the old 101, the route 101, the Pacific Highway, but they rerouted some of it and they've kept it up but they've called it a 254 and it's 31 miles long. So looking forward to that. We're just turning off the 101 now to go down the Avenue of the Giants Pepperwood. Humboldt Redwoods State Park. Autotour information in 500 feet. Oh, so there's some information. We'd better go and find out what that's all about. There's a little pull-off just as you've entered the road and there's a autotour pamphlet pickup. What's that like, Gary? Is there some in there? There's loads in there. They must get filled up every day. Oh, well, that's pretty good. And then there's a map here as well. So I expect there's a bit of information that you should really have a little look at. And there's one of those in map boards as well. It's only a small pull-off, but probably worth grabbing when you come. According to this really useful little pamphlet, it tells you where your first stop is, and there's about eight stops all along the way. And if you're going southbound, you'll go eight down to one. And if you're going northbound, you'll go one through to eight. Sounds complicated, but it's really easy when you read the pamphlet. So our first one's in about two miles, isn't it? It's amazing to think this is the old 101, isn't it, Gary? Look at all these trees. I mean, these trees are really massive. And this was, I mean, this road's quite narrow if you had a really large vehicle, but it's in pretty good condition. It's all right, isn't it? Yeah, I mean, they're well maintained. Just passed a sign that says Pepperwood, so introducing you to Pepperwood, and there's a population of 50 by all accounts. What is this? I'm not sure what that is, but it's quite fun. So this is auto tour number eight, and it's a 2.4 mile trail. I'm not sure we're going to do all that, are we, right at this stage, Gary? We've only just got here, but we have had our lunch. We could do with walking a bit of it off. I've just liberally sprayed myself with a bit of citronella, because no doubt I'm going to get bitten alive. Went in the woods for five minutes the other day and got four massive bloody bites. Gary got nothing. Not a stitch, did you, babe? Smells absolutely beautiful in here, doesn't it, Babs? Look how tall these trees are. It's ages till you see the sun. It's lovely and cool in here as well, isn't it? Yeah, lovely and shady. Look at all this fern everywhere. Looks really prehistoric, doesn't it? It does. It's so peaceful. I can't believe how big this one is. We're just making Gary go next to it to give a comparison. It just goes on and on and on. It reaches the sky. You can get inside there. Why didn't you get in? Yeah, 30 years ago I might have been able to. It's when you think you've seen the king daddies. There's a massive one. I almost feel sorry for the thin one that's, like, next to it. It's not going to get any nutrition, is it? Look at that poor little skinny one that's right next to it. It's like Laurel and Hardy of the woods. I just think you've seen the most interesting things and then you see, like, a massive tree like this that's had its bark split. Oh, Gary's going to try and get in. Oh, it's got those knobble things on. These appear when it's had some distress. It's got a couple of them in here. What's it like inside there? It's hollow. Oh, I want to be careful. Is there anything in there? No, it's empty. Is it completely empty? Yeah, completely empty. Look, it's still got the sun. It's got the sunlight. It's got knobbles. It almost looks like little seats inside, doesn't it? It does, doesn't it? I think Gary's going to try and get in it. Can you see those little knobbles? They look like chairs. You could sit on one, Babs. Oh, watch yourself, though. Maybe it's not a good idea, this. He's definitely the more adventurous of us two. I'm not getting in there because I don't know what's in there, but even when you look at the wood itself, it feels really smooth. It's hard to explain, although it's knobbly, it's quite smooth. So I feel quite peaceful. It's so high up, though, isn't it? Well, we're up the Chandler Grove Trail, aren't we? So how far is this one? It's only 0.2 of a mile, so it won't take us more than 10, 15 minutes. But it's quite steep, yeah, you reckon? Yeah, about 30 meters drop to height. OK, now this one, interestingly enough, this is stop number seven. If we look up, by all accounts, there is potential to see the marbled murrelet and they nest in the trees. Now, I don't know if we will see it. Normally they live, you know, on the ocean. And so when they're not nesting and they're raising their chicks, their home is the ocean. And we also might see banana slugs, which I'm not particularly keen on seeing. But I'm quite looking forward to seeing a salamander if we can. No eating the banana slugs. I'll try not to. Lovers have carved their names into this piece of wood that's fallen. G and S. Somebody called Ham. Well, or maybe they just love ham. There's quite a few little pullouts along the road. However, there's a lot of no camping signs. And obviously that's been a problem in the past. People just staying overnight. There's one there, look. No camping. Notice that no dogs are allowed either, except service dogs. But definitely no camping. So this is the historic site of a town called Dyerville. Now, Dyerville was so big, it had hotels, mercantiles. Not a lot they even had. Baseball diamond carved out of the river bank there, the River Heel. Now, in 1955, there was a catastrophic flood that wiped everything away off this site. And one of the most interesting things about this is the Eel River is classed as one of the most erosive rivers in the United States. So we're just going around here and above us is now the new 101, isn't it, Gary? Yeah. So this is obviously the old one. There's the basin with the dreadful floods of 1955. Somebody's camped down there, I think. Gosh, cars have got all the way down on the basin. Actually got a flood marker now, haven't we, Gary? From when it flooded the high water in December 1964. It's all the way up there. 33 feet from where the ground is. 33 feet. We would be completely surrounded by water. By all accounts, if you look around, you can see the old sidewalks and pavements where we used to be. Actually found a very old grate, which was obviously from before 1964, before the floods. Because there's part of the sidewalk. So you can see just here, some amazing blackberries growing around here as well. I don't know whether we should pick a few, actually, Gary. They're big, aren't they? Oh, but typically there's always bloody plastic everywhere. Looks like it's been burnt. Has it burnt? Yeah, it has. So these redwoods were famous for being impervious to insects and fire. Really? Insects can't burrow into them. And what they do is they grow a bark up to 30 inches wide, or deep rather, thick, which protects them against fire. Come on down the road, you'll see there is the world famous drive-through tree. Now, unfortunately, we can't drive through this because we're far too big. But you'll see there, the tree is built around it. And cars can actually pay, I think a few vehicles pay $15 and they can drive through it. There you go. It's a nice little attraction, should anyone want to. This row here is dedicated to Colonel Raynald C. Bolling from South Carolina, USA. He was the first officer of senior rank to fall in the First World War. So we're parked at this really amazing eye-over-lander stop, aren't we, Gary? We are. So we're right by the coast. You'll see where we are. I'm going to turn around to the coast. It's a cliff edge coast. But it's got a really sad story. By all accounts, a couple, two women, they drove their car with, did she say six or five children? Six children in the car right over where we are. Oh my gosh, I don't even know what to think, do you? It's really, really sad. And it just feels so awful that they would have gone straight into there. On the 26th of March, 2018, Jennifer and Sarah Hart drove their car off this cliff point, killing themselves and their six adopted children. Terrible, Gary. Really terrible. How could you do that to your own children? Along the coast is actually a bit like a helter-skelter, isn't it? It's all over the place. Some of it doesn't have a barrier. And honestly, it's a right old sheer drop. Don't look, Gary. Don't look. It's having to pull over because there's a massive tanker that wants to get past and it's so impatient. And they go so... Oh, it's not massive. That's an exaggeration on my part. But it is a tanker. But loads of people look as if we're going so slow. But look at it. Just bends, bends, bends. And we were worried about doing the bloody big sir. I think we're doing the small sir. Suggest 15 miles per hour coming around here. I'm not surprised. Oh, my gosh. Flipping hell. I'm on the edge of my seat. It's horrible. Do you like it? I do, actually. Oh, it's awful. In a wolf's way. I mean, the sea is beautiful and everything. But it's very misty, isn't it? Yeah, but when it lifts and you've got views like that, it's gorgeous. And I've just been like panicking. Gary's laughing. But please don't laugh, babe. Please just drive. Oh, it's horrible. Flipping hell. It's giving that Seattle wheel a run for its money. I don't even like going around the corner. Oh, my gosh. Oh, flipping Nora. Look at these. Oh, they just don't care. They're just like not worried at all. They're on the inside, though. Stopped off at a little state park. And there's loads of these. We think they're gophers, don't we, Gary? Yeah, these are baby gophers. Oh, look at them. They're all over the place. They're right on the beach. So we're on a little boardwalk. Where's the adult? Talking to the baby there. Oh, look, there's the adult. Oh, I can't really capture it now. Let's see. Oh, this little baby one. Hello. They're very, very used to humans, I think. You're not allowed to feed them. It's the mum coming here. And here comes the mother. But you're not supposed to feed these. I think people might be doing that because they seem extremely tame. But if you can see where we are, there's a beautiful boardwalk at this state park. It's free parking for day use. And there is a campground here, but we're not staying here. We're just passing through. But it's absolutely gorgeous. It's a really nice place to stop. Oh, gosh, they're everywhere. We're down in Fort Bragg and we've come to Glass Beach, which sounds amazing. But there's a sign with loads of warnings about the ocean. You know, a safety sign, really. But some of the pictures are quite strange. You'll see cliffs crumble. Stay away from the edge. Poor little kids like falling in. Rocks can be slippy. Never turn your back on the ocean. We've seen that a few times now, haven't we? So obviously the waves can be quite dangerous and deadly. Watch children and pets. You would think a lot of this stuff is common sense, but you just don't know. Rip currents. So it's obviously much more deadly than it looks. It looks so beautifully peaceful at the moment, doesn't it? I think some of the images we've seen are a bit exaggerated. There's not loads of it as it you would sort of be led to believe. The water's coming in. But there are some nice little pieces. It's a really lovely beach, though. More about its rock formations than whether you're going to get a piece of glass. I expect lots of people have been down here picking up the glass. It's really pretty. Really pretty. He's got himself on a rock. He's got a couple of little tiny pieces, but it's absolutely beautiful here. But don't come here thinking you're going to get loads of beach glass. You won't. Route one still. Just past Fort Ross. It's a really terrible, twisty, turny, windy road. And there is just fog everywhere. The driving conditions at the moment. It's a sheer cliff just there. There's some barriers at some places. It's absolutely terrifying. I feel like I'm doing that Crash Bandicoot game where he's like, I just remember getting hit by that one. OK, Penel. Oh, God. I'm just hoping nobody starts driving really fast or rearing up our back end. You know, because there's just sheer drops everywhere. Really wish we hadn't done this. But Gary's doing a brilliant job. And just taking it easy. It's going to take us about five million hours to get to Santa Rosa, I should imagine, which is about 40 miles away. Oh, God. These roads are really bumpy as well. Right, I'm just going to get off and panic. Work's going on. And honestly, we've just seen some road work vehicles with their tyres over the edge. We're still going up. We've just seen an A-class pass us and we can't actually believe that he's done it. We had to give him the thumbs up. It is really unpleasant. Gary, you're doing brilliant. We just heard one almighty sort of crack. It turns out the sink in the bathroom has just leaked. I've had to remove all of the toiletries that we've got. And they're all soaking wet, all my makeup, everything. And if anyone who knows me well, they know I love my makeup. I'm like, oh, gosh, I'm just going to have to clean all this up while Gary figures out how to fix it. The whole sink out now. What's the score, Bab? Well, it looks like this pipe here is split. If you bring that pipe down. Oh, right. It's split. So that's a combination of heat and pressure over the last five months, I think. So those pipes we bought just weren't up to the task. OK, OK. So what are you going to do? Well, I've got some more of the pipe and I'll have to bodge it again. And then we'll get some proper pipe. But it's again, it's the size thing. So let's see what I can do now. And it's boiling hot in it. It's red hot in here. So I found this piece of pipe that was given to us by a friend. I replaced the old pipe with these two bits of pipe, one for the cold water, one for the hot water. Looks to have worked. It's now a couple of days later and we've still had no leaks. So I'm happy with the finished product. We're at the hotel motel holiday inn. We can't believe it, can we babe?