Northern California Motorcycle Tour

Northern California away from the obvious bits. Eight days out of San Francisco, seven nights and around 980 miles, taking in the Napa and Sonoma vineyards, the Mendocino coast, the Humboldt redwoods and a route home through the Sacramento Delta.

It starts short and easy, only 85 miles over the Golden Gate Bridge and up through Sonoma County and the Napa Valley to Santa Rosa, with Calistoga and its volcanic mud baths on the way. The following day reaches the coast at Bodega and Point Arena before Fort Bragg, and the day after that runs north through the Jackson State Forest to the Humboldt redwoods, where the trees are the tallest living things on earth and the road runs between them.

The second half turns inland and gets emptier. Wildwood Road crosses to Red Bluff, then the longest day of the week at 290 miles passes through the Lassen National Forest to Sacramento. The final ride takes in Locke, a small delta town built by Chinese labourers in 1915 and still largely intact, then Muir Woods before the bridge back into San Francisco.

EAGLERIDER supplies the bike and books all seven nights. Fuel, meals and insurance are arranged separately. Daily distances are mostly gentle, 85 to 210 miles, with only one long day near the end of the week. For riders who have already done Big Sur and want the other half of California, the northern coast and the redwood country are quieter, greener and arguably the more impressive of the two halves.