I can't really remember now. It was a long time ago. The red woods stick in my memory and the coast but you can see that from the road and just stop when you want to.

We stayed in an amazing youth hostel I remember which you might be able to find. It was in a building joint to a lighthhouse and had a hot tub on the cliff top.

Sitting in the tub with a load of fellow travellers, drinking beer and watching the light pan across the water and then disappear into the darkness was pure magic and something I'll never forget.

Another place that's not on the PCH and is not well known is a derelict mining town called Bodie. It's in northern CA so might be too far north for you this time. But put it on your list.

The towns folk just upped and left at the end of the gold rush and, because the town is far from the main route, it's been preserved very much as it was. There are clothes still hanging on the back of doors and books in the school room.

We heard about it from a UK friend. None of our friends in the US had heard of it!