156 The Blue Ridge Pt 2

Friday 3rd May 2013 Miles Today 306 Total  2287

We virtually finished the Parkway today. The total distance of both parts is something like 560 miles. To put this into perspective, it's like driving from Plymouth to Sterling on your favorite tree lined peak district road, passing a car every 10 minutes or so, a motorcycle every 5 and a junction every 20 miles.

The Woodberry Inn at Post 174 on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Our motel. Despite looking like a stable it was very comfy inside.

 Mabry Mill where we had breakfast. It is 103 years old. The American equivalent of a pyramid.

Center left is a portion of the road and is typical of the whole route.

This road just goes on forever....

Oi, Raymond, will you stop clowning around and get back on the bloomin bike ?

After a bright(ish) start, the clouds started to form.

And then it started to get colder as we rode higher.

And then we entered the clouds at about 5000 feet.

By the time we got to the top we were in dense cloud and the visibility eventually slowed us to 20 mph.

We eventually topped out at just over 6000 feet there the cloud was so dense and wet we dare not get the camera out. We got soaked (again) and that was just from the damp cloud.

We spent the last 40 miles in cloud and it slowed us up somewhat but it was spookily enjoyable. We ended up at a biker friendly motel where we got 10% off the bill for being ex-forces. The owner is an ex US marine.

Today had been our longest by a long way and was over 300 miles including going out to dinner.  Karen is happy about that because it means she can have more time in Florida, when we get there.