Camping at Breaks

The reward for todays effort is camping in a mountain top forest. As you can see, another part of life on the road is the daily laundry.

Breaks Interstate Park

The final climb up to the park. The severity of the gradient never seems to show in the pics! 1st gear was often not low enough.

To Breaks

We had to haul groceries about 10 miles up 3000ft cumulative climbing from Haysi to Breaks Interstate Park. Here's Bill in his orange riding vest dividing up the shopping into portions for everyone. The cooks for the day are responsible for the shopping and tomorrow's cooks do wash-up today. You don't have to cook very often our group of 14.

Big A mountain

The first big climb today was up big A mountain. Some of us stopped for coffee before the climb. An old farmer started chatting to us. I asked him what big A stood for. He went on to say how his grandma told stories of how they had to haul supplies to the farm up that mountain and that she always called it Big Ass Mountain. So I guess if his grandma called it that, then I guess its OK to call it that!

Damascus

Our layover day in Damascus is on the weekend of the Appalatian Trail Days, an annual get together of people who have hiked the trail. The small town of Damascus, that the trail passes through, is buzzing with streetside stalls. It looks rather like a 60's peace rally...check out the stickers on this van! The trail hikers do have a hippie look about them. I guess when you are trekking through the wilderness for six months things like shaving etc. aren't a priority. Seeing some of the hikers with their huge backpacks on makes what we are doing seem rather tame. At least you get to freewheel down the hills when cycling.

To Damascus

The usual 10 mile morning coffee stop.

To Wytheville

There's no escaping the hills. The only flat bits are the bridges over the rivers before the next climb starts.

Troutville to Christiansburg

Another fantastic day riding through rolling rural landscape. There was a lot of up and downhill. Often you are flying downhill at 35mph and a few seconds later you are in 1st gear doing 4mph! There were magnificent views around each bend, like this huge old wooden barn.

Troutville

A glorious day's riding off the Appalatians and along the valley through Lexington and Buchanan to Troutville. The high crime rate in S.A. is highlighted when you see the absence of fences and walls here. The railway runs next to the road and between houses and not a fence in sight. Houses don't hide behind 6ft walls but stand proudly on their vast neat lawns open to the street and neighbours. Kids play happily in gardens and their bikes are left outside.

Mallard Duck Camp

This is what we do after supper each day...go over the next day's route. Our tour leader, Bob, is on the right in the green shirt.

Blue Ridge Parkway

The Parkway is an awesome road lined with manicured lawns. The wooden fence is part of an exhibit of a settler farm.

Blue Ridge Parkway

Time for an energy boost at the top of one of the climbs on the Parkway. This one's for you Dom!

Afton

A corner in June Curry's bike house where we stay tonight. Every space is covered with postcards, photos, newspaper clippings etc. from cyclists that have passed here. June, the 'cookie lady' has been helping cyclists since the Transam route started with the bikecentenial in 1976.

Charlottesville to Afton

The countryside is getting more lumpy as we start climbing up to the Blue Ridge Parkway. All these lush pastures make me think of the alpacas back home that are going into winter and can only dream of green grass!

Charlottesville to Afton

Wyant's store, the best place in White Hall for some chille on a grey day...in fact, the only place, the store is all there is.

There are a lot of churches along the route. This was one of the more striking ones today.

To Charlottesville

Some of the country convenience stores that are marked on the map have closed down, so we were glad to find this one open. I was starting on my peanut butter sandwich when Ingo came out with a tub of ice cream. That looked much more exciting than my sandwich, so there I was soon after with a tub of my own. It went down really well. After all the rain it is very humid, so the roller coaster hills were hard work.

Our scenic camping spot at William Hale's farm.

Ashland to Hale's farm.

During a beautifull route through rolling fields of wheat between shady wooded stretches, I came across this family of geese crossing a bridge. They waddled halfway up the hill in front of me before they veered off into the woods. But they weren't holding me up, I was huffing up the hill in 1st gear and battling to keep up!

It was a challenge to find a spot to pitch that wasn't waterlogged. It has rained a lot here. Check out the monster rv's in the background!