We both woke up tired this morning, possibly due to having one to many beers last night, or just because we stayed up watching "Naked and Afraid" till midnight!
Either way, it was a slow start, and we eventually rolled out about 9am. We had heard about a road we should be riding last night from the bikers we met called Blue Ridge Parkway - apparently a famous local road that everyone 'had to ride'.
Unfortunately - It doesn't go in our direction, and really is a 'take a day off to ride it' type of arrangement like we had at Monument Valley.
Luckily we got to ride a little bit of it on our route out of town, and it was amazing. tight sweeping corners, beautiful glimpses down the valley over the Smokey Mountains. All too soon though we had to turn off, and make our way north towards Virginia.
After a bit of pissing about getting on and off feeder roads, we ended up on Highway 221 which twisted and tuned its way through beautiful countryside. The road was good, but the locals had been cutting the corners and putting gravel on the apex and creating a few 'oh fuck' moments- but nothing serious.
All in all we were wearing shit eating grins, and I felt marvelously relaxed from riding through some beautiful country.
After a while - the fucker of a GPS took us off 221, and back on to the boring Interstate. We rode through a brief thunderstorm again, but this time it was just enough to cool us off without soaking us to the skin, quite a respite from the 37 degree heat!
We now only have 7 days of riding left. It has all come to an end very quickly, although when I think about it, it seems like a LONG time ago that we put the bikes back together in Anchorage. Not sure about Megan, but I could quite happily turn around and ride back the way we came. Like every holiday, I feel like we have just scratched the surface, and there is just so much more to see. Next time...
Either way, it was a slow start, and we eventually rolled out about 9am. We had heard about a road we should be riding last night from the bikers we met called Blue Ridge Parkway - apparently a famous local road that everyone 'had to ride'.
Unfortunately - It doesn't go in our direction, and really is a 'take a day off to ride it' type of arrangement like we had at Monument Valley.
Luckily we got to ride a little bit of it on our route out of town, and it was amazing. tight sweeping corners, beautiful glimpses down the valley over the Smokey Mountains. All too soon though we had to turn off, and make our way north towards Virginia.
After a bit of pissing about getting on and off feeder roads, we ended up on Highway 221 which twisted and tuned its way through beautiful countryside. The road was good, but the locals had been cutting the corners and putting gravel on the apex and creating a few 'oh fuck' moments- but nothing serious.
All in all we were wearing shit eating grins, and I felt marvelously relaxed from riding through some beautiful country.
After a while - the fucker of a GPS took us off 221, and back on to the boring Interstate. We rode through a brief thunderstorm again, but this time it was just enough to cool us off without soaking us to the skin, quite a respite from the 37 degree heat!
We now only have 7 days of riding left. It has all come to an end very quickly, although when I think about it, it seems like a LONG time ago that we put the bikes back together in Anchorage. Not sure about Megan, but I could quite happily turn around and ride back the way we came. Like every holiday, I feel like we have just scratched the surface, and there is just so much more to see. Next time...
if you get a chance to stick another one of those map line jobs in, it gives us a perspective of what you have achieved so far. Cheers
ReplyDeleteDone :) added one in the latest post!
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