VIRGINIA

My my, time does fly when you are having a good time.  I certainly am. Time to catch up ....
A night in Charlottesville, Virginia, and a very pleasant next morning visiting Monticello.  Thomas Jefferson designed and built the house at the top of a mountain surrounded by a large plantation.  The house is very interesting, custom built to the amateur architect's design. Jefferson was a man who lived well beyond his means and left such a substantial debt on his death that within a few years the property had to be sold.  It was bought by a friend who wanted the house preserved for prosperity and gratefully we are enjoying it.

We enjoyed a tour of each the house and the gardens, but could not stay long enough for the "slavery" tour through the slave areas below stairs. During the house tour there was some discussion about Jefferson's dilemna as a supporter of freedom and equality at odds with his ownership of slaves.  We are headed out to Roanoke to see the O.Winston Link gallery which has been recommended .  Link spent several years photographing trains, especialky of the N&W railroad during the last few years of steam. He was also an inventive pioneer of large scale night photography. It was a great experience, recommended to all.

The next morning we got going early to get to Damascus and ride up and down the section of the Virginia Creeper trail to Whitetop. Link photographed the Virginia Creeper train so we have an affinity with it now. I said up, and I meant it - 17miles or nearly 30 kilometres uphill, only to turn around and go down again. There has been a bit of rain recently so the track isn't bad but not the best condition. We were not much faster coming downm oicking a careful line through rocks, soft sections and trying to distinguish fallen autumn leaves from rocks. A good ride nevertheless through stunning forest along a beautiful creek.

Back in the trusty van and into North Carolina......