Oct 14, 2013

Yesterday evening we drove around Front Royal and discovered there had been a ‘Leaves Festival’ on with all sorts of stalls and things happening through the day. These are the last of things to be cleared away in front of the Visitors Centre and the Mill Restaurant in the background where we had dinner.



And some quirky little houses we spotted on the way back to our Inn.

Well we came to this area to ride ‘The Skyline Road’ along the ridge through the Shenandoah National Park. It is known as one of the best and most spectacularly beautiful bike rides in the world but alas our host last night told us that the road was within the National Park and due to the Federal Government shutdown wasn’t open so we wouldn’t be able to see it. He also told us as a consolation that with the current weather i.e. raining and foggy we wouldn’t see anything than that anyway. Mmmm, so we headed for Sperryville and were told when we fuelled up that the road was in fact open, you just couldn’t drive off into the National Park sites. But, the rain and fog had continued unabated for the whole ride thus far and was expected to continue for the rest of the day (which it did by the way). Anyway we decided we might just as well give the Skyline Drive a miss and just get into Charlottesville as soon as we could.



A Public Building in Madison as we pulled up for a brief break and don’t you just love all the wires strung between poles. There have been more of them underground lately so they haven’t been so obvious.



And another building we spotted across the road. One extreme to the other.



Once we were in Charlottesville we waited for the rain to ease and headed off up the walking street to see what we could see. This is a city building in Charlottesville with a memorial on the end for James Madison, Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe at the end of the Walking Street / Mall where there was also an amphitheatre.



Across the street from this building was the Visitor Centre on the left (the new) and Transit Centre in the distance (the old). Interesting mix.



A street view in the walking street in Charlottesville.



And another.

Bits and Bobs:



This sign caught my eye in the Mall.

Last night’s Accommodation:



Lackawanna Bed & Breakfast
236 Riverside Drive
Front Royal, Virginia 22630

When we first approached the building we wondered if we had the right one as we had experienced a GPS glitch and the building didn’t exactly look like somewhere we would be heading however we saw the name out the front and then we headed in and were delighted to find a beautifully restored historical building and charming hosts. We enjoyed relaxing in the parlour, the shower was hot, the bed beautifully comfortable and the included breakfast absolutely delicious.