Penland

Our journey today was a short one. We left Erwin heading for Chuck and Deana Young's place at Bald Creek - about 18 miles as the crow flies and about 40 by road - but only if you take the long way around.

We left on route 19W which meandered and twisted its way.across the Tennessee/North Carolina border. It was a good road with little traffic and almost perfect for motorcycling - only the occasional patches of gravel spoilt it.

Our GPS had no idea where Chuck and Deana lived, but we had good directions and found their place without any trouble.

Their property is about a mile off route 19. To get to it involves a steep climb to the top of a ridge, and an equally steep descent on the other side. Their driveway is also quite steep. and these roads required caution as they were narrow, wet and sprinkled with leaf litter. Breathtaking just the same.

Chuck and Deana were in the midst of finishing a whole lot of art works for three up-coming fairs, but graciously took time out to show us around their studio - essentially a second house behind their residence and further up the steep driveway.

To let them get on with their work, we got back on our bike and rode to the Penland School of Arts and Crafts, about 15 miles east of Bald Creek. We had heard of this place when we were here in 2008, but had not had the chance to visit it then. It is a sprawling establishment with a number of buildings dedicated to the various schools metal, blacksmithing, woodworking, ceramics, paper, book making, jewellry, fabrics, drawing and painting...

Their visitors centre includes a gallery full of works by instructors and students.

Our next stoip was to find the coffee shop and have lunch.

We wandered around some of the other buildings - the metal shop where students were busy raising copper vessels, the blacksmith shop, and several others

On the way back to Chuck and Deana's we stopped in Burnsville to buy some wine and nibbles to take back. To our surprise we bumped into Deana there, also buying groceries.  Since Deana had her car and could carry more than us, we bought a few extra things.

It was starting to rain when we went to leave, so Wanda travelled back in the car with Deana. There was no need for both of us to get wet

We had a geat dinner together and talked for a while before getting an early night.