Touring Shenandoah Valley and Skyline Drive

Our plan for today was to go sightseeing around the legendary Shenandoah Valley. Our route took us south from Front Royal on 340. Most of the vehicles coming this way peel off to the left a few miles south of the town to pick up Skyline Drive. This is the overture to the Blue Ridge Parkway's symphony.

We chose instead to continue a few more miles and turn right onto VA619 which meandered across the Shenandoah Valley, past farms and homes. We turned south on VA 678 and threaded our way along the valley. In the heat of the day, relief was to be found motorcycling along the country road through clusters of tall leafy trees that threw shade across the road.

To either side of us the Appalachian Mountains rose sharply, but were almost invisible in the blanket of haze. This haze has been around for days, but never as bad as today.

We just enjoyed the riding as best we could in the conditions. After about 20 miles on VA 678, we turned off onto VA 675 and into Fort Valley. Initially the road tracked along the river, bend for bend before climbing over the Massanutten Mountains.

The descent took us into the town of Luray where we stopped for a well earned break.

We had the option of riding further west to New Market, a town steeped in Civil War history. (Actually, everywhere in Virginia has some connection with the Civil War - or so it seems.) Not having "Bomber" Beazley's* interest in the Civil War, and considering the heat we decided instead to visit Luray Caverns.  The temperature underground is about 54 F all year round and offered welcome relief from the heat above ground.

These caverns are the best in the region according to our guide book. The tour involves a walk along a well paved path with an audio tour (like they have at the National Gallery of Australia for special exhibitions).

There are many spectacular formations, but to us the most remarkable was the Lake of Dreams where a shallow pool of perfectly still water reflects the tiny stalactites on the ceiling to created the illusion of a vast city on a hillside.

The caverns are also famous for their "draperies", sheets of calcite that hang in folds like some rich fabric.

Another unique feature is the "Stalacpipe Organ", a musical instrument that creates notes by hitting carefully selected stalactites in exactly the right spot with little hammers on electrically operated solenoids. They have a computer program that activates the solenoids to play a mournful and tuneless hymn every ten or fifteen minutes.

Back out in the heat, we headed straight for the ice cream shop. Once sated, we had a look around the car and carriage museum, because this was included in the price of the cavern ticket. This had a number of interesting horse- drawn vehicles including a Conestoga wagon. Their collection of Brass-era cars was also quite good, although not on a par with the Seal Cove Museum in Maine. Indeed, we wondered if some (or many) of these might have once been part of the collection that was sold off to fund the Seal Cove Museum?

We were tired and ready to head back to our motel. Our route took us east on 211 where we entered Skyline Drive at the Thornton Gap Ranger Station. We discovered that having a pass to get into US National Parks meant we didn't have to pay yhe entry fee.

...and this is where we had a minor "accident". The pass was under Chris's spare glasses (at the time, the ones with clear lenses) and other stuff in a small compartment in the bike fairing. After showing the pass, Chris put everything back except his glasses. These fell off the bike as we rode off, By the time he realised what had happened and stoipped so Wanda could go back for them, the RV following us through had run over them.

The ride up Skyline Drive was fabulous, except when stuck behind a truck and, a few minutes later, the RV that had crushed Chris's glasses. There are not many passing opportunities on this road, but the Beemer can make the moest of any chance. We should mention that we were riding without panniers - we had left them back in our motel - and the difference in performance without them was noticeable.

There are many overlooks along this stretch of road, but with the extreme haze, there was nothing to see.

Back at the motel we planned how we might replace Chris's glasses. The heavily tinted ones are hopeless indoors, and unuseable at night. We were already pretty stressed out from travelling day-after-day in the heat and humidity, so it was not a good night.


*"Bomber" Beazley, aka Kim Beazley served as an Australian politician for many years, and was on several occasions Leader of the Opposition. He was famous inter alia for being excessively prolix, and having a very strong interest in US Civil War history.