Georgia and the Appellation Mountains

The ride up into Georgia went smoothly. I was surprised by the amount of forestation I was riding through. Like Alaska it’s n ice at first but as scenery goes it gets boring quite quickly. I had picked a town called Dublin as my first stop through this state, but it's nothing like it’s namesake in Ireland. Someone must have been very homesick when they named this town. The next day I also rode through one of the larger towns called Athens. This town might have been worth closer inspection as it’s one of the major universities in the south, along with that the sorority houses. Huge old Greco Georgian southern homes that have large Greek letters on the porticos like Alpha Beta Kappa.


The Blue Ridge Scenic Railway about to depart


The main street of Blue Ridge


Up in the mountains

That Thursday night saw me in the Appellation Mountains in the small town of Blue Ridge. The main street of the oldest part of town has some beautiful tourist shops and see’s the departure of the Blue Ridge railway each day. The roads around this part of the state were full of motorcyclists making the most of the winding mountain roads. After a couple of nights there I rode 250km to end up 50km away from where I had started in a pseudo German Alpine town of Helen. Very cheesy but with a lot of people enjoying the river by floating down in inflatable rings and putting on the pounds eating the ice creams and local chocolates. My one complaint was at 5 o’clock on the Sunday I decided that it was beer o’clock and when I put the can of Budweiser on the counter the clerk said sorry no beer sold on Sunday!!


The "Alpine" village of Helen


Another covered bridge near Helen


Tubing down the river. A good way to deal with the heat.

On the Monday I started a slow ride down towards South Carolina stopping in Augusta on the way down to a small town on the coast called Beaufort where there is one of the main US Marine training facilities. So I’m now just outside Charleston with John and Gabby, friends of another good friend who I haven’t seen in 33 years. Claire is joining me for this little part of the journey through South and North Carolina and up to Washington before she flies back home to Paris. John and Gabby’s place in Awendaw is beautiful set among the trees with access to the intercostal waterways that run along the Carolina coast.


The grand old houses of the south


The shrimp boats. There is actually a Bubba Gump shrimp restaurant!


The view from Johns house to the jetty


And looking back to the house


Gabby's Mother still lives on the plantation with this fantastic driveway


Down to the main house