Day thirty, Waynesboro va to Lexington va.

0900 start from Waynesboro saw us heading up to the northern entrance to the Blue Ridge Parkway and heading south. Just across the road, Skyline drive and the Shenandoah National Park ended, so today meant we were on a Virginia Parkway that was not inside a National Park. Yep, that means no trucks and the speed limit lifts to 45 mph instead of 35 mph. Thank Goodness for that. Sun was shining, we were riding between 3000 and 4000 feet asl so the temps stayed low to mid twenties and we made good time with that extra 10 mph!. The views are much the same as Skyline drive, the BPR follows the crest of the range , is surrounded by bush and with great overlooks so makes for good riding.

Since the BPR is not inside a National Park, there is the odd Bach, cabin, holiday home and even a couple farms dotted along its length up at that altitude to keep things interesting. Most of the pics below start with typical Blue Ridge Parkway shots then the following ones, like with rock walls etc are from Goshen Pass, Avery cool part of rural Virginia.

We did about 70 kms on the BPR down as far as Humphreys Gap, before dropping down into Lexington, a cute wee town of about 7000 people, we had lunch and coffee there. Even though this was our final destination for the night, we still had 200 kms to ride in a big loop in rural Virginia so off we went.

Headed out Route 39, the Maury River road, aka the Appalacian Waters Scenic Byway, toward Goshen, this means tackling the Goshen Pass, this road is made for motorcycles, what a little ripper. At Goshen we hung a left to stay on the 39 to Warm springs where the plan was to then head south on the 220 and east again on the interstate back to Lexington.

As we went over a high saddle back down to the Warm Springs intersection with the 220, we got caught in a downpour so stopped for a re-group. Put it to the team we were exactly half way on our afternoon loop, 80 kms to go on main road and interstate or do a u turn and go back the way we came on Route 39 which was a blast as far as motorcycling goes.

No argument, everyone was up for doing a U turn and running Route 39 in reverse, it was so much fun, so that is exactly what we did. Back over the summit the rain disappeared so we had a dry run back to Lexington, along the 39 and through Goshen Pass again. Just awesome riding, no question. The Comfort Hotel here is by far the best we have stayed in to date.