Joy&Bill: Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina 17, 18 May

The Blue Ridge Parkway is a wonderfully scenic road that runs along the crest of the southern Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina and Virginia, between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Shenandoah National Park. It was started in 1935 as a Roosevelt work initiative during the depression and the last section was finally completed in 1987.

Bill about to go into yet another fantastic National Parks Information Centre at Asheville on the edge of the Blue Ridge Parkway. There is a great deal of interest to see as you drive along the way and the travelling is quite slow.

View from one of the many overlooks (as they call them). The mountains are numerous and the forest is very dense.

There are many tunnels to pass through.

There are many trails to take along the way if you have time. The forest we passed through on this trail seemed very ancient.

View of the Parkway from the top of the trail.

A very old and gnarled looking tree.

There were many flowering rhododendrons along the Parkway.

Part of the road is a snaking viaduct around Grandfather Mountain and we took a walking trail underneath it.

Part of the trail.

Driving over the viaduct now! Note the motor bikes. It is a very popular road for bikers, most of whom seemed to be a certain demographic!

After our first day on the Parkway we hopped off (no accommodation on the Parkway) and stayed at Blowing Rock, North Carolina.

Next day we stopped off at the Blue Ridge Music Centre, built to preserve and promote the historic music of Virginia and the Blue Ridge. Each day the locals have a jam session and visitors from the US and overseas often bring their instruments and join in. The players are mostly of a certain demographic, although they say blue grass is having a revival among younger people. There is also an interesting museum.