Day 7 Woodstock - Virginia

A good nights sleep was up at 6.30, but only because i couldn't find my i pod last night and had a sinking feeling that i had left it behind two days ago, even though i had searched last night by torch, i had to have one last look before i started phoning the last two Motels, the problem was i had no recollection of what i had done with it, memory is something i have problems with these days, age i suppose.

I felt annoyed and gutted, at losing it, and having to unpack everything again, when i just wanted to get going..... To my great relief, i found it, i had put it somewhere very safe,but it is an example of how i have to really be on my toes all the time, thats the reason friends, believe it of not, i have only had two beers in the last six days. Also, i feel there is a kind of reversal in my attitude, at home i go out to the pub to have a ''good'' drink and maybe meet people, whereas whilst i am on the road i am speaking to people all the time, (when there is any one around), so i don't feel lonely, and the whole bar situation just feels like it could lead to ''situations'', i like my beer just a little to much, and i feel i can't afford to let my guard down.

Its funny how things have a habit of turning out for the good, if i hadn't have wasted so much time i would not have got talking to Des and his wife, they were camped near me last night in one of those silver bullet looking caravans, i will find out the name, i think they were one of the first popular caravans, built with the same techniques as aircraft when they were first designed, and with a few modern attachments still basically the same after 70 years.

It turns out they have done a bit of cycling, and he was keen to find out about my extra wheel trailer, when we moved on to my trip, they were full of help and advice and even gave me a map book for the whole of the Country to help me plan my route. When i said that my intention today was to ride to Front Royal and get on a route called, rather dauntingly, Skyline Drive that runs along the ridge of one side of the Shenandoah Valley, and then onto the just as daunting Blue Ridge Parkway, meeting up with and chis-crossing the Appalachian Trail, that would then put me in the vicinity of Lynchburg and able to pick up the Association route again. They suggested helpfully that i ride down through the valley along route 11 ''just as scenic, but a lot less hilly'', and after yesterday i was more than happy to take their advice.

Having passed through Maryland on my way to Harpers ferry in West Virginia yesterday, i very quickly crossed yet another State Line into Virginia proper, pausing by a sign long enough to find out that it is named in honor of our 'virgin Queen' Elizabeth 1st, talk about rubbing it in!

At first i was on yet another busy uninteresting highway, but after getting my 'fingers' burnt, not to mention my noise, yesterday, i was more than happy to just get on with it, knowing that it was leading to a 'better place'. Another reason for staying on the 340 was that i as now working off the edge of my map, and i needed a gas station to buy a map for Virginia preferably one with All the minor roads marked and not just a token few!!!

I have started to see a few more cyclists now, but all going in the other direction and when i stopped for a chocolate Nesqwick and a map, i meet up with a pretty young blond from Scandinavia (where else), who was two weeks into a ride from Miami to Washington. I sneaked a quick look at how much she was packing, and i was envious to see how lightly loaded she was compared to the big lump i am hauling around, but then i found out that she's only doing Motels, and i thought 'I wish i was'. So, armed with my new map, and the sweet taste of chocolate on my lips, i bade her good bye and headed off for route 11.

The roads i have been riding along since Gettysburg, have been like riding through a history book, as it seems, each hill, bridge or valley has a sign cast in metal, painted black with white lettering telling of troop movements to and from, fortifications dug, skirmishes fought and battles won, all in random order, as the fortunes of the two armies ebbed and flowed across the landscape.