Front Royal to Lynchburg, Virginia

Front Royal is at the northern end of the Shenandoah National Park and the beginning of the Skyline Drive, which becomes the Blue Ridge Parkway, winding along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountain range for nearly eight hundred kilometres.

Our hotel was only a few kilometres from the park entrance, which we reached around 10am.

The weather was reasonably clear and we were hopeful we would be able to enjoy the spectacular views of the mountains and valleys as we drove the Skyline. We reached the visitor centre, where we parked and took these photos looking down across Virginia.

Sadly for us, within a few kilometres of the visitor centre, we drove into thick cloud and mist and our visibility was cut to less than a hundred metres.

It continued like this for the next eighty kilometres. It was a big disappointment as we saw very little of the countryside. The weather started to clear slightly and Wendy was able to take one more photo of the valley below us.

Then it was back into more cloud and some heavy rain.

We decided to cut the drive short and turn off the Skyline and head for Charlottesville, about 60 kms away. We came down out of the mountains into lovely sunshine. We reached Charlottesville at around 12.30pm and drove to see the famous University of Virginia, founded and designed by Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States.

The busy street running alongside the university where we parked and had lunch after looking around the campus.

 University of Virginia

The Rotunda.

We went into the Rotunda and saw this marble statue of Jefferson.

The Rotunda Library where students were studying in the alcoves.

The marvellous Rotunda ceiling with its circular roof light.

Thomas Jefferson and the curving staircases leading up to the Rotunda library.

The Rotunda from the front with Jefferson's statue in the foreground.

When we returned to our car, we saw this 'Newfie' puppy belonging to one of the car park attendants. Apparently it was 14 weeks old and was gaining one pound in weight per day!

We left the university area and drove through the centre of Charlottesville passing this statue of Lewis and Clarke, the two men sent by Jefferson to explore the western part of the country.

We drove about 10 kms out of the city to Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson. It's a wonderful place designed and built by him on top of the hills above Charlottesville. We had a very good guide, Tom Nash, who showed us round the house and gave us a detailed history of Jefferson, most of which was totally new to me.

The beautiful façade of the house with its domed roof.

You can just see the university Rotunda through the trees from the house.

We walked down the hill past the graves of Jefferson and many members of his family.

We left Monticello and drove about 100 kms to Lynchburg. As we approached our hotel, The Courtyard by Marriott, we passed the 5,000 kms mark of our drive.

Tomorrow, we continue our drive along the Blue Ridge Mountains to our next stop in Asheville, North Carolina, where we are visiting the incredible Biltmore Mansion, the largest house in the US.