Asheville, North Carolina to Charleston, South Carolina

We were both very sad to leave Asheville and promised ourselves we would come back! The Inn on Biltmore Estate is definitely one of the best hotels we have stayed in on this drive.

We had a drive of over 400kms to Charleston and decided to take the quickest route so that we would have time to see Charleston this afternoon. It was a very good drive through some beautiful Carolinian countryside.

After about an hour we reached our fourteenth state, South Carolina.

We have seen several of these road work warning signs and this was the first one Wendy managed to photograph. We liked the phrase 'let 'em work, let 'em live'.

These two motorcyclists drove past us and then the one behind caught up with his buddy, who gave him the thumbs up.

We had seen signs on the freeway to an antiques mall in a small town called Little Mountain.  So, when we came to the exit, we turned off and drove a couple of miles to a really excellent antiques place. I bought a large print of General Lee to remind me of our visit to Gettysburg. Wendy bought a very pretty sugar bowl made in Buffalo in 1919. It was a fun stop and I also was able to get my daily dose of caffeine from the coffee pot available for customers.

We continued our drive south and just before we reached the outskirts of Charleston, we passed the 6,000kms mark of the drive. Another milestone reached!

We drove up to our hotel, Charleston Place, at exactly 2.30pm, five hours after we left Asheville. The entrance lobby of the hotel with its giant chandelier and curving staircase.

Our hotel courtyard.

We unpacked quickly and then walked the streets of old Charleston. We both liked this art deco cinema, The Riviera, just around the corner from the hotel.

Next, we went to the Market Place and had a snack lunch. Wendy did some shopping before we walked down to the waterfront.

On the waterfront was this impressive fountain, another one where children were running through the jets of water.

We walked out on to a jetty to look across Charleston Harbour. To the left of us was the magnificent Arthur Ravenel Jr cable-stayed bridge.

As we admired the wonderful vista, a large cruise ship pulled away from the quay and headed out of the harbour, in front of the bridge.

On the other side of the harbour I saw this aircraft carrier. I asked one of the people on the jetty if they knew what it was and they said it is the USS Yorktown, which is now a floating museum.

We left the jetty and walked through the waterfront gardens where we saw this impressive pineapple-shaped water fountain.

I walked round the fountain and Wendy took this photo of me. It was only when I was looking through her photos that I noticed the girl lying sunbathing on the fountain surround. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!

A furry creature in one of the trees.

Close to the waterfront is the area of old Charleston known as Rainbow Row. These are renovated houses which are painted in lovely pastel colours.

We walked down some lovely tree-lined streets.

Who would have thought we would see a London taxi parked in one of the driveways?

We ended our walk going along Meeting Street, which went past Washington Park, so named for its statue to George Washington in recognition of his visit to Charleston after American Independence.

It was just a five minute walk back to our hotel to meet up with Bob and Thelma, who took a different route from us today. We are eating out in Charleston this evening and then tomorrow we have our last day of driving when we head for Savannah. Our great drive down the eastern seaboard is very nearly over.