30 miles
This morning we left the cookie lady's house and made our way down to Charlottesville in the valley. The countryside is fully in plantation territory and everything is green and fertile, and farms fill the landscape between the all encompassing forest. We passed by lots of orchards, with pick your own apples and peaches. We stopped and ate a peach. It was ripe and delicious. There are two types of peaches – clingstone, where the stone is fully attached to the flesh, and freestone, where the stone falls away easily. I guess this is some new technological marvel in agriculture as they were making a big deal of it.
Also, a nectarine is NOT a cross between a peach and a plum, it is actually a cultivar of a peach with the furriness bred out. Remember to shout down the next trivia buff who spoons you that myth in the pub.
We arrived in Charlottesville at around 1.30pm. The campsites were about 8 miles out of town so we stayed in a motel. The budget inn was only $58, which was a pretty good deal given the town is very flashy and it is Labor Day weekend so everything was busy. Incidentally, nobody we have spoken to has any idea what Labor Day is about, why they created it or what it is celebrating. Isn't that weird?
It seemed like it was just before the first day of term at the University of Virginia which dominates the town. Parents and smart looking students were walking around and eating 'brunch'. Many of the kids were wearing UVA or Virginia sports T-shirts.
We went for an enormous pizza and cheesecake, then we watched rubbish movies on the TV and fell asleep. Only 180 miles to go.
Matt
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