Hello Lancaster A five hour drive with stops but the Interstate is good - came through Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and then into Pennsylvania. Rest areas are so clean and pleasant. Facilities good with information leaflets etc. Enjoyed the trip. Arrived at hotel easily, thanks to satnav. We have been upgraded to a suite! It is certainly bigger than any flat I've lived in and I think bigger than my first house in Derby. The hotel is a converted tobacco war...

Goodbye Virginia. Spent Thursday on the Blue Ridge Parkway and went up to Wintergreen, a ski resort. Some of the owned properties there are awesome. Must sleep 20. Other places are time share. They don't get a lot of snow there but when they do it's a very popular area. Seemed very wooded and certainly lovely views. We had a good last day on Friday with a run in the local recreation area before another trip to the Launderette and then out to the Walton's Mount...

A micro brewery in Virginia and the local brew tastes like Bishop's Farewell so a reminder of home. Food was good too. We celebrated our second bear siting last night - the locals cannot believe our luck. Walked to Turk Mountain about 4.00pm and saw the baby bear on our way down then saw a couple of white tailed deer. Tuesday we went to Monticello, Jefferson's home and plantation. Interesting guides, didn't realise he had 200 slaves. We're finding it difficult t...

For fans of Bill Bryson this was our 'Walk in the Woods'. The trail is well marked and easy to access at various points along the Skyline Drive. We did a couple of circular routes yesterday and met others doing the same. The fact we are English intrigues the locals who are puzzled at us being in the area. Although lots of civil war activity was centred here and Monticello, Jefferson's home is nearby, it is not really on the tourist route which is great for us. F...

Yes we did take the photo this afternoon - the bear was about 20 yards from us as we walked down the path from Blackrocks! We experienced a mixture of delight and fear, especially when it looked up and seemed to move towards us. I had said seeing a bear would make my day but neither of us thought it would happen on our first walk in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Drove about 40 miles on the Skyline drive - magnificent scenery and the colours are beginning to change a...