Temperatures dropped to freezing in Raleigh overnight so we had to scrape the ice from the car before leaving - reminiscent of home!!! Travelling north and west into Virginia, we hit the Blue Ridge Parkway - a 469 mile long scenic drive linking the national parks of Virginia's Shenandoah and the Great Smokies of North Carolina and Tennessee. Luckily, the weather warmed up and we were able to stop at various points along the way to take photos and hike.

We stopped at The Blue Ridge Music Centre (which was closed), and took a 4 mile hike amongst the rolling meadows and hillside woods of Fisher's Peak Loop. The only sound to be heard was the noise of the leaves as they the branches and fell gently to the ground. Unfortunately, we had missed the best of the fall colors but what remained was enough for us to imagine how spectacular it had been.

It is out of season here so a lot of picnic areas and parking lots were closed - this also meant all the restrooms were closed so it was back to nature for us!!! We are here in Boone for a couple of nights so today we are going to attempt the more strenuous Boone Fork Loop (5.5 miles), followed by a visit to the Banner Elk Winery.

Sunday dawned cold and cloudy but I trusted Ant and the weather forecast and set off without my waterproofs. Today we hiked the 5.5 mile Boone Fork Loop which followed the creek for most of the way. We soon saw signs of recent beaver activity with gnawed tree trunks and lodges they had built. As I picked my way carefully over the rocks and tree roots, we were passed by 2 guys running the trail with 2 Golden Labs!!! The path crosses the creek at several points using various methods from man made wooden and metal bridges (good) to precariously placed, wet, slippy boulders and logs (not so good!) Ant waited at every crossing with camera poised for me to fall in.

The walk took us 3 hours in total after which we went in search of coffee - this we found in the town of Blowing Rock. The Blowing Rock is a cliff 4000 feet above sea level overlooking the Johns River Gorge. It is so called because the rocky walls form a flume through which the wind sweeps causing an upward draught - it is the only place in the world where snow falls upside down.

Late afternoon saw us at the Banner Elk Winery where we spent a very pleasant half hour tasting locally grown / produced wines.

Rain is forecast for most of today (Monday) as we travel further south down the Parkway towards Asheville, our home for the next 3 days