Day 18. Asheville, North Carolina.

Day off today (sort of) in hot and humid Asheville.

Headed out to Chimney Rock in the morning, a granite outcrop about 20 miles out of the city. Climbing the 800+ steps to the viewpoint was a bit of a challenge in the heat, but well worth it for the view. The temperature on the bikes was reading 38 degrees (in the sun), when we got back to the bottom.

After lunch we headed back into Asheville to pick up and fit the new battery for Mark's bike from Eurosport. We'd already stopped by first thing to pay for it, and they had kindly agreed to prep and charge it for us if we gave them a few hours. It should have been a quick job to swap over the batteries, and be on our way. Unfortunately, we managed to drop the new battery in the process and write it off! This meant we needed another battery, which also needed to be prepped and charged. Eurosports were out of stock so sent us to MR Motorcycles. Second battery of the day was fitted without incident. It's a good job too, as that was the last one available in Asheville. When they checked the old battery it was down to 25% health, so definitely needed changing.

By this time it was rush hour so took a while to get back. We then had a quick turn around and headed out on the town!

Downtown Asheville is full of micro-breweries, health food shops, arts and craft places, and a surprising number of wig shops!

It was a busy place on a Friday night. First stop was the Asheville Drum Circle - a mass participation community event where anyone can turn up and drum away. There was certainly an eclectic group of people taking part with all sorts of drums. The whole thing seemed to have a life of its own, with people coming and going as they liked, and no-one obviously leading it. The area was also full of buskers covering all types of music - bluegrass (which we've now discovered is a bit like English folk music), jazz, and classical. It was also the time to 'cruise' around showing off your car or motorbike. There were lots of groups of middle aged men on Harleys with WWII-style helmets and all the gear, expensive sports cars, and pimped up trucks / motorcycles lit up with neon lights.

Asheville is certainly the most bohemian and eco place we have visited so far. A bit like Brighton with monster trucks.

Finally we finished the evening with a nice meal at a Mexican / Caribbean restaurant, using Jane's birthday money from Abi (thanks Abi).