holidays

We had breakfast in the Goose Feathers cafe a block from the hotel after a fruitless search for postage stamps, and then checked out and took a cab to the car rental place at the airport. The cab driver, hearing that we were travelling north-east, recommended a stop at Williamsburg. The Queen of England had visited and liked it so much there that he thought she was going to move over permanently. She didn’t like George Bush jnr, but likes David Cameron. Many other pearls of wisdom were dispensed on the journey.

It took 5.5 hours to drive to Asheville. When we hit Calhoun County, South Carolina, we encountered our first hill since leaving England. Plenty more followed as we got into the Piedmont. Approaching Asheville the roads cut through the forested Smokey Mountains. Sure enough, a smoky blue haze was hanging over them. We’re staying at the Country Inn, a kind of slightly up-market motel on the outskirts of Asheville.

We went up the road to the Fiddlin’ Pig Bluegrass BBQ for dinner. A good four-piece bluegrass band came on at 6:30pm. A dance group did some display dancing, and then came to get audience members to join in – we did one with them.