Day 65 - 4th June - Catawba Mt Shelter - Dalesville - 19 miles

The highlight of the day is the climb to Macaffees Knob - a famous landmark in Virginia with spectacular views and overhanging rock ledges.

Macaffees Knob

Alison with Salty looking over the vallesy of Virginia

We stop at the Tinker Cliffs for lunch - great views and very exposed. And then a very long walk into town. As the afternoon drags on, the lightening storms start to build. We find ourselves walking traversing a very narrow ridge with the storms and bolts of lightening on both sides of us.

The closer we get to the town, the louder the traffic noise. We follow the trail right to the main freeway, and pop out into suburbia, with our motel only 100m away. We are exhausted and decide to stay two nights. We stay at the Howard Johnson Motel, which is full of hikers and eat at the Mexican restaurant over the road. The motel has a special wing for the 'hiker trash', and we have great fun catching up with other hikers we have met on the trail.