Cycling the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Boulevard
This was a very difficult tour – the mountains are not big in the Appalachians, but you are constantly climbing all day long! There are plenty of camping places and facilities along the way. The speed limit on the Blue Ridge Parkway is 45mph, and the speed limit on Skyline Blvd is 35 mph. Not everyone adheres to these rules, and there is not a shoulder. Overall, the cycling is very good. The main issues we encountered were:
1) The climbing (though that would be mitigated by taking shorter days).
2) The weather in the summer is quite wet. We experienced a number of lightning storms. My advice would be to try mid to late September.
This is the map for the entire route discussed in this post. To Export GPX files, click on the three horizontal bars in the upper right hand corner of the map and select Export selected map data…
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Satellite view of our route through the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Blvd.
Not even a rest day. September may also bring about some of the fall colors.