7 June 2007 Valley Villages

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Valley villages

After leaving Harrisonburg, I walked through Stephens City, Middletown, Strasburg, and on to Fisher's Hill. Physically, it was a tougher day that the 31 mile day. The weather was exceedingly warm, I got a late start (10:00 am) and the fatigue of previous day took its toll. The next day was also extremely difficult. as I walked through Tom's Brook, Maurertown, Woodstock and Mount Jackson. The wear and tear on the feet were cumulative, and by the time I arrived at Mount Jackson, I had blisters (for the first time since the first week of the walk), and my feet were sore.

I walked on Sunday morning to New Market, arriving around 10:00 am.

At this point, I had to take a break from the nineteenth century and go to Washington to take care of some 21st century business.

One thing that struck me, during this leg, however, was the similar character of the towns in the Valley. The villages all share some peculiar characteristics, and a common, but difficult to identify, character. Most stretch along the Valley Pike, all have old early nineteenth century houses of a similar architecture, and all seem to have at least one log cabin. They all just "feel" similar.