The north entrance to Skyline Drive is at Front Royal, and Dickey Ridge is the first stretch where the road starts to behave like a mountain road. It climbs from the Shenandoah Valley floor up the ridge, in a mix of easy curves and wooded hairpins, to the visitor centre at about mile 4.6, with the valley opening below like a green tablecloth. This is the beginning of a hundred and five miles of road along the crest of the Blue Ridge, with a speed limit of 35 mph that is kept low for the sake of the deer.
The history is a mixture of grand design and quiet loss. Shenandoah National Park was set up in the 1930s, on land bought or condemned from hundreds of mountain families, many of whom were relocated, and the Civilian Conservation Corps built much of the road and the stone walls and overlooks that you see today. It was meant as a scenic drive for Americans who had only lately fallen for the automobile, and it works as intended. The forest is mostly oak and hickory, with tulip poplar and hemlock in the hollows, and the hardwoods put on the best autumn show in the Mid-Atlantic, usually in mid- to late October.
For a rider, the drive is a lesson in patience and rhythm. The bends are gentle, the surface is good, and the overlooks come every mile or two, each with a low stone wall and a view over the valley or the Piedmont. Black bears live in the woods, and deer are everywhere, often at dusk. In the busiest weeks of autumn, expect slow-moving queues, and in winter, ice and snow close the road with little warning. Early on a weekday in May or September is the sweet spot, when the air is cool and the leaves are fresh.
Front Royal, about six kilometres from here, is a real town of fifteen thousand people with petrol, groceries and plenty of cafes, and it is the sensible place to fill up, because fuel on the drive itself is limited and seasonal. There is an entrance fee for the park, payable at the gate. The visitor centre has maps and toilets, and a picnic area nearby is a good place to eat your own lunch. Cell signal is patchy on the ridge, so check the weather and park notices before you set out.