Shady Valley is a quiet bowl of farmland tucked among the high ridges of north-east Tennessee, close to the Virginia line, and for motorcyclists it is a pilgrimage point. The valley is ringed by the Iron and Holston mountains, and it holds something unexpected: a set of cranberry bogs, left behind from the ice age, which make it a minor botanical wonder in the Appalachians. Locals hold a cranberry festival each autumn, and the little community around the old general store feels far from anywhere.
The reason riders come is the Snake, US 421, which runs from Mountain City over Iron Mountain through Shady Valley and on to Bristol. It is a road that is said to contain hundreds of curves in about thirty miles, tight hairpins and switchbacks in quick succession, which is why the number is quoted with such enthusiasm. The tarmac is generally good, the camber helpful and the surroundings beautiful, with rhododendron thickets and hardwood forest closing in on both sides. Treat it with respect. Gravel, wet leaves in autumn, oncoming trucks and the occasional car wandering over the centre line have caused many accidents, and police patrol the route with some enthusiasm. A relaxed pace is both safer and a lot more enjoyable.
Within reach, the Back of the Dragon across the border in Virginia, route 16 between Marion and Tazewell, is the other half of the story, a similar run of bends over Brushy Mountain and Walker Mountain with remarkable scenery. The two routes together make a weekend of riding that draws people from across the eastern states. Nearby Backbone Rock, a narrow ridge pierced by a short railway tunnel that now carries a road, is a curiosity worth seeing. Spring brings flowering dogwood and redbud, and October is brilliant with leaf colour, though that is also the busiest time. Summer afternoons can bring sudden thunderstorms.
Fuel and food are the things to plan. Shady Valley is tiny, so the dependable stations are in Mountain City, about thirteen kilometres away, and in Abingdon, Virginia, a graceful old town with a good theatre and a historic centre, about twenty kilometres further. Mountain City has diners and motels, and Abingdon has more. Fill up before you commit to the mountain, carry a rain jacket, and expect to share the road with other riders.