Hatton Ferry

[Hank Pfister]

I hear that the Hatton Ferry is in its last days due to VDOT budget cuts. The Hatton Ferry is one of the last poled ferries in existance, and is somewhere near Charlottesville. I'm thinking that I need to ride across the James River on it real soon. I love crossing rivers on ferries. This would have to be a weekend ride, and soon.
http://www.hattonferry.org/

[MarkCarter]

I'm in. Want to leave from the Greenwood in June?

[Hank Pfister]

I'm in. Want to leave from the Greenwood in June?

Thats a good idea, Mark. Sunday, June 7 is the Greenwood. Lets plan on it. I'm looking at a map, we could leave Greenwood to Nat. Bridge and take 130 east, cross Tabacco Row Mtn on 647, 643 to Crawfords store, and on to Amherst. US 60 east to 626, Norwood Rd (scenic byway) to Norwood, Wingina, Howardsville, and Hatton. 643 over Tabacco Road Mtn from Pedlar Mill to Hicks Store, I don't know if its paved or not. Looks interesting though.

[ed simpson]

count me in.

[Hank Pfister]

Some more info on the Hatton Ferry: here is a thread on ADVrider.com about it:
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthre ... ost9925666

And a link to a news report about the demise of the Hatton Ferry:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/video/ ... tml?cat=64

I'm looking forward to riding there from the Greenwood!

[Brennan Shepard]

I'm in.

[paulfinney2]

Sounds good. Hate to see something like this get closed, and due to budget shortage. How much can it cost to operate that ferry?

[MarkCarter]

Ooops - I forgot I am on vacation that week

[MarkCarter]

Since I will be on vacation I made the ferry run today instead of next Sunday with the group. I will give up my rights to place another tag. You guys can retag it next Sunday. But I did make it there, finally got one somehow. Great route about 280 miles for me today counting screwing up the route twice . A new record for me on the F800ST.




BTW, the ferry operator mentioned 3 guys from my area where there yesterday
I also told him to look for several next Sunday!

[paulfinney2]

Are you claiming that screwing up a route twice is a record?

[Hank Pfister]

OK, I've worked on a possible route from the Greenwood to Hatton Ferry. Map source says it is 113 miles by this route.



Thanks to Jim Moss for a quick tutoral on how to get a map out of Map Source and into Twin Valley Riders
Here are the directions from Map Source:

1. Greenwood Restaurant 0 ft
2. Get on Lee Hwy N and drive northeast 0 ft 0 ft 0:00:00 238° true
3. Turn left onto Brughs Mill Rd 0.8 mi 0.8 mi 0:01:06 55° true
4. Take the I-81 N ramp to the right 1.2 mi 0.4 mi 0:01:08 295° true
5. Take exit 175 to the right onto US-11 N towards Natural Bridge 20.7 mi 19.5 mi 0:17:48 49° true
6. Turn right onto US 11 20.9 mi 0.2 mi 0:00:16 70° true
7. Turn right onto Rockbridge Rd 22.6 mi 1.7 mi 0:02:28 85° true
8. ElonRd 37.8 mi 15.2 mi 0:20:10 270° true
9. Get on Elon Rd and drive southeast 37.8 mi 0 ft 0:00:00 90° true
10. Turn left onto Buffalo Springs Tpke 44.7 mi 6.9 mi 0:09:18 112° true
11. PedlarMills 46.0 mi 1.3 mi 0:02:23 340° true
12. Get on Buffalo Springs Tpke and drive northeast 46.0 mi 0 ft 0:00:00 160° true
13. Turn left onto Buffalo Springs Tpke 50.1 mi 4.1 mi 0:07:06 39° true
14. US60 55.3 mi 5.2 mi 0:08:59 0° true
15. Turn right onto US 60 55.3 mi 0 ft 0:00:01 0° true
16. Enter roundabout Roundabout 67.1 mi 11.8 mi 0:16:02 155° true
17. US601 67.2 mi 94 ft 0:00:05 0° true
18. Take the 1st right onto US 60 67.2 mi 0 ft 0:00:01 0° true
19. US602 78.5 mi 11.3 mi 0:15:04 0° true
20. Bear left onto Norwood Rd 78.5 mi 0 ft 0:00:01 0° true
21. Keep left onto Hwy 626 79.6 mi 1.2 mi 0:02:01 69° true
22. Turn right onto Norwood Rd 87.2 mi 7.5 mi 0:12:56 50° true
23. Hwy56 92.2 mi 5.1 mi 0:08:41 0° true
24. Turn left onto Hwy 56 92.2 mi 0 ft 0:00:01 0° true
25. Turn right onto Hwy 626 94.5 mi 2.2 mi 0:04:26 327° true
26. Howardsville 103 mi 8.1 mi 0:13:59 308° true
27. Get on Hwy 626 and drive northeast 103 mi 1 ft 0:00:00 128° true
28. Board ferry Hatton Ferry Rd 113 mi 10.7 mi 0:21:42 143° true
29. HattonFerryRd 113 mi 400 ft 0:00:21 0° true
30. Get on Hatton Ferry Rd and drive southeast 113 mi 0 ft 0:00:00 180° true
31. Get off of ferry onto Hatton Ferry Rd 113 mi 507 ft 0:00:27 149° true
32. Turn right onto Hwy 695 114 mi 0.7 mi 0:01:37 169° true
33. Turn left onto Hwy 678 116 mi 1.8 mi 0:04:27 205° true
34. Turn right onto Hwy 20 117 mi 1.4 mi 0:03:29 153° true
35. Turn right onto Hwy 704 118 mi 0.6 mi 0:01:10 207° true
36. Turn right onto Hwy 655 119 mi 1.4 mi 0:03:16 190° true
37. Turn left onto Hwy 602 124 mi 4.3 mi 0:07:21 259° true
38. Turn left onto Hwy 56 131 mi 7.9 mi 0:14:21 183° true
39. Turn right onto US 60 132 mi 1.0 mi 0:01:55 133° true
40. MtRush 134 mi 1.5 mi 0:02:21 142° true
41. Get on US 60 and drive southwest 134 mi 10 ft 0:00:00 322° true
42. Keep left onto Hwy 24 134 mi 0.5 mi 0:00:38 232° true
43. CharlesTMosesMe 153 mi 18.7 mi 0:24:45 0° true
44. Get on Hwy 131 and drive northeast 153 mi 0 ft 0:00:00 0° true
45. Take the US-460 W/Va-24 W ramp to the left towards Lynchburg 153 mi 356 ft 0:00:07 61° true
46. Turn left onto Village Hwy 162 mi 8.9 mi 0:12:15 263° true
47. Rustburg 171 mi 9.5 mi 0:17:04 348° true
48. Get on Village Hwy and drive west 171 mi 15 ft 0:00:00 168° true
49. Keep right onto Colonial Hwy 172 mi 0.9 mi 0:01:18 230° true
50. Evington 183 mi 10.4 mi 0:17:53 347° true
51. Get on Colonial Hwy and drive west 183 mi 38 ft 0:00:00 167° true
52. Turn left onto Colonial Hwy 183 mi 0.6 mi 0:00:59 297° true
53. Turn left onto Hwy 24 196 mi 12.2 mi 0:14:29 289° true
54. MonetaRd 201 mi 5.5 mi 0:06:14 0° true
55. Take the Parkway ramp to the right 218 mi 17.3 mi 0:18:23 284° true
56. Turn left onto Blue Ridge Pky 218 mi 0.1 mi 0:00:14 297° true
57. Exit left onto ramp 218 mi 110 ft 0:00:38 180° true
58. BlueRidgePky 218 mi 0 ft 0:00:01 0° true
59. Turn right onto Blue Ridge Pky 246 mi 27.4 mi 0:36:43 162° true
60. Turn right onto Parkway Dr SE 246 mi 0.2 mi 0:00:18 220° true
61. Turn right onto Moutnain View Dr 247 mi 0.6 mi 0:01:27 268° true
62. MoutnainViewDr 247 mi 0.2 mi 0:00:46 22° true

In a nutshell, this route goes US 11 to route 130 at Natural Bridge, 130 east then takes out cross country at Pedlers Mill on Buffaloe Springs Trnpk to US 60, US60 east thru Amherst to Norwood Rd. then back roads up to Hatton. Coming back by way of back roads to US 60, to route 24, and take 24 into Vinton where I would get on the Parkway south to Copper Hill.
I'd be happy to lead, but be warned, it will be a "no speeding ticket pace"

[paulfinney2]

Breakfast and that ride look very good, and so does the weather.
I had planned to take the DIP class tomorrow, but family stuff has come up, so I will miss that. Good luck, Hank.
See ya'll Sunday.

[Bill Lewis]

Hank,
Looks to be a fun ride. Liz and I may join the group going.

[Hank Pfister]

There was a huge group at the Greenwood this morning. Over 20 bikes. 12 bikes followed my to the Hatton ferry.
We arrived at the same time as a group of tiny British Classic cars. But alas we were all disapointed. The Ferry boat was moored on the north side, but no one was there to pole it across.


Apparently the river was too high, or too swift.
Here are some of the Brit cars, a Bugati and a Sprite:




We had to come up with a "plan B" since my route continued on the other side of the James. The group broke up a bit, as some headed one way, and others headed into Scottsville for lunch at the Dew Drop Inn. From the Dew Drop it was time to head for the barn, by way of Appomatox, and route 24 on into Roanoke. Great day, great ride, and great riders. A little over 300 miles for me.

[ed simpson]

what a day!
great roads. great scenery. good company.
special thanks to hank for setting it up and leading the ride.
no bugattis among the brit cars though. i think it was a morgan.