Day 32 - Charleston, South Carolina

The morning started overcast, though still very warm - but then the sun came out and it was 90 deg F by 11 a.m. I headed south-east, back towards the coast, through pretty countryside with pines and oaks all mixed together, and lots of little rivers and creeks; there also seemed to be a lot of very large butterflies around. Stopped briefly at the Moores Creek Battlefield Monument, the site of the decisive battle in 1776 leading to North Carolina's declaration of independence - they were the first! Having said that, there are many places in the Carolinas with British and/or Royalist names, including the King's Highway (which it seems I have been more or less following), Elizabethtown, Jamestown, etc. Got to the coast just north of Myrtle Beach, then cruised along the promenade - this is when I needed a convertible! Rather a nice place, not too tacky along the beach, though there are still way too many high-rise hotels for my liking.

South Carolina beach communities look very prosperous, with many beautiful mansions, golf clubs, exclusive resorts - but once I headed inland again, it was a different story: very small agricultural communities, lots of empty broken-down shacks and closed and boarded-up businesses, with signs on the petrol stations saying 'No Loitering' ... The land is swampy in many places, which makes it ideal for growing rice and indigo (there are many businesses called 'Indigo', and I was wondering why!). Georgetown has an attractive historic district, and a thriving seaport.

And then the heavens opened - now I know why everything is so green down here! Unfortunately this put a damper (literally) on my plan to walk around Charleston! However, I drove around instead, looking at the very attractive city centre through the raindrops; my compensation was a magnificent double rainbow (which I couldn't photograph as I was driving). There are many lovely churches with very narrow high steeples, and some very elegant and stately civic buildings. There is also a magnificent bridge which I plan to drive across tomorrow.

After all this hard work, I decided to treat myself to a pepper steak for dinner, along with a giant margarita, so please excuse any spelling mistakes!