Stone Mountain to Fairplay, South Carolina – 21 March 2023

From Stone Mountain we made our way a couple of hours north to Fairplay, South Carolina. We have been particularly lucky to have stayed at some beautiful campsites lately and Carolina Landing is no exception. It was situated on beautiful Lake Hartwell and located between Atlanta, GA and Charlotte, NC., nestled at the foot of the Appalachian mountains and surrounded by thousand year old Oak trees.

The day we arrived it was rather rainy and unfortunately as Derek was maneuvering into our site he hit a car. The car belonged to one of the workers who was renovating one of the buildings nearby and had left his car parked alongside the road. His car’s mirror was broken and there were also a few large scratches on the side. Thank goodness the owner was quite amenable and after buying him a new mirror, a 12 pack of beers and some money he was happy.

The following day we decided to do a bit of hiking but the closest hike was in Georgia which was only 20 mins away from us. So we popped back over the border to Georgia to the Tugaloo National Forest. We started on the Muscadine trail which eventually joined the Sassafras trail winding through forests of oak, walnut, mulberry and cherry trees. Situated on a wooded peninsula, there were views across the 55,590 acre Lake Hartwell in every direction. We saw many cottages and campsites along the water. Tugaloo State Park is popular for fishing, especially Bass, and holds annual fishing tournaments every year. I love the name “Tugaloo” which comes from an Indian name for the river which once flowed freely prior to the construction of Hartwell Dam.

On our last day in South Carolina we went to check out the 295 acre South Carolina Botanical Gardens in Clemson on the grounds of the Clemson university. While there were very few flowers in bloom it was nevertheless a lovely place to meander through. The pond/lake was filled with baby turtles who swam up to us expectedly hoping for a treat. So adorable. I would love to see this place in the summer it must be exquisite. After the Botanical gardens, we went for a BBQ dinner in Ram Cat Alley, which is part of historic downtown Seneca in South Carolina. Hogs and Hops was about the size of a food truck with a number of table and chairs outside. It might have been small but the food was great. They did not serve alcohol but we were able to buy a couple of pints across the road at the Alley Kat brews and bring them back to our table outside the Hog and Hops.The Alley got its unusual name because of the many cats who gathered around its meat and fish markets in the early 1900s. Locals used to say there were so many of them that “You couldn’t ram another cat into the alley!”