Finzean Farm Shop via the AA box

The continuing glorious weather meant there was a possibility of another new attendance record this afternoon, but two morning cancellations took numbers back to "just" 9. Both Jack and Keith opted to go cycling with their wives instead, which, when brought to the attention of the Freewheelers present, threatened a constitutional debate - "surely this can't be allowed?" they cried.

Today's destination for tea/coffee and scones was Finzean Farm shop, so we headed up past Waters of Feugh and over bumpy Kirsty's Brae to meet up with the Cairn o' Mount road. There was a brief discussion about the next leg - across the fields from Bogendreip or along the road and up to the AA box? At this point Colin interjected - he was riding his son-in-law's bike and the front suspension was locked on. The ride over Kirsty's Brae had been a bit too much for him and he wanted to stick to tarmac (I know how he feels, having never had any front suspension myself until recently) so that's what we did.

It's an iconic point for a team photo:

l-r: Rob Pollard (seated), Ian Stewart, Jeb Tyrie (in non-standard red), Ian Sharp, Bob Elder, John Perry (check the shorts!), Colin Kilgour, Dick Taylor & John Meaden (topless)

Jeb stopped off for a short while at a funeral in Finzean where his other half was - and he probably should have been. The rest of us carried on up the hill with the promise of the excellent scones there keeping us going. It was warm, still and sunny so naturally we elected to sit outside. We had to re-arrange the garden furniture a little:

The fruit scones there are a Freewheelers favourite - and the raspberry jam is excellent, especially with loads of butter and cream:

There was another mini constitutional crisis when Bob passed on the scones again. This matter will be on the agenda at the AGM - surely scones are mandatory?

There was talk of the Christmas social and we tried to find a date as near to Christmas as possible to allow some of our members who are currently overseas to attend. The latest acceptable date seemed to be Wednesday 16th December, but no doubt we will hear more of this topic in due course from our Social Secretary, Rob Pollard.

We all cycled back together to the Feughside Inn where a decision had to be made - the road or over the hill to Shooting Greens and down? Three of us - Ian, Colin and me - chose the road, whilst the rest climbed up and over.

I came to grief just outside Strachan thanks to a rather freak fankle - one of my laces got caught up in the crankshaft and my right foot became clamped hard to the bike. I was able to freewheel about 100 yards to an opening and I tried to dismount/fall off my bike to the verge on my left, but I was pulled down to my right, falling on to the main road. Fortunately, there were no vehicles around. I had to unfankle my boot as quickly as I could, then pull my bike back up and get to safety before any traffic arrived. Apart from a few scrapes, I survived, but I'll be trimming my laces in future:

My Strava stats show the distance covered was 36 kms with, 1,000 feet of climbing - https://www.strava.com/activities/425139660. John P's Strava shows the distance the other group covered was 38 kms with 1,300 feet of climbing - https://www.strava.com/activities/425140289. Here's John's map of their route: