Sunshine cycling

Great weather for cycling - and Mike Reilly continues with his almost daily rides. Chris Low was out on a solo ride as well, but special mention this time must go to John Meaden who again took part in Etape Caledonia (http://etapecaledonia.co.uk/) over in Pitlochry. This event is over 81 miles (134 kms) with climbing of 1,165 metres. It took almost 6 hours of cycling and John came in in 2,774th place. Here he is, still smiling as ever:

That was on Sunday. On Monday, the normal Freewheelers ride was a bit short in numbers - Aidan was guest reporter:

"Only John Perry, Rufus de Silva, John Meaden and myself Aidan Meehan turned up today. I understand some golfers were at Boat of Garten (?  good choice if correct). Dunno where the rest of the action was on such beautiful day ?  We'd perfect conditions for a bike ride. After a short discussion we decided on a route towards the Feughside Inn via an interesting route shown to me by Ian Stewart. This starts along the familiar 'Mill of Cammie' road and then to the Cairn o' Mount road via Templeton Croft and then turning off right at the old Bridge of Bogendreip. This track then took us thru Pitdelphin Farm and Wood, exiting onto the Old Military road between the AA box and Feughside Inn.  Okay, this route entails stopping several times to open various gates, cross fences and a stream risking life n' limb using a rickety old wooden bridge. But, what a great, quiet and quirky route, with several excellent picnic spots on the way.  Don't tell anyone else !

Instead of popping in to the Feughside Inn, John P was particularly interested in enjoying refreshments at the Finzean Farm shop. We were all 'up for that'. On the way, Rufus told me of his recent 200km walk in Portugal and Spain following the Camino de Santiago route. And over coffee, John M told us about his participation the previous day in the Etape Caledonia Cycle Challenge.  Mechty me.....what impressive feats !

So, rather than return to Banchory via the 'easy' route, we went uphill to the Shooting Greens. Phew !  Thereafter, we were hoping to take the route down to the river, avoiding any more ascents.  Oops. I took the wrong route taking us uphill again. I must say, in my defence, John P was right behind me and uttered no objection. Not that I'm bitter, I was duly awarded the 'red card' and volunteered for the honour of writing the blog. 

Never mind, it was a really enjoyable afternoon in wonderful weather, countryside and company. All good for the soul.  How lucky are we all to live in this neck of the woods ?"

Here's the photos and route map:

Strava stats show it was 36 kms with 409 m of climbing.