Out the north gate of the Crathes estate and heading directly west to meet up with the Myrebird road where we turned left and up via the farm tracks and then out towards Drum. There was a brief split as some headed up the hill to go via Drum Castle, whilst others chose the easier option round the east side of Crathes estate, but we all arrived at the Garden Centre within minutes of each other.
Over coffee the decision was taken that the return route would be on the Deeside Way to start with, but we would turn down towards the river at the football pitch before Drumoak. The first couple of hundred yards at the riverside have to be walked but we were able to ride again when we got to Park Bridge where we took this regrettably out of focus team photo:
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| Ian Stewart, Iain Wright, Justin Greenwood, Drew Leslie, Mike Reilly, John Larkin, Ian Sharp, Hugh Riches, Jack Simpson, Les Gray, Ken Page, John Perry & Dave Williamson |
Just a few yards further on, we spotted a lady fishing and watched as she landed a large salmon, with the ghillie, who had raced past us in his Land Rover, looking on:
It's a nice ride from there along the riverbank but eventually you have to turn up towards the Deeside Way again. The track up is pretty grassy and quite tight in parts and eventually you have to climb over a large locked gate, where Mike took this (in focus) photo:
It was a straightforward run home from there. The total distance was 37 kms with 227 m of climbing. Just two falls recorded - me on the technical section in Crathes (still getting used to the fact that you can't turn so sharply with the larger wheels on my new bike), and Hugh (of course!) on the grassy climb back up to the Deeside Way. Here's the full route map, courtesy, as usual of John P:
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