Back to the mud

There was a Freewheelers ride last Thursday out to Drum, attended by 5 regulars:

l-r: Drew Leslie, Jack Simpson, Scott Hunter, John Larkin & Ian Sharp

They completed 35 kms with 222 m of climbing.

Yesterday (Monday) was a glorious autumn afternoon, bringing out 11 Freewheelers. A route up to Craiglash Quarry, via Home Farm was quickly chosen, but, when we got to the turn-off on the Glassel Road, Mike led a breakaway group of 4 which chose to head up towards Campfield first of all.

The rest of us soldiered on up to the Quarry, but, just before we got to the top, there was another breakaway movement of 4 who preferred the muddy off-road route down to Potarch, leaving just 3 of us - Keith and the two Ians - sticking to the tarmac roads.

We did all eventually meet up at Potarch for coffee and scones etc and Mike took a team photo there:

l-r: Mike Reilly, Jack Simpson, Keith Gray, Ian Stewart, Dick Taylor, John Perry, Rob Pollard, Ian Sharp, John Morton, Aidan Meehan & John Larkin

The scones ran out before the Campfield team got there, so Aidan opted for the Black Forest Gateau:

Afterwards, Jack demonstrated how easy it was to lift the Dinnie Stanes, whilst I looked on in admiration:

We all then headed up the hill towards Shooting Greens where there was yet another breakaway movement, with Jack, Keith and Mike all opting to stick to tarmac and head over the top and down to Feughside, Mill of Cammie, then home, whilst the rest of us went down through the Scolty forest tracks and along the riverside, which has still not been repaired after Storm Frank, meaning parts had to be walked.

My Strava stats show a distance of 31 kms with 421 m of climbing, but Mike did 46 kms and 493 m on this route:

It was to be the night of the Super Moon and, almost in expectation of this, the skies were alive on the final part of our journey:

Thanks to John Morton for the latter photos.