Deeside rides

Six FW's showed up on Monday afternoon and Jeff was our ace reporter -

"Half light showers and half decent sunlight is what our intrepid gang of 6 experienced today.  Inspired by Hebridean antics to try and not overdo things, Hugh, Alan, Bob, Dave, Jack and myself elected for a gentle jaunt up to the AA box via Mill of Cammie in the hope of enjoying the absence of traffic due to the Cairn road closure.

Showers started as we left the Guide Hut, and plans for retreating from them at the box and taking selfies of 6 damp cyclists inside were scuppered when we found a brand new lock in place.  Jack hoped to console himself by finding the geocache treasure trove secreted in the AA box platform, but was most disappointed at the absence of lager cans inside.

Spirits were raised, though, as at that point the rain stopped and proceeded to get sunnier for the rest of the ride.  I seized the moment to persuade the team to take a loop round to Finzean House, which some hadn't done before and appreciated that it is a delightful spot. That also gave us a nice whizz down onto the farm shop for coffees and scones (though low scone uptake indicates some BVCers might be resorting to non-riding calorie control to keep tummies in order!)

The return to Banchory was a straightforward bash through Finzean and Strachan, where I dropped off, having already done the Mill of Cammie leg twice, and the rest of the gang were headed for a Bogend/Scolty Car Park finish.

Given the route, we should all have done something similar to my Strava stats of 37.2 km and 337m."

The Tuesday morning Trundle promised initially to be a small affair welcoming John McWhinnie back in to the saddle after an 8 week break, but, in the end, the prospect of a fine, sunny morning ride prompted the appearance of Scott, Ken B, Keith and, most surprisingly, one of the Hebridean Heroes, John Morton.

We decided to try the river trail again - out to Milton, over the stile next to the football pitch and all the way along the river. We had successfully negotiated this route a couple of weeks ago, but it was substantially more overgrown now until we got across the burn feeding in to the Dee -

It was such a glorious morning that Ken insisted that we stop and relax on the banks of the river for a while -

It's convention to do the team photo at this spot under Park bridge -

Scones were had at Drum and we then looped home over the back roads past the recording studio and up to the farm near Drumshalloch Wood, then past the brewery and along the dump road and home. 36 kms and 174 m - a nice ride.