Aboyne 2-in-1

After Sunday's soaking on the way back from Drum, we got our payback yesterday on a glorious afternoon for our ride to Aboyne. Stewart and Nigel had to cancel but we still managed to get 7 along for the ride(s).

It was a 2-parter with a couple of the e-bikers (me and Keith) cycling from Banchory to meet up with the others at Potarch, but John fancied giving it a go as well on his non-enhanced bike, so the three of us set off and headed over Craiglash Quarry. Once over the top, we had the option of heading back down on tarmac or taking the forest tracks over the hill and down to Potarch - and we chose the latter route, which brought us out at the exact meeting point with the others - Dave and Colin, plus e-bikers Archie and debutant Tony.

We all headed west along the Way which has a sudden - and hidden - short, sharp climb up to the road just outside Kincardine O'Neil. Keith and I managed to use the power of our bikes to get up but the others had to push:

The climb out of Kincardine O'Neil is fairly tough - particularly the last part up to the high point just short of Dess. The e-bikers were first up, of course, soon to be joined by Dave:

John joined soon after:

Then Colin:

Good effort, chaps.

There was then the long, twisting, downhill section till we came to the bridge at the bottom to demount and take the short walk to view the beautiful Falls of Dess. Archie and Dave minded the bikes:

Selfies had to be taken:

From there, the Way to Aboyne can be slow and a little troublesome. First of all, there's a multiplicity of gates to open and shut and then there's a narrow section in the trees which has some nasty roots to be overcome - and it was boggy too, but we all made it safely to Spider on a Bicycle where there was a nice outside table just waiting for us.

Suitably refreshed, we set off across the Dee bridge and over the back roads past Birse church. On the way over, we spotted this strange (and new?) ornament at the side of the road:

None of us have any idea what it's meant to be and who put it there and why.

Joining the South Deeside Road again just west of Ballogie, we climbed the hill then took the long downward road back to Potarch, which was the end of the ride for Colin, Tony and Archie, whilst Keith, John and I accompanied Dave along the road to his house.

From Dave's it's a bit of a slog up the hill to Slewdrum - easy enough for Keith and I, but John had forgotten how tough it is on pure pedal power. Thankfully for him, that was the last of the major climbs over and the way back to Banchory from there was mostly downhill.

The e-bike is great for getting you up hills but it doesn't alleviate the other pains of cycling - posterior, neck, shoulders etc - particularly on what was a longer than normal ride for us. Here's my stats for the ride - obviously Archie, Dave, Tony and Colin travelled about half this distance, but John had to cycle a bit further from the other end of Banchory: