Dick, Archie and I were the other 3, but we didn't have a route planned, so Archie suggested we head out past Blackhall towards Shooting Greens - he apparently knew a "secret way" up which involved very little climbing. The rest of us looked aghast - this would be defying the laws of gravity and geography. Was Archie sure? "Why yes" he replied - "I used to run up here - it's easy". But Archie, that was well over 30 years ago! It was going to be a tough initiation for debutant Dan, and it was also my first outing with the group since late June - but we went along with it.
Archie was like a man on a mission - he was off like a bullet and most of the way out past Blackhall, we couldn't even see him. Eventually, Dick, Dan and I got to the loop at the end of the flat(ter) part of the route - but still no sign of Archie anywhere. We figured he must have taken the left hand turn up the hill and were just about to head off in search of him when he suddenly appeared - behind us!
Apparently Archie had stopped for a pee at his "secret way" up the hill and we hadn't noticed him and had gone fleeing past him. Too late now, we had no option but to take the conventional route up the hill towards Shooting Greens.
Dick, Archie and I got to a point near the top and waited for Dan to join us, but he was struggling a bit, and didn't want to do any more climbing - he wanted to take a rest and then head back down the hill. Archie had gone back to check on Dan so, whilst waiting, Dick and I posed for this photo:
We eventually decided to split up - I had to get back for a Doctor's appointment so I joined Dan back down the hill towards Banchory, whilst Dick and Archie headed a bit higher - but we all arranged to meet back at Tease for coffee and scones.
There was another little incident just outside Banchory. The road up to Scolty had a huge puddle so I decided it was best to get on the pavement, which was dry. I thought the kerb was low at that point - only a little was showing above the water line, but I soon discovered to my cost that it was quite the opposite and I never quite made it up on to the pavement and I fell against the high wall there, cracking my head and hand against the wall. It was quite a thump but my helmet took the brunt of it. I shudder to think what might have happened if I hadn't been wearing it - I'm pretty certain I would have been out cold.
The handlebars were misaligned and the chain had come off, but, that apart, the bike seemed OK - and, apart from a cut hand, so was I - thanks to the safety helmet.
Of course, I've got "previous" when it come to falling off bikes (check blog post of 8th May - http://bvetscycling.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/myrebird-again.html) - but this time, no strong drink was involved - honest!
So it turned out to be a relatively short run for us all - Dan and I did about ten and a half miles, climbing over 800 feet - http://www.strava.com/activities/205201558, whilst Dick and Archie did about a mile more but climbed almost 200 feet more - http://www.strava.com/activities/205148673.
Apologies to Archie for not getting him in any of the photos.
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