Drumoak and back, trying to avoid the black ice

It was a cold morning and there was even a sleet shower or two, but it was bright and sunny when 6 of us set off from the Guide Hut at 12:30 pm. The temperature was still low enough for black ice to hang around on shaded areas, so the consensus was to avoid tarmac as much as possible and stick to gravel - i.e. The Deeside Way.

Rob and Dick set off like hares and we were at Crathes before a full headcount was taken - whoops, only 5 of us now - where's Archie? Five minutes later, Archie rolled up with a large, black plastic item protruding from his rucksack. Yes, he'd had another mudguard incident.

John McW took our leaders to task at this point, and we then all agreed that, whilst the peloton can get a little stretched at times, it's important that visual contact is maintained with all parties in our group.

The plans for the route were a little vague, to say the least, and there were a couple of stops to discuss where we should go. Eventually, we decided to cross the road at Drumoak and head through the housing estates and up a fairly sharp hill. When we thought  we were at the top, we looked around for our next move. There were two options - one was a "safe" one but it involved losing most of the elevation we had just gained, followed by an even steeper uphill section, The second option was to climb a little higher and then try to find our way back towards the Myrebird/Crathes roads.

Rob got his mini i-Pad out again and persuaded us that the latter option would work, so we headed westwards and uphill. This road eventually only took us to a private dwelling with horse-y fields laid out, protected by electric fences. OK, Plan B - or was it C or D? A few of the more adventurous Veterans thought they could see a narrow path through the woods, which would eventually lead us out to civilisation again. Wrong! Time for a team photo, whilst we considered what to do now:

Ian Stewart, Dick Taylor, John McWhinnie, Archie Cook, Rob Pollard & Ian Sharp

So, we headed back down the hill to Drumoak and back along the Deeside Way, with the agreed meeting point being the Milton at Crathes. Simple enough, you would think, but still we managed to temporarily "lose" Archie (briefly) and Dick.

Worse was to follow - there was only one scone left at the Milton!

That wasn't quite the end of our misadventures. Rather than going straight back along the Deeside Way, a decision was taken to cross over the North Deeside Road at Crathes' West Gate and take the northern route back to our respective homes. We only got as far as Tesco where Rob and Dick headed north on the east side of Tesco along the "Banchory Bypass", whilst the rest of us headed to the other side of Tesco, where I assumed we would all take the usual Banchory Paths route home.

At this point, however, Archie hared off along the North Deeside Road, whilst Ian and John hesitated, apparently not sure what to do now. I headed off along the gravel paths, expecting to be caught any minute by John and Ian, but, Tillybrake and Ramsay Road came and went without me seeing any other yellow jackets. It transpired that somebody had fallen on the ice and John and Ian waited until a lady took the old chap to the Doctor's to check a cut on the back of his head.

Anyway, the Strava stats show that we were cycling for over 2 hours and covered almost 19 miles, with over 500 feet of elevation. Full details and route here - http://www.strava.com/activities/227486164