Loch Muick

The weather was a lot kinder to us this morning than the forecasters had led us to believe. It wasn't particularly warm, but the sun was shining and that was enough to bring Ken Page out, despite proclaiming just a few hours before that he didn't fancy it. Les, on the other hand, newly arrived back from the Algarve, didn't make it, preferring to take at least another week to acclimatise - understandably.

Robin had worked out the route and the detailed logistics and we piled the cars on the bike carriers outside the Guide Hut at 8:30 am:

I took my car down and left it at Ballater where Robin picked me up and drove us to the car park at Loch Muick where the others were by now waiting.

The route was good - mostly Land Rover tracks, but occasionally tarmac, west towards Balmoral. It was lovely and peaceful, but, surprisingly, the cry of "car!" went up a couple of times as Land Rovers passed by - one of which we think was driven by our old squash and golf pal Gary Coutts. He obviously didn't recognise us in our trademark yellow peril tops and helmets.

The views of snow-topped Lochnagar were great so we stopped and set up the camera on a low rock and pressed the 10-second timer:

Ian Stewart, Ken Page, Dick Taylor, Robin Brodie, Bob Elder and Ian Sharp

 You'll just have to take my word for it that Lochnagar was behind us - we managed to form a solid wall to block it out completely!

There was just one hill to conquer and we all stopped at a sheltered spot at the top, where, this time, I decided to take the photo and not rely on setting up the camera timer, making sure that Lochnagar was visible this time:

From there is was mostly downhill - passing near to Royal Lochnagar Distillery and then along the South Deeside Road all the way back to Ballater. Tea/coffee and scones were taken outside at Rock, Salt and Snails - and very good it was too, earning a Freewheelers' Scone Score of 8/10. Another team photo was set up on the timer and this time we were photo-bombed by Richmond Menzies' lorry passing by:

It was a lovely run - well done Robin. It was a little shorter than usual at 25 kms, taking just 90 minutes, but very enjoyable. The route map and stats are here - https://www.strava.com/activities/313415209.

Of course, we still had to get back to Loch Muick car park to pick up 3 cars, so, whilst I drove Robin, Dick and Bob out there, Ian and Ken amused themselves by cycling to Dinnet, adding another few miles to their cycle. Dick and Bob picked them up there and took them home.

There was some discussion about doing this again some time, but extending it and making it a complete loop by cycling out from Ballater to Loch Muick. The road there is narrow and you do get traffic going out to Loch Muick and back, so Bob suggested going up a parallel route to the west, nearer Birkhall.

I should record the fact that Ken and Bob did go out for a cycle on Monday - details here - https://www.strava.com/activities/311473806.

The following day, Les got some more warm weather training in as well - https://www.strava.com/activities/312064478